A danger is when teams hit their absolute pomp in the middle of a World Cup cycle.
We’ve seen it before. But New Zealand and South Africa have both won back-to-back World Cups and been the best team in the world over sustained periods.
It’s not a negative to be the best team in the world before 2027.
If England can climb the rankings by winning a Six Nations or Nations Championship and get themselves to number one or two, they will be in a strong position to reach a World Cup final. That’s the ultimate goal.
People always talk about peaking too early, but I see it differently. These are the moments where you get all your learnings in, and if you go on a winning run then so be it.
England are not going to go undefeated all the way to the World Cup, and part of the learning process is figuring out how you bounce back from defeat.
In a weird way, I would actually like England to lose a game at some point, because what you don’t want is their first loss coming in a World Cup knockout match.
England have been in total control this autumn and have shown they can win ugly too.
Coming off that emotional high against New Zealand was always going to be tough, and in 2019 they were miles off backing up that famous semi-final win.
However, they proved against Argentina they can do it.
If they do deliver a big performance, say, at Murrayfield, then the challenge is backing it up the following week.
When you are on a winning run you can really drill into the small details, whereas before everything was about selection, style of play, or injuries.
England don’t need to worry about that now, it’s about refining the little things that make you a top side.
Sir Clive Woodward called those the “one percenters”, the tiny details that make all the difference.
Winning teams have the fundamentals locked in, which allows coaches to spend time on everything else.
Loads of the current England squad have never had the chance to focus on those smaller elements.
That is why Ireland and France have put together long winning runs.
Now that England know how to win games, they can develop further to push at the top of the Six Nations.
