ENGLAND played out of their skins against the Pacific Islanders; not in the sense that they were particularly brilliant, but in the way they changed their approach to the game.

For the past five years the team has essentially been based upon the bludgeon, based around the front five. Yesterday the attacking emphasis switched from the front row to the back three. It was refreshing.

W e h a v e l a u d e d A n d r e w Sheridan, Phil Vickery and Matt Stevens as England slogged their way out of the slough of their World Cup campaign last year with powerful surges from the men at the front of the team effort. We have, the odd individual magical moment aside, seen little of the back three.

The quick men have been playing largely in the shadows of the big men, and while there is a certain Calvinistic quality to be admired when England are at their bovine best, they have always been subject to looming defeat against an opposition that stands up to them; the transformative teams of the late Nineties and early 21st century became historical memories as England reverted to 100 years of type.

At Twickenham there were hints that under the tutelage of Brian Smith this could be about to change. The man-of-the-match effort from full-back, Delon Armitage, epito-mised the prominence that has been given to pace in this team.

If he was the sharpest cutting edge in the back-line, dual try-scorer Paul Sackey and the other impressive back-three debutant, Ugo Monye, were not too far behind.

It was expected that England would suffer against the dazzling and instinctive counter-attacking skills of the Islanders if tactical kicking was even slightly off key; instead the brio of the England three provide d m o s t o f t h e m e m o r a b l e moments. The combined speed and skill of Armitage and Sackey was too much for the Islanders’ stretched defence as England eased over for their first try of the month; the second try owed everything to speed, this time a combination of foot and thought.

Danny Care’s quick tapped free kick opened up a defence that surely did not expect stodgy old England to be a “Fiji” and race out from beneath the shadows of their own posts.

Danny Cipriani is no slouch either, tracking Monye’s long, mazy run until he received a return scoring pass to dive exuberantly in the corner. Against stronger opposition it would be remembered as one of the outstanding English tries at Twickenham.

Against opponents always short of quite the requisite firepower up front, it will probably have to settle for a place in the second tier of tries.

Its importance is probably greater than the quality - this is saying something, because it was a 90-metre special the like of which England supporters have only dreamed of in recent years - but this try was far more than five points; this was a statement of intent. Bold, brave thinking and pace, pace, pace in the back three will make England a far more formidable force with the ball in hand with sterner tests to come.

If the influence of one coach was in evidence, it was Smith. The intent and the intelligence to play what the team saw in front of them rather than where they were standing is the hallmark of the London Irish teams of recent years.

England do not have to metamorphose from a battering ram to a slashing set of swordsmen overnight, but having this artillery will cause the best teams far more problems.

In the World Cup England beat Australia and France in the knock-out stages because they controlled possession and the pace of the game to an extent where all opposition threat was almost nullified. They had no other option because ambition was as constricted as the channels down which they played. Yesterday may have been the day when the long- overdue balancing of priorities began. That does not mean England will run out against Australia and throw a tradition of tight forward play to the wind as the ball is shifted erratically to the wings.

It would be insane next Saturday if England were to play flat out against an Australia team whose strengths are behind the scrum.

England must hit the breakdown with more controlled ferocity than they managed yesterday and get their front row running wider channels and causing more problems in the middle of the Wallaby defence.

They played way too close to the fringes; do that again and George Smith will gobble them up. A balance – that is what Australia fear, a balance between that old-fashioned English bludgeon and the new exciting rapier.