Jones mischief backfires on shell-shocked England
Jonny May’s two tries were brilliant, but for an hour England were more Theresa May. Their followers will want less talk and more action at Murrayfield next weekend. Nobody should be deceived by England’s emphasis on their second-half revival.
A patriotic Paris crowd moved by Brexit-tinged hostility silenced England’s followers and Fabien Galthie’s promising young side did the same to last year’s beaten World Cup finalists.
England showed no sign of becoming the “Liverpool” of world rugby, did not subject France to “brutal physicality and intensity”, and showed no hint of becoming the “greatest team that ever played”. These were all references by Jones in the build-up as he went into distraction overdrive, churning out quotable lines that blew up in his team’s face with a 24-17 of those wilderness years. It is a marriage made in heaven, celestial rugby played as only the French can, with elan as well as power.
The rain teemed from Parisian skies but it could do nothing to dampen the mood. La Marseillaise can stir the soul with its message of warrior spirit and togetherness. It was wholly in keeping with the mood of the moment. Farewell to the ancien regime. France are on the rise.
Antoine Dupont, so eager and alert, forever probing, is a crackerjack scrum-half in the grand tradition, sparking so much, a burgeoning star. Dupont versus Ben Youngs was no contest.
Captain Charles Ollivon, scoring two tries, plays with the noble stolidity of his Basque countrymen, selfless and devoted, while the man alongside him, No 8 Gregory Alldritt, was a colossus, his lime-streaked head-guard a constant focal point where bodies clashed. If there was action, Alldritt was there. Scotland might have claimed him, with Alldritt’s father hailing from north of the border, but who would not choose to be French in these heady times?
There was a wobble, though, as Jonny May’s individual two-try salvo briefly sent tremors through a crowd who were, understandably enough when leading 24-0, in the throes of premature celebration. Was it to be deja vu all over again? France blew a 16-point half-time lead against Wales exactly a year