Six Nations in chaos as France match against Scotland delayed
The Six Nations has been thrown into chaos, with France’s game against Scotland postponed until after the tournament was due to finish and both teams facing the prospect of fielding weakened sides.
A positive test for Covid-19 in the French camp yesterday – the 11th over the past week – meant Sunday’s match was called off. The Six Nations announced it hoped to rearrange rather than cancel the fixture.
Six Nations sources suggested the French would be unable to play the game next weekend – the only remaining fallow week – as their entire squad are in isolation after coming into contact with the infected player during training.
The possibility of a midweek game has been rejected on the grounds of player safety, as the idea of three Six Nations matches in a week is deemed a non-starter.
As Scotland play Ireland and then Italy at Murrayfield on the remaining two weekends, the only option is to stage the game after the scheduled finish to the tournament for a second year running.
There are concerns over player release, as the match is now poised to take place outside the designated window for Tests.
Six of the Scots’ starting XV against Wales play their rugby outside Scotland, including captain Stuart Hogg, and all would need their clubs to agree to them being released. For France, whose union has often had a fractious relationship with its top clubs, the obstacles are even more daunting.
During the Autumn Nations Cup, the French clubs refused to release top players when not required to do so, leading to France playing England with effectively a third team.
During the autumn, when Fiji were unable to fulfil their fixtures due to positive Covid tests, they forfeited and their opponents were awarded a 28-0 walkover. However, that was largely because there were no fallow weeks available.
The Six Nations is keen to avoid such a scenario, not least because the cash-strapped sport has to consider the reaction of sponsors and television rights-holders.
If the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem, then England appear to have taken significant strides this week.
First, Billy Vunipola spoke from the heart on Tuesday when admitting he had been “playing rubbish” in this Six Nations and owed England a big performance. The refreshing theme of honest self-evaluation continued yesterday, with Jonny May leading the way.
Many column inches have been devoted to questioning England’s stunted attacking game since the autumn, but now here was May, one of England’s most potent attacking threats, adding his respected voice. He admitted England’s attack had not been “quite right” in the autumn and their wins meant issues were “brushed under the carpet”. But the defeat by Scotland at Twickenham had been their wake-up call.
“You play against Scotland and, all of a sudden, for whatever reason your set-piece is a little bit off, your dominant defence is a little bit off, and you need another part of your game to shine through and get you out of the trouble or find a way, which was our attack, and our attack was poor,” May said. “That’s what really shone the light on it, and it was a bit of a moment where we got smacked. And it was like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s where we are’.”
If the incremental improvements in the mixed performance in the victory over Italy were enough to convince Eddie Jones, the England head coach, largely to keep faith in that selection, he has effectively signalled to his squad that there can be no excuses against Wales in Cardiff tomorrow. England are approaching the crossroads of their campaign and, at this critical moment, he resisted the temptation to make further tweaks, with the sole tactical change being the return of Jamie George at hooker.
Jones believes Mark Wilson coming into the back row after injury to Courtney Lawes will bolster defensive and clean-out capabilities, while Luke Cowan-dickie, who impressed against Italy, will be handed a significant role from the bench. The spotlight, however, is on the more experienced heads, with Elliot Daly, who wins his 50th cap, Vunipola and captain Owen Farrell among those who need to repay the faith shown in them.
Max Malins was unlucky not to have been given a chance to prove himself with a start against Italy. Jones also had the option of switching Tom Curry to No8 and handing a start to the impactful Ben Earl. Instead, he has stuck by his men and they owe him a big performance against a Wales side who, against the odds, remain on course for the Grand Slam.
Yet, perhaps above all, this is the moment when Farrell needs to deliver for his coach. Farrell, who sets the tone for the squad, has been out of sorts during this campaign. “Obviously, there was massive disappointment from the first game and there was an improvement into
the second one,” Farrell said. “We want to bring the best of ourselves.”
England’s shift in mindset, according to May, has been significant. “We took a big step forward against Italy,” he said. “I know everybody was, ‘OK, it’s Italy, they’re going to win’. Of course it wasn’t perfect, but there was a shift.
“Maybe you couldn’t see it, I certainly felt it, and saw it out there. There was a shift in terms of the way we wanted to go about our game, and the way we wanted to attack and have a mindset to go at them, which probably has been creeping up on us because, if we are honest, we have been working hard on our attack, we have, and it wasn’t quite right in the autumn, but when you’ve got a very dominant setpiece and a brilliant defence, you can get away with winning games and it sort of got brushed under the carpet.”
Encouragingly, it seems everything is now on the table. There were signs that England had made improvements to their attacking game against Italy following the return of George Ford to fly-half, as Farrell resumed his midfield combination with Henry Slade. And yet England’s back line know the Wales defence will pose far more questions than a youthful Italy side were able to muster.
There may be no supporters in Cardiff, but familiar tensions are mounting nonetheless. “You get to the third game of the series and for most teams it’s a make-or-break game, and I think both teams face similar pressure,” Jones said.
Having already lost to Scotland at Twickenham in the opening round of the tournament, England cannot afford another defeat. As they acknowledge themselves, it is time to deliver.