England make massive step up in Australia victory

In his latest BBC Sport column, England World Cup winner Matt Dawson reflects on an impressive 45-22 win for Steve Borthwick's side against Australia in the Nations Championship on Sunday. Beating Australia with their record points tally against the Wallabies was a very positive way for England to start the autumn series, given the break they have had and how the beginning of the year went.

Before the game, I was expecting Australia to provide much more of a stern test. Some people might be a bit too critical of Australia, saying they did not turn up, but I think it edges more towards how well England played than how average Australia were.

I am not saying by any stretch that it was the perfect performance but, all in all, it was a massive step up from the Six Nations and even from the Nations Championship games in the summer. A couple of days before the Australia game, Jamie George said the England team had been galvanised by a newspaper article which claimed the end of their summer tour had been marked by player unrest over head coach Borthwick's leadership.