Was last week a false start? I think today we are going to find out just how Martin Johnson’s England Rugby Union team intend to play. This afternoon they face Australia in the first of 3 games against the top southern hemisphere teams with South Africa and New Zealand to follow.

Last week against the Pacific Islanders everything was looking pretty good. For a large part of the game the old “boot it and hope” game seemed to had been left behind with England prepared to run the ball and take a chance, the end result was of course tries! How nice is it to see an England team win from tries rather than solely from the boot? In all fairness though perhaps it was the level of the opposition that allowed England to play that way, today against Australia they’ll be given a real test.

I for one would be happy to see them playing open running rugby, even if they don’t come out on top. It’s a new team and it’s going to be a learning experience as the team gels. You’re not going to suddenly become the best team in the world overnight, you need to practice and by practising at playing the right way England will progress. Come the world cup in 2011 we’ll be an exciting team of pacey backs and the whole team will be gelled in the art of running rugby. That’s how the southern hemisphere teams play and that’s how we’ve got to play to beat them.

England v Australia is live on Sky Sports 2 this afternoon, coverage starts at 2pm.