A four-point plan to bring Les Bleus back down to earth
Stop ‘Jedi’ Vakatawa’s offloads
Virimi Vakatawa’s return is huge for France because, well, he is huge. And clever. As a centre, Vakatawa has it all. If you want to win the gain line, you can play straight to him off the top of a line-out. You can use him as a second receiver, going nine10-12, or he might come one in and become first receiver.
But he is not just a crash-ball merchant. Vakatawa is always scanning defenders’ eyes. After four or five phases, he is there waiting, like a velociraptor. The second a big lump near a ruck turns his head to ball watch, Vakatawa will run a reverse angle and attack his blind spot.
England’s forwards almost have to be cross-eyed. They have to watch Dupont and they have to watch Vakatawa (and I have not even mentioned Gael
Fickou!), because the Racing man has made some unbelievable players look like mugs, walking in untouched under the posts, through what seems like a brick wall. Then there is his offloading.
Vakatawa is a Jedi Master offloader. He will do you on the outside, suck a defender in and release Teddy Thomas or Damian Penaud with a one-handed offload.
England have to be patient. France have so many big men who can offload – even their front row, guys like Cyril Baille and Julien Marchand, can play like Blanco, Sella, Saint-andre and Camberabero from 1991. England’s second man in is key here. Technically, the first guy has to go low. The second one then has to decide if he can make it a two-man tackle without going high. If he cannot, better to occupy the space on the outside, where the French like to flood the channels, to prevent the offload.
Target Thomas in the air
England have to find France’s weak spots and attack them. They were OK with ball in hand against Wales. They started to win some contacts and play with a bit of pace. But only really in a one-out sort of way. That penalty Ellis Genge gave away at the end was because it was so obvious England were going to a one-man carry.
They have to be more ambitious, playing with pace and using space, running hard in midfield, staying as square as possible. Otherwise, what is the point of having Jonny May, Anthony Watson and Max Malins?
England’s set-piece has to be rock solid. Kyle Sinckler has to have the game of his life because he is going to be sticking his head between Cyril Baille and Julien Marchand. It might be a classic “backs” comment, but he has to give everything to every scrum to
Discipline at the breakdown
England have to find a way of stifling France. That does not mean forcing 35 turnovers. It means disrupting their flow. England have to strangle them, but without giving away 14 penalties like they did against Wales.
Never mind that some of those penalties were harsh – and I thought three of Maro Itoje’s five penalties were dubious – at the end of the day, you have to play the referee. When it mattered, England coughed up free points.
It is a fine balance. England have to keep their edge. I totally agree with what John Mitchell was saying. It feels as if the world is binary at the moment. England are either great and Itoje is great. Or England are awful and Itoje is worth 15 points a game to the opposition.
The truth is, England have to keep their edge and they are not a million miles away from suffocating a team and denying them possession.
But if they concede two penalties on the trot, they have got to be east-west vacating rucks, not northsouth.
Collective discipline, collective pressure, collective responsibility. And keep your hands out of the till. The only reason to cheat is because you think you have to – that unless you do, the opposition will score.
Everyone this week has been talking, understandably, about Antoine Dupont’s attacking game. It goes without saying; the man is a genius with ball in hand. What I think sometimes gets overlooked, though, is his defence. Dupont has an extraordinary ability to stop you playing; to put you under so much pressure that you make mistakes.
That might sound a bit weird considering he is a 5ft 8in, 12½st nugget but, a bit like Faf de Klerk at Sale, or even Danny Care at Quins, Dupont enjoys a free role with France with and without the ball. Dupont is lethal. If you set up a pod of forwards three or
wear the legs out of those two. I want him to show up in his Greatest Showman jacket, smiling, chewing gum, at his spaghetti western best.
And finally, England have to kick well. I would be surprised if they did not kick to Teddy Thomas on France’s right wing as often as possible. Teddy’s like a lithe cat with the ball; so balanced, so quick in space.
But he is human under high balls and in traffic. With May’s improvement in the kick-chase, I would be surprised if England did not launch kicks at Thomas.
Similarly, Brice Dulin. He was man of the match in Dublin four weeks ago, but he is not a giant. If you kick deep and give him time, he will punish you. But if you make him go up for kicks in traffic and it is like asking him to win a header at a corner against Vincent Kompany. England need to make him play on their terms.