England’s stock hits all-time low
LIBERTE! Egalite! Catastrophe! Forget ‘Le Crunch’, England suffered ‘Le Crash’ as their stock hit an all-time low under Eddie Jones. Any faint hopes of a Six Nations decider at Twickenham were wiped out after a toothless defeat in the French capital.
They lacked spirit, discipline and accuracy as a sloppy French team landed a double blow after the humiliation of Murrayfield.
Before taking the field, England knew they needed a four-try victory to have any mathematical hope of clinching the title but they could barely manage one at the Stade de France.
History was not on their side. England had not scored four tries in Paris since 1992 but at least Jones had fielded his most attacking side.
But forget four tries, they did not look like scoring one in the first half. Struck by ill-discipline, they conceded eight penalties inside 40 minutes and the half ended nine-all with France’s Mathieu Bastereaud on the attack. For Owen Farrell, this was a free hit at the captaincy.
He was presented as a shortterm fix. A quick hit to fill the void left by the injured Dylan Hartley. Conspiracy theorists will ask whether the ‘injury’ was in fact an alibi to give Farrell a trial run.
After all, Steve Borthwick was unusually forthcoming in notifying the media of the hooker’s calf strain on Tuesday afternoon, moments before an unbriefed Jonny May claimed Hartley was ‘fine’. Headlines read ‘crocked’ instead of ‘dropped’ and Jones avoided a frenzy as Farrell snuck in through the back door.
Forget Jefferson Poirot, the French prop, this was a case for his namesake detective. But Farrell’s influence waned in the No12 jersey. Perhaps next week is the time for Jones to play his best player in his best position – at No10.
England failed to stitch together any phase play and relied on their surprise dominance at the scrum for kickable penalties.
For Jamie George, England’s long-time hooker in waiting, the biggest test was at the scrum.
The cherub-faced hooker does not offer the spit and snarl of Hartley but the set-piece was a rare source of success.
Farrell and Elliot Daly were on point from the kicking tee but they were drowned out by optimistic chants of ‘ALLEZ LES BLEUS’.
English discipline unravelled in front of Jaco Peyper, with Maxime Macheneaud on hand to keep the scores level. ‘God Save Les Bleus,’ read the local morning papers.
France have been crippled by tearaway nights out, police raids, sacked coaches and an 11-month winless streak – yet here they held England to parity.
England were terrorised by Bastereaud and hot-shot No7 Yacouba Camara at the breakdown as their ploy to carry the ball into contact in pairs was foiled.
Hartley took his seat next to Borthwick on the coaching bench in the second half and looked on as Bastereaud dominated the tackle area like a 20-stone limpet.
Guilhem Guirado broke down field and then Anthony Watson, as the last line of defence, struck Benjamin Fall with a high tackle on the line. Peyper consulted his TMO, motioned a hand to his neck and reached for his pocket. Yellow card, penalty try, game over.
Mike Brown approached Watson in the the naughty seat and ruffled his hair. A penny for his thoughts.
In Dublin, the champagne corks popped. Over in New Zealand, the All Blacks were smugly eating their Sunday morning breakfast as chit-chat turned to the World Cup. The All Blacks have not lost back-to-back Tests since before the 2011 World Cup.
It was France’s own shortfalls which prevented them from extending their lead during Watson’s sin-bin period.
Machenaud was stopped just short of the try line before May had a try ruled out after Danny Care pushed Rabah Slimani.
France’s Little General extended the lead after 63 minutes before Jones threw on a desperate hand of reinforcements. Still the French rumbled.
Maro Itoje stole a defensive lineout, allowing Daly to pop inside to May for England’s only try after 75 minutes.
But France had the final say. Lionel Beauxis kicked a penalty in front of the posts before Bastereaud – quelle surprise – turned over the final attack of the game on his own line.
What is the French for ‘pop’? Because the final whistle brought with it the sound of an English bubble bursting.