Six Nations: Billy Vunipola can be a world-beater for England says Eddie Jones

It is a rugby truth universally acknowledged: when Eddie Jones raises one eyebrow towards the heavens, he is preparing to condemn some poor soul to a particularly gruesome circle of sporting hell. Imagine how Billy Vunipola must have felt when the new England coach lifted both eyebrows before dissecting the No 8’s performance against the Calcutta Cup-chasing Scots.

Had Vunipola done something bad enough to warrant a sulphurous outpouring of criticism? Had Jones spotted a terrible flaw in the back-rower’s game that had escaped the notice of the 67,500 members of the paying public, the massed ranks of the media, the drummers and the bagpipers and the important folk in the posh seats? Not at all. It seems the double-eyebrow elevation is the opposite of the single one, not a reinforcement of it.

“Every day I tell Billy how good he can be,” said the Australian, who has worked with some special talents down the years – George Gregan, George Smith and Stephen Larkham; Bryan Habana, Fourie du Preez and Victor Matfield – but perhaps never with a No 8 blessed with such potential. “I think all players need a dream and one of your jobs as a coach is to give them their dreams. I don’t want Billy to be the best No 8 in the English Premiership. I want him to be the best in world rugby. And I think he can do that.”

Vunipola did the lot in driving England to their 15-9 victory at Murrayfield on Saturday – the heavy carrying duties, the vital security-blanket work at the base of the scrum, the shock-and-awe smithereening stuff in defence – and he did it for the full 80 minutes.

Even though the Scottish back-rowers, most notably the eye-catching John Hardie, found some joy with their groundhoggery on the floor in the second quarter of the match – the one spell when they seemed likely winners – they could not break the big Saracen’s grip on events. This was Billy’s game, entirely, and it will be fascinating to see how he stacks up against the great Sergio Parisse in Rome this coming weekend.

Could England have prevailed without Vunipola? Er, um. Josh Beaumont, the other specialist No 8 in the Six Nations squad, is an intelligent, highly skilled, deeply committed type. He is also uncapped, and not even his dear old dad – Grand Slam-winning Bill, the chairman of the Rugby Football Union – would argue he is capable of doing all the things Vunipola does with the same power and dynamism. Given the choice, Jones would much prefer his incumbent to stay fit.

There were mutterings before the game about the coach’s supposed conservatism in selection, to the effect that the retention of 11 players from last year’s fixture was about as revolutionary as a meeting of the 1922 Committee. And there were mutterings after it, too. England may have won, but only in the way they always win in Edinburgh. Where were the points of difference? Where was the shock of the new?

All of which was a little harsh. This was an eminently losable encounter for Jones – when the Scots’ run at last year’s World Cup came to an end, they felt a whole lot better about themselves than England – and there was no reason to assume they would curl up and play dead as they had too often in the past.

Under the circumstances, a two-try victory based on those traditional red-rose virtues that went absent without leave before Christmas was legitimate cause for satisfaction.

“Pragmatism? Yeah, coaches speak about it a lot,” Jones said. “And I’ll tell you something else: the supporters like it too. If we’d tossed the ball around out there and lost 17-16, nobody would be saying, ‘England played wonderful rugby’.

“I’ve been through all that. When I coached the Brumbies in Australia in 2000, we were the best side in the competition. In the final, we had the ball for 70 per cent of the match and got beat 20-19. No one congratulated us on our performance. We were super that day, and we got beaten. It’s all about winning.”

As a result of recording a “W” in the most northerly of the Six Nations strongholds, avenues have opened up for England in other directions.

They will expect to win in Italy in six days’ time, especially if the tight-head prop Dan Cole succeeds in bringing the Azzurri scrum to heel, and with the home comforts of Twickenham beckoning in rounds three and four, they should at least have a meaningful say in the outcome of the tournament.

Jones was delighted with Cole’s contribution against the Scots. “Everyone was tipping England to do well at the World Cup on the back of Cole being the premier tight-head operator in the game,” the coach said. “And at the end of the day, he didn’t have a good World Cup.

“But I’ve watched him over the last four or five weeks and he’s really improved his performance. He’s come into camp with an outstanding attitude and every session he gets that little bit better. I think he’s back on the road to being the best.”

There are other tight-head troglodytes who might have a word or two to say on the subject, not least Cole’s opposite number at Murrayfield. If Willem Nel’s scrummaging was less destructive than it had been the last time Scotland took the field in anger, against the Wallabies in the global quarter-final in October, it was good enough to keep the red-rose pack honest for long periods of the match. Together with his fellow southern hemisphere import, the high-calibre Hardie, he could yet help his adopted country make something of itself in this championship.

Scotland certainly have foundations on which to build: they could use some better options off the bench – lack of depth in the playing pool is the inevitable consequence of running two professional teams rather than three or four – but it will be surprising indeed if the full-back Stuart Hogg and the outside-half Finn Russell go all the way through to mid-March without ripping up a defence or two. They are not a million miles away from making the rest of Europe sit up and take notice.

But just for the moment, England are that little bit closer – as they should be, given the limitless range of their off-field advantages. It is Jones’ task to maximise those advantages, and if daily hosannas to Vunipola help the process along, the coach will happily shout them from the rooftops. It doesn’t mean he’s a softie at heart. It means he’s a pragmatist.