So we reach the final chapter of England's current season of mists and mellow fruitlessness. An Autumn of testing themselves against the best of the southern hemisphere – plus Australia – and coming up short. Cue many pained dissections and death notices about the state of the game its birthplace, all of which are overstated.

Steve Borthwick’s team have had a tough little run of fixtures and have lost them narrowly, the team is broadly settled, the attacking gameplan is maturing and a new defensive system is bedding in. They should have won against Australia, probably, but this is no reason to go into full meltdown. Things are broadly fine and will continue to be so.

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