A Grand Slam should be seen as 'stepping stone' - Dawson column

In his latest BBC Sport column, England World Cup winner Matt Dawson discusses Steve Borthwick's side's perfect autumn and how the next step will be winning a Grand Slam.

Can we be that team that pushes for a Grand Slam?

That's what I'd be asking myself if I were an England player heading into next year's Six Nations.

England should be aiming for a Grand Slam before the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Having beaten Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina this autumn, that feels like the next step.

I don't think you have to do it to win a World Cup, but it does give you experience in delivering during must-win games, and that mentality is required for the biggest prizes.

Those away fixtures in the 2026 Six Nations, especially Scotland and France - where England have struggled - will really show where Steve Borthwick's side sit.

It's not the be-all and end-all, but it would be another marker the players can look back on.

Inside that squad, they'll absolutely want the medal, the trophy, the photo, and that line on their Wikipedia page saying they're Grand Slam winners.

They might not talk openly about it, but I think having that mindset matters.

This group will see a Grand Slam as a stepping stone to bigger success and a huge source of momentum heading into 2027.

England secured a first four-Test autumn sweep since 2016

All four sides this autumn were very different in how they play and England found a way to get the job done.

To have that problem-solving in your memory bank will be vital.

It continues the momentum and even now on an 11-game winning run, Borthwick still has that obsession with detail.

The development of his coaching staff has been top-drawer, and he deserves all the plaudits right now.

It's obvious this England team has moved on and developed over the past two years.

The style of rugby is significantly different, and it's becoming very hard to play against.

Borthwick will relish developing the squad, and himself, because as a player he was all about detail.

He knew the line-out inside out, and now he is bringing that level of clarity to every aspect of the game.

What I expect him to do now is look at what happens to teams that get on a roll.

Look at American football, soccer, cricket, or other rugby teams and see how they keep winning and go on to secure the big prizes.

He is the type who wants to absorb and learn. He can't stand still. He will chase those incremental gains the players might not even notice.

'People will always talk about peaking too early'

A danger is when teams hit their absolute pomp in the middle of a World Cup cycle.

We've seen it before. But New Zealand and South Africa have both won back-to-back World Cups and been the best team in the world over sustained periods.

It's not a negative to be the best team in the world before 2027.

If England can climb the rankings by winning a Six Nations or Nations Championship and get themselves to number one or two, they will be in a strong position to reach a World Cup final. That's the ultimate goal.

People always talk about peaking too early, but I see it differently. These are the moments where you get all your learnings in, and if you go on a winning run then so be it.

England are not going to go undefeated all the way to the World Cup, and part of the learning process is figuring out how you bounce back from defeat.

In a weird way, I would actually like England to lose a game at some point, because what you don't want is their first loss coming in a World Cup knockout match.

England have been in total control this autumn and have shown they can win ugly too.

Coming off that emotional high against New Zealand was always going to be tough, and in 2019 they were miles off backing up that famous semi-final win.

However, they proved against Argentina they can do it.

If they do deliver a big performance, say, at Murrayfield, then the challenge is backing it up the following week.

When you are on a winning run you can really drill into the small details, whereas before everything was about selection, style of play, or injuries.

England don't need to worry about that now, it's about refining the little things that make you a top side.

Sir Clive Woodward called those the "one percenters", the tiny details that make all the difference.

Winning teams have the fundamentals locked in, which allows coaches to spend time on everything else.

Loads of the current England squad have never had the chance to focus on those smaller elements.

That is why Ireland and France have put together long winning runs.

Now that England know how to win games, they can develop further to push at the top of the Six Nations.