For the third Saturday in succession, the grey skies cleared before noon. By the time the Springboks kicked off, Twickenham was bathed in autumn sunshine and optimism. And on a perfect pitch England completed not merely their 18th home win in a row but a hat-trick of victories over the opponents who matter most.
"We've been asked a lot of questions in these three games," the admirable Richard Hill said afterwards. "We had to knuckle down against New Zealand, we had to pull all the stops out against Australia, and this week we had to show an immense amount of self-control."
In the aftermath of South Africa's primitive assault, Clive Woodward pondered the lessons of an exhilarating November. "We're a tough team, physically and mentally, and we're moving forward," he said. "But you've got to remember we've won nothing. These are one-off friendlies. We're a long way from being the finished article."
Poor old England: damned if they celebrate and damned if they don't. A byword for arrogance to some ("England are pricks to lose to" - A Mehrtens), recently they have also been accused of not showing enough joy in their achievements. And suffusing Woodward's summary on Saturday evening was a reluctance to be seen to take too much pleasure from what has surely been the best month of his coaching career.
This is the unwanted legacy of England's special place in the world of sport. Coming from the cradle of so many of the games that now command a global following, the wearers of St George's flag are burdened with certain expectations. Failure becomes the subject of a particular kind of scrutiny, often coloured by gloating. Success, on the other hand, seldom quite receives its due.
Under Geoff Cooke, Jack Rowell and now Woodward, England's rugby players have responded by developing a carapace of mild-mannered taciturnity, with Will Carling as the prototype and Martin Johnson as the production model. Overt machismo is saved for the pitch, victories are lightly worn and criticism is met with nothing more than a raised eyebrow.
As a result of this peer-group conditioning, the younger players are emerging with a profoundly impressive attitude to their chosen career. To listen to Jonny Wilkinson, Phil Vickery, Steve Thompson or Lewis Moody summing up their experience of a match is to hear voices in which confidence and modesty appear perfectly blended.
No squad including Ben Cohen and Austin Healey could be accused of lacking men with a decent opinion of their own abilities, but such is the influence of Woodward, Andy Robinson and Phil Larder that, these days, English arrogance is in the eye of the beholder.
The extraordinary Wilkinson refused to be coaxed beyond the most realistic of assessments. "This is a good mark for us to move on from, but if we hadn't done all the things we did, the first two games could have gone the other way," he said, his head still aching and his left shoulder in a big black sling.
Like the rest of the squad, Wilkinson knows that the real target lies a year ahead. Hat-tricks and grand slams cannot be enjoyed for their own sake, although the victory over the world champions a week ago was quietly relished. "The Wallabies wrote the book on finishing a game off," Will Greenwood pointed out, emphasising England's achievement in surmounting a 12-point deficit. "But the end-of-term report? Can do better."
So can they do it away from Twickenham and in the biggest test of all? Are they yet the team their supporters yearn for them to become? "There's a factor which great teams have that is hard to explain," Larder said. "It's not really down to tactics. It's the way the guys gel and pull together when things get tough physically and when the situation looks almost impossible, like they did last week when Australia got so far ahead."
On Saturday Woodward expressed pride in his group of Englishmen who "went out and laid a marker down and didn't take a backward step in any circumstances." Now, as Greenwood said, the task is to maintain the progress and avoid falling into the trap set by a France or an Ireland. A flawless Six Nations tournament ought not to be beyond them this time. And on the other side lies the event that will define them, the mirage in an antipodean heat-haze, getting closer every day.
