Launchbury

Scrum holds this time and the ball is popped to Daly, and on the recycled possession the debutant Jack Willis goes over with some help from Launchbury’s ballast.

The replacements bench shows a 6-2 split once again, with lock Charlie Ewels returning alongside Wasps second row Joe Launchbury and Saracens back-row Ben Earl.

Even bruised survivors of England’s unsuccessful 2015 campaign are among those feeling cautiously upbeat, with the lock Joe Launchbury among those hoping the game on Friday will send the entire squad skipping on to the plane to Tokyo on Sunday evening.

Listening to his forwards coach Steve Borthwick waxing lyrical about the ability of Itoje’s potential replacements, Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes, and the extraordinary work rate of his new back-rowers was particularly instructive.

The finish, for Joe Launchbury, was simple, and Farrell knocked over his third conversion.

Showed his pace for the first to slide onto Farrell’s kick, and ran a good support line for Launchbury to offload for the second.