England vs Argentina: Autumn internationals more important than meets the eye in Eddie Jones' grand plan

England are expected to beat Argentina, Australia and Samoa this month, but any setback could have serious repercussions to their hopes of clawing the World Cup away from New Zealand

Eddie Jones has set his sights on winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup (Getty)

A glance at the autumn schedule suggests that England may just be taking it easy after a demanding year, but the games against Australia, Samoa and first-up Argentina will be anything but.

That’s because this series will take on a huge importance for what happens at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. With fewer than two years to go until the final in Japan – where Eddie Jones expects his side to feature – the England camp have ramped up their focus on the global gathering and their aspirations of not only winning the tournament, but toppling the All Blacks along the way.

The claim that New Zealand are as vulnerable as their recent results have suggested should be taken with a pinch of salt given their lengthy injury crisis, and all of the signs in the Land of the Long White Cloud point to preparations for a World Cup defence being right on track.

Yet one thing that can be taken on board from this year is that to have a chance against the reigning world champions, a team needs to have the most stubborn of defences. The British and Irish Lions proved this in the summer as an Andy Farrell-drilled defensive plan proved the basis for the drawn test series, and his replacement in the England camp, Paul Gustard, has promised to deliver Jones the best defence in the world in two years’ time.

“We want to have the best defence, whatever percentage increase that equates to I don't care,” defence coach Gustard said on the eve of the first autumn international against Argentina.

“I want the best defence in the world and I've told that to Eddie and told that to the team. Eddie wants me to deliver the best defensive team in the world.

“Any team that wins the World Cup, apart from the last one when the best attack also won, has the best defence.

“Going into the World Cup we need to be bulletproof, trust each other, have confidence in each other, be adaptable, confrontational and absorb pressure when our attack isn't firing.”

Jones will not allow his squad to take their eyes off the long-term aim (Getty)

That will be put to the test by a Pumas side that has averaged nearly 24 points per game this year and managed to put 34 and 25 points on the board when they met England in this summer’s two-Test series. If Gustard harbours ambitions of being the best without the ball, there’s work to be done.

Not only do England need to improve their defence, they also need to blood the young talent that Jones trusted this summer and was rewarded with a number of standout performances. The likes of Ellis Genge, Nick Isiekwe and Tom Curry showed they could well find themselves in the mix in Japan, while Exeter Chiefs back-row Sam Simmons is in line to make his debut this weekend should he come off the replacements’ bench against Argentina.

He's not a Haskell in terms of how he talks, thankfully, as there's a bit of air space for other people but his action is excellent

&#13; <p>Paul Gustard</p>&#13;

Having seen the 1999 World Cup-winning Australia side having 622 caps among its squad, the 2015 All Blacks side that started the final had nearly 1,000 international caps between them. In comparison, England’s starting XV on Saturday currently boasts 595 caps, and even when Owen Farrell (52) and Maro Itoje (12) are added to the squad, they are still well short of every final winners since 2003.

Given another two years’ worth of matches though, England’s numbers will be in the region of where World Cup challengers should be. That means that if Jones is looking at the likes of Genge and Simmonds as 2019 candidates, they need to start seeing regular action now – something that is problematic for one of those inexperienced players in Curry after he dislocated his wrist on Thursday, ruling him out for three months in the process after surgery.

Ellis Genge is one of a number of inexperienced players in Jones' squad (Getty)

Curry’s loss is Simmonds’ gain, as the former England Sevens international is called up to fill the void left by the Sale back-row among the replacements, with a potential debut on the line against the Pumas. Having turned 23 on Friday, Simmonds appears to be the long-term replacement to James Haskell in being a utility man that can play anywhere across the back-row, and Gustard wants him to leave an impression on Jones if he gets the chance to show what he can do.

“It's important that Sam stamps some authority in that area though action and direction,” Gustard said. “Sam's style of play suits what we have been looking at from a seven. James Haskell performed that role brilliantly for us and what expect from Sam is a dominant performance.

“He's not a Haskell in terms of how he talks, thankfully, as there's a bit of air space for other people but his action is excellent.

“He is a physical player has stopping power, can hit people backwards and take momentum away in attack. He prides himself on stopping people with force.

“On the other side of the ball he must clear out efficiently and effectively. We expect him to go up another level against Argentina.”

Simmonds has been drafted back into the squad and could make his debut this Saturday (Getty)

It is also not lost on this squad that the last time they played as a team, they were comprehensively beaten by Ireland to cost them a Six Nations Grand Slam. The talk this week has been that the disappointment of the bitter-sweet night in Dublin in no longer in their thoughts, but suffering two losses in a row – excluding the Argentina series that the majority of the squad missed – would no doubt be a setback for Jones’ grand plans.

Beating Australia in the second week of the autumn internationals will speak for itself, given the rivalry between the two sides, and a Samoa side in financial crisis should pose no problems if winning the World Cup is to become a reality. If there are any blips along the way over the next month, the repercussions further down the line could be much bigger than initially expected.