STUART Lancaster admits Ben Morgan has made a sizeable impression on him during the autumn, with England’s head coach insisting the Gloucester No.8 has made himself un-droppable ahead of the World Cup.

Morgan helped England sign off their November in style as he chipped in with two tries and a man-of-the-match performance as Australia were put to the sword 26-17 at Twickenham on Saturday.

It signalled a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Morgan who started the autumn internationals behind Billy Vunipola in the pecking order, starting the defeats to New Zealand and South Africa on the bench.

An impressive performance off the bench against the Springboks, that saw him dot down, convinced Lancaster to throw him the 25-year-old from the start in wins over Samoa and the Wallabies.

And England’s head coach was so impressed with Morgan that he is more than happy to hand him the No.8 shirt permanently with the World Cup fast approaching.

“Ben Morgan has come storming back,” Lancaster said. “For me he has been one of the standouts of the last couple of games.

“He had to sit patiently on the bench for the first two games but what has pleased me most about Ben is that he has stepped up as a leader.

“He had a difficult season at Gloucester last year and there is now a new coaching team there and he is a reinvigorated player at his club. He absolutely thoroughly deserved the man of the match award against Australia.

“He has more belief in himself and his ability, and just more maturity and experience.

“For guys to come in and play Test Matches at the highest level in front of 82,000 people it takes time to develop – particularly when you are young. Let’s remember Ben is 25. He’ll be a hard person to shift now.”

And while Morgan will now be eagerly anticipating next year’s World Cup, Lancaster too struggled to hide his excitement as England picked up a much-needed southern hemisphere scalp in their final opportunity.

“I think all the northern hemisphere sides felt undercooked going into the first game,” he added. “You meet after lads have been playing big European games and knocking heads together.

“There is always limited preparation time and it’s always a challenge but I think there has been enough shown by all the northern hemisphere sides.

“We beat Australia, Ireland have done well and Wales won against South Africa, so it can only be a positive. In the preparation for the World Cup the decks are equal.”

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