The good news for England is that on Saturday they will not have to play in the 100mph fast lane. Australia may be the world champions, and all that, but they do not push back the boundaries of adventure like New Zealand.

But a week is precious little time to recover from a contest like this. Never mind the bodies, what about the stress levels? If England had lost then there would truly have been a crisis. As it is, at least they can study the videos and not their broken hearts and careers. And they start to work on such prosaic matters as how to nail a game down. England had a 17-point lead and they nearly blew it. They need more control. They need to quell the desire to cut loose willy-nilly. They are not yet at a level where they can relax and enjoy themselves. Martin Johnson does not have the word 'enjoyment' in his vocabulary. The moment they went a little over the top in their exuberance was the moment Tana Umaga read their play and cut their lead.

So, what went wrong in particular? The trouble is that so much went right. Every player had his moments. Or his long spells when he could do no wrong. Lewis Moody, for example, was majestic for most of the game. The two props, Trevor Woodman and Phil Vickery were both solid at the basics and prominent in open play.

The forwards, however, went collectively off the boil in the second half. But the All Blacks can play for 90 minutes. And, if anything, the Wallabies next up are even fitter, even more obdurate.

Jonny Wilkinson can control a game for as long as it takes, and the onus is on the team to let him do so. When control is needed, Wilkinson is the general. Matt Dawson must look to him to run the show. Dawson, of course, will say that he can take the pressure off his half-back partner, but sometimes England must settle for the predictable.

The glory of England is that they can play any one of a number of styles. Their problem is that sheer simplicity is sometimes the key. The Australians do the simple things exceedingly well. Or until their upset in Ireland at least. Their whole run to the top of the world pile has been based on committing fewer mistakes than their opponents. They will reach for that philosophy again.

The good news is that England survived their first nerve-jangling ordeal. The intensity will be more familiar in the next game. And whoever plays on the Wallaby wing, he will not be Jonah Lomu. James Simpson-Daniel is a rare talent, but it will be a relief for the 20-year-old to play against someone only twice his size.

The Gloucester wing may have to settle for churning up and down the field without the ball, but at least Jonah will not fill his vision. With that in mind, the flier can be incorporated judiciously into the strategy. Chase and chase again - and then suddenly give him the ball in hand. Ben Cohen can do the battering stuff; Simpson-Daniel must be protected and used in short spells.

But so much will depend on the forwards. When the game was being riotously won against New Zealand, the old heads should have been slugging away, thinking that this could still go pear- shaped. As it so very nearly did. There's nothing wrong with being a total bully for the total duration of the game on the international rugby field. It may not be pretty, but prettiness cannot always be produced on tap.

There might be an extra incentive here. The England forwards should still be hurting for what happened to them in the name of the Lions in Oz last year. It is a golden opportunity for some pay-back. The game against the world champions will probably not set the pulse racing as the All Blacks encounter did, but it could be very, very juicy. And that, in its own little throw-back way, could mean that the next game will be just as compelling.

The key could be to rediscover that cold-hearted brutality that was a speciality of England in the 1990s. This may sound like an advert for a style that had only limited admirers, but it is still true that nothing much ever really changes. Up-the-jumper rugby never really had its day, never to reappear. It simply gave way to adventure for a time. It's still out there, waiting for the call-up. Like next Saturday. We've had the romp. Now let's have some ruthlessness. It's not old-fashioned, it could well be the future. And that's what these games are all about, preparing for a variety of intense encounters of all sorts of styles in 12 months' time.