Well first, as I said in my most recent City AM article at the end of November, the northern hemisphere nations didn’t do themselves any harm at all. Ireland and Wales won all four matches, England claimed three out of four and Scotland had two victories. All very encouraging.

Second, England’s head coach Eddie Jones survived a pressure cooker coming into the month. He also unearthed some real gems along the way and added squad depth, even if some of it seemed to happen a little by accident.

Sam Underhill, Mark Wilson and Tom Curry were outstanding in the back row. Kyle Sinckler and Ben Moon excelled in the front row. And how emphatically did Joe Cokanasiga announce himself on the international stage?! It’s a big call, and let me know if you disagree @OlliePhillips11, but I can’t remember anyone looking more physically impressive on debut since Lomu. He played so well in his first few games that he’s arguably now in contention for a regular starting place on the wing. He is so dangerous and adds an extra dimension for England.

From half time in the the Japan match England seemed to grow in stature and show their attacking credentials.

The most valuable factor for me, though, was Owen Farrell’s move to fly-half and his combination with Henry Slade. If that axis can develop in 2019 they can be really dangerous.

Coming into the Australia game, I made the point that England’s next two matches could make or break their World Cup hopes. They’ve won the first one of those – against the Wallabies – but I still think that their next match in Dublin is huge for confidence.

Will they go to Japan as the best of the northern hemisphere challengers? It would be a big feather in the cap if they do.

Thanks to Michael Lynagh and check out SKRUM!

While we’re talking about Australia, I recently had the honour of hosting a Q&A with World Cup winner Michael Lynagh, one of the greatest living Wallabies. What a wonderful bloke and also what a great cause he was helping us to fundraise for. The SKRUM charity educates kids in Swaziland in Southern Africa about HIV Aids while coaching them rugby. It’s a wonderful charity led by Michael Collinson – take a look and get involved at www.skrum.org.

The post Major takeaways from the autumn internationals appeared first on Optimist Performance.

Leicester are struggling a bit, Pat Lam’s Bristol could easily finish top half of the table and I’m still flummoxed by the ‘Cipriani Affair’. Danny featured in this article and my next and I just don’t understand the rationale for leaving him out of the England squad if, as Eddie Jones has said, the decision is based purely on the rugby.

All I can say is, Jones must be extremely confident in his back three options – especially at 15 – if he’s happy to overlook Cipriani in addition to the perpetual and baffling snub of Alex Goode, who continues to shine in arguably the best team in the division.

Where do you stand on the tackle law?

A little later in the month refereeing, and one decision in particular, prompted many of us to reflect on the laws, and mainly the tackle. One flash point came in Wasps’ win against Leicester where referee Ian Tempest went by the letter of the law and gave a red card for a high and dangerous tackle.

The tackler was taller than the player he was tackling, who was himself stooping. It was one of those where if Tempest had given a yellow nobody would have complained. On the other hand, the whole point of bringing in the new laws has been to safeguard player welfare in an area of the game that has been responsible for a lot of concussions. And you have to say that the instances of concussions are probably going down. It’s a hot topic of debate – let me know what you think on twitter @olliephillips11.

More to Marler retirement than we think?

The important issue of player welfare played into my final piece of September, which was a reflection on the international retirement of a great prop and a great bloke, Joe Marler.

I was forced to retire through injury [link to that blog] and walking away from any part of the game is daunting. I tip my hat to Joe for making a strong decision and wanting to spend more time with his family. You certainly don’t get that time back, as I’m find myself with a daughter and a busy day job. But I do think that the timing is strange a year out from a World Cup and there’s a nagging sense in the back of my mind that perhaps the England camp and team culture isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Only time, and results, will tell.

The post Reflections on a month of rugby decision-making appeared first on Optimist Performance.