Samoa have improved greatly, as they showed at Twickenham, but England demonstrated a new adaptability according to The Guardian's Michael Aylwin.
"It might even be possible to argue that England played better here. Certainly there were individual performances to compare with those that shook up the morbid mob at HQ – Shontayne Hape played better this week than last, and Hendre Fourie has put Martin Johnson's captain, Lewis Moody, under severe pressure. How he must wish he could play with this lot every week.
"It did not stop there – Mark Cueto has suddenly rediscovered the form that made him the Premiership's finest try-scorer a few years ago. OK, his try-scoring drought at international level stretches on, but he has rediscovered an appetite for the ball in hand, rather than off the boot, that had deserted him at this level. And this weekend he was dealing with some serious tacklers.
"Cueto was involved in an incident midway through the second half that neatly summed up the difference. He received the ball from Ben Foden off a Samoan punt. He thought about the long pass to Chris Ashton, which seemed the sensible thing, but, the cheers of last week no doubt echoing through his head, chose to run it back at the phalanx of Samoans who were approaching. Well, it was a policy that worked last week, so why not?"
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