TIME TO RESCUE A BIT OF PRIDE
England are bidding to save face with win over France
IT was supposed to be the decisive occasion in this six Nations. The pre-championship script had it that England v France would be a high-stakes, heavyweight showdown with the title and Grand slam ambitions on the line.
That’s not how it has panned out, creating an unexpected backdrop to ‘Le Crunch’ at Twickenham this afternoon. One side has been outplayed, the other has had an outbreak. One has underperformed, the other may be undercooked. One side has suffered from indiscipline on the field, the other from indiscipline off it.
England and France are not where they expected to be. The hosts are seeking to salvage a broken campaign when they had designs on retaining the trophy. The visitors have been engulfed in criticism at home, when they hoped to be in London on the crest of a wave, armed with momentum and acclaim.
Yet there is still a lot riding on the contest. France remain on course for the title and a clean sweep, despite the disruption of having their last match with scotland postponed. England can’t finish top of the pile after defeats to the scots and wales, but a win would help save face and show Les Bleus they have no intention of accepting a sudden shift in the cross-Channel balance of power.
England know the magnitude of the threat they face, with this rivalry reignited by France’s progress under Fabien Galthie.
‘we’ve seen their growth since the world Cup,’ said Mako Vunipola this week. ‘France are coming here as one of the best, if not the best team in Europe. For them to be back up there challenging and being a force again is not only good for them, it’s good for rugby in general.’
what has not been so good, for the six Nations in particular, has been the recent Covid chaos in the French camp, which saw Galthie and other staff members, along with 11 players, test positive for the virus.
It emerged that players left their ‘bubble’ in Rome to go for waffles, while Galthie went to watch his son play a match in Paris and French Federation president Bernard Laporte took a commercial flight, in defiance of protocols.
while the Federation and their government presided over a whitewash — exonerating all involved — Galthie has been under fire and Laporte has threatened players about the need to maintain unity and in-house secrecy, or face being jettisoned. It has created tension in the ranks amidst their bid for a first title since 2010.
The postponement of the scotland game means France haven’t played since February 14, though some of the squad made appearances for their clubs last weekend. England boss Eddie Jones played down the likely impact, saying: ‘They’ve had the luxury of maybe giving their players a break. They are a well-prepared side and we know they’ll be ready to play.’
However, ex-England back-rower Joe worsley, now coaching at Castres, has seen how French clubs — including his own — have struggled after Covid breaks and told Sportsmail: ‘It’s a big problem. The French team is going to be affected in some way. If you look at the teams who had this problem, there have been different performances after. They will be fresher and raring to go, but for a week or two after, it’s not great.’
England will seek to capitalise on any rustiness, while striving for a delicate balance between essential ferocity and renewed composure. They can’t give away another torrent of penalties like the 14 in Cardiff, which explains why two English referees — Matthew Carley and wayne Barnes — have assisted with their preparations.
Keeping their heads will not be easy as they try to avoid a third defeat in four games. France are too powerful to be overwhelmed by an English onslaught. They will apply brutal pressure of their own, even if the hosts should be capable of claiming an edge in the set-piece, especially as France are deprived by injury of influential lock Bernard Le Roux.
against wales, there was improved fluency in England’s attack and that progress must continue, as scoring chances may be limited by a pragmatic, territorial side defensively drilled by shaun Edwards. For all the talk of transition, Jones’ side have a wellestablished creative hub in the Ben Youngs-George Ford-Owen Farrell axis and those veterans will need to outsmart their younger counterparts.
If England fixate too much on lethal scrum-half antoine Dupont, the danger is Matthieu Jalibert will be free to wreak havoc in the No 10 shirt. He did so often enough in the autumn Nations Cup final, when Galthie deployed his reserves and nearly caused an upset. But this time the Bordeaux playmaker can unleash so much firepower out wide. Virimi Vakatawa’s return further enhances the potency of their back line.
There is no crowd to galvanise England, but the French — who have not won at Twickenham since 2005 — proved their resilience away from home by claiming a backs-to-the-wall win in Dublin on their last outing.