Eddie Jones tried so hard last week to squash the expectation surrounding Marcus Smith that he talked himself into trouble by patronising Emma Raducanu.
The England head coach should have let this match do the talking for him instead. It was so attritional that even a player of Smith’s flamboyant talent barely had the chance to escape its dour clutches.
This was hardly Alas Smith and Jones because England ran out comfortable 32-15 winners in a result gilded by an improbable late try from hooker Jamie Blamire and Smith finished the game with a flourish, a penalty and a conversion, after Owen Farrell had gone off injured.
Marcus Smith enhanced his reputation further as he helped England to overcome Australia
Farrell and Smith are a roundhead and cavalier partnership in midfield and this was a day for the roundheads.
But it was still another promising step forward for Smith in what was only his fourth England cap against the best opposition he has faced so far. He dictated the pace of England’s play and refused to be rattled out of his stride in his team’s eighth successive victory over Australia.
He also provided the moment of inspiration for England’s first try. With every game he plays, it becomes more evident he represents England’s future.
Less than two years out from the World Cup in France and with the pace of change within the squad beginning to quicken, we have reached a point in England’s development - and in the development of the game in this country - where every match doubles as a referendum on the tenure of Jones as head coach. Jones sets the tone and there are many who find that tone dissonant.
Perhaps it is always that way with high-profile coaches, particularly when they are as bullish and confrontational and mischievous as Jones. And the scrutiny around England’s direction of travel was always going to become sharper after England finished fifth in the Six Nations Championship earlier this year. Jones’s relationship with Smith is set to become central to that direction of travel.
Smith is set to be key for England in the future and he helped dictate the pace of his team's play
The argument around Jones is about the culture that surrounds the side, more than anything. In the run-up to this round of Autumn Internationals, his relentlessness, his ruthlessness and his thirst for confrontation have all been picked apart and used to illustrate the idea that he is not so much inspiring this England team so much as wearing it down.
One anecdote surrounded former assistant coach John Mitchell finally tiring of Jones’ incessant demands when Jones told him he could not go to watch his son, Daryl, play cricket for Middlesex on his day off. Mitchell went anyway and left the England set-up soon afterwards. Seeing Mitchell sitting proudly in the stands in Abu
