LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'If only South Africa had been on the fixture list. Then we really would know where this England stand.'

As the temperatures plummet so England’s stock rises to ward off any winter blues. That’s how significant the victory over the All Blacks was. It brings cheer, it brings meaning and it brings status. Lots of it. Who needs a league table to gauge the significance of a victory? Far better to do the calculations yourself. Did we really think England had it in ‘em? Even if, admittedly, we didn’t believe the All Blacks were this bad, fallen from mythical grace? Even so, For England, it’s all top trumps. Lose, and all that fuss and hoopla would have disappeared into grey November skies, no more than another bit of typical excess from up-themselves England followers, the usual OTT media hubris. Nine wins in a row (now ten) was all very well. But England needed a proper yardstick, just as Clive Woodward’s team did all those years ago. Victory over New Zealand elevates Steve Borthwick’s men towards that peak. Base camp is now a good way behind them.

If only South Africa had been on the fixture list. Then we really would know where this England stand. As it is, England still have a hugely important task in front of them in facing Argentina on Sunday. A World Cup is about hitting heights each and every weekend in the knockout stages. Win a big quarter-final only to bomb seven days later and it’s all over – failure. Los Pumas are a great test. One English wallow (in victory) does not a summer make.

England have put themselves in the World Cup ball game with the style of the win as much as the victory itself. The 2012 win victory was full of sweep and grandeur. This was grittier, more measured and plotted, and all the more profound because of that. Of course, it’s two years yet before the first whistle is blown in Australia. You can’t win the Webb Ellis trophy in 2025. But you can go a long way to losing your standing if you make a Horlicks of a golden opportunity. And this was very much one of those. England had to win – for inner conviction, for future credibility and for the well-being of Twickenham inner man.

The Springboks thrive from a real sense of each other and of country. It carries them into and through the darkest places. Never mind the Bomb Squad. With their red card tendencies, they’ve managed to make rugby a 14-man game. England are on that same pathway if not yet at that promised land of collective certainty. That long road is that bit shorter today. And Twickenham is with them, now fully on board with the Borthwick mission.

New Zealand were a benchmark even if they are far from a vintage outfit. Only two players – Ardie Savea and Will Jordan – would come close to even being considered for selection in the back-to-back World Cup-winning All Black side of a decade ago.

New Zealand were a benchmark even if they are far from a vintage outfit. Only two players – Ardie Savea and Will Jordan – would come close to even being considered for selection in the back-to-back World Cup-winning All Black side of a decade ago. That’s a factor in evaluating just how notable a result this was for England. But only one factor. Hesitant, off-kilter and punched-out as New Zealand were, they still had to be put in their place on the scoreboard. England did that. No fluke, no quibbles, damning. So, just as Martin Johnson’s team took succour from a succession of wins over the southern hemisphere Big Boys, particularly the tour games there in the summer of 2003, so this should be seen as a landmark moment for Borthwick’s men.

A year ago they were taking refuge in that tiresome guff about performance being the thing. They were playing pretty well and time and again ran the All Blacks close. It was all delusional and self-justifying, the mark of a side clutching at straws. There are no style marks awarded in rugby. It’s win or lose or gnash teeth over a draw. England now have all this in the memory bank, a long-awaited amendment to the historical ledger which now registers win number nine over the All Blacks.

That’s the measure of England’s progress. From chokers to clinchers. And they did it through a mix of craft and graft, the street-smart drop-goals from George Ford allied to the sustained heft of the tight scrummage that drew proper recompense for its efforts the longer the game went on. There are line-out frailties to address but that’s readily redeemable. So too the wide defence fault lines that led to those early New Zealand tries.

The POM squad may be over-marketed as a concept but it keeps on delivering on the big stage, from the front-row uptick in fortunes to the X-factor impact of a Henry Pollock. Tom Curry brings unstinting effort while Pollock the Performer struts and makes things happen. No matter his Tik-Tok tendencies, he has a capacity for major involvements. It’s no fluke. He is aware of every possibility: a gobbled up ball from a Tom Roebuck tap-down for a try against Australia and swooping hack-on kicks for England’s crowning try on Saturday. Just like South Africa, the bench is no longer an after-thought, second-best understudies.

England’s resources are well-stocked. And there is more to come. But for the first time since Borthwick took over they have a settled air and a clear sense of direction. They were beginning, too, to have selection options at their disposal.

England’s resources are well-stocked. And there is more to come. But for the first time since Borthwick took over they have a settled air and a clear sense of direction. They were beginning, too, to have selection options at their disposal. Not of Springbok depth but noteworthy nonetheless. If the mighty Sam Underhill, for example, falls then there is a legion waiting to step forward. Even the centre partnership looks as if it might be gelling with Fraser Dingwall and Ollie Lawrence working well off each other. A sense of permanence is beginning to take shape. Certainly Ollie Lawrence is as important now to England’s cause as any of that centre three-quarter stock down the generations. The Tommy Freeman to centre strategy still has legs but Lawrence has to be involved. Dingwall’s cause is advancing too, the Northampton centre playing the sort of understated but influential role that he fulfils for his club. He’s a bright spark.

There is still stuff to sort out. Of course there is. That’s why Argentina is such a fine way to end this autumn series. England with home advantage and buoyed by this emphatic success ought to win. That’s the paper talk. Los Pumas will use that to their advantage. This is the next step for England, living up to their new-found billing, just as New Zealand used to do.

Borthwick has plenty to ponder. The back three is in a constant state of flux, partly through injury, partly through returning players such as Elliot Daly and George Furbank and partly through choice. Poor old Freddie Steward. It looked as if it would be his sort of day: leaden skies, drizzle, kick-chase on the menu. Instead, he lasted barely the first quarter and his failed HIA opened the way for Marcus Smith. The Harlequin is not an international full-back. Yet, through his talent and instinct, be added to England’s attack. There’s to be no denying that. England need that sort of try-creating, try-taking quality at the rear. South Africa have it. New Zealand have it. Marcus Smith is not the answer. Someone has to step up for England.

Finally, to the main man, Ford. The No 10 shirt is his to lose. That’s tough on Fin Smith who has all the skills. Marcus Smith too. But Ford has served his time, uncomplaining, heart and mind fixed only on one thing – the job in hand. If ever a player deserved his place centre stage, it is him, the man of this significant English moment. In many ways, he embodies what Borthwick’s England are all about – humble, hard-working, mighty of rugby IQ and a winner to the tip of his drop-goal boots.