England primed for the biggest match of Jones era
Defeat would derail World Cup ambitions Te’o predicts ‘fireworks’ in bid to stop Bastareaud
Eddie Jones has told his players to prepare for “a test of their manhood” today as they prepare for the most important game of the Australian’s time in charge of England.
They cannot afford to falter again if the Natwest Six Nations title is to be defended and, if it is to be so, England will have to summon the rage of the damned following their jolting setback at Murrayfield. This is the time for a response, the time to show willing in attack and the time to demonstrate that this is an England team who can live up to their billing.
England have a fine record – 24 wins in 26 Tests – but have only intermittently played to that status. This is the chance for England to silence the doubters and to prove that their credentials are bona fide.
Events in Dublin earlier in the afternoon will have a bearing on the task awaiting England at the Stade de France, where their mettle will be put to the test. They may have to get a bonus point if their championship challenge is to be sustained but, for all the conjecture in that regard, there is one certainty: every last spark of French resistance will have to be snuffed out if England are, first and foremost, to win, but also to contemplate a strike for bonus-point glory.
With a turbo-charged back three in place, spearheaded by Anthony Watson at full-back, England have the capacity to hit hard from deep, to do a France on France, through punishing counter-attacks.
Conversely, if they are as limp and indecisive as they were against Scotland, then misery lies in store. Successive championship losses, their third in five matches in the tournament stretching back to Dublin in 2017, would consign England to the mid-table ranks of World Cup contenders. Jones has no doubts that England will have to find their snarl.
“Every time you play against the French it is a test of your manhood,” said Jones. “It may no longer be the case in their club rugby that they
kick-off straight into touch so that they can scrum against you. But it is still an area that will decide how much energy they have got in their game, in the scrum, on the gain line, so we have got to beat them in those areas.
“Everyone has got the responsibility of bringing energy and intensity. France are the European version of South Africa – they are big, they are physical and they want to hurt you.”
No one more so than their talisman, Mathieu Bastareaud, who has acquired nuance to go with the muscle, as he showed with several deft offloads in the 34-17 win over Italy in Marseille, bringing to an end a dismal eight-match winless stretch for France.
That is the context on which England must be judged. France are an ad-hoc team still, under new management in Jacques Brunel and with their third fly-half in four matches, Francois Trinh-duc, the latest to be anointed (again).
But just as there has been a sense of rebirth in Bastareaud’s game so, too, are there flickers of a French renaissance. England will have to quell the threat of Bastareaud if their strike-force are to have any sort of platform on which to launch attacks. Ben Te’o’s selection in midfield does, at the very least, offer a sizeable chunk of visible resistance to Bastareaud.
Te’o is there to shackle the Toulon heavyweight by punching holes himself and putting the French defence on the back foot. He is well aware of his responsibilities.
“We are two physical teams across the water from each other so there are going to be fireworks,” said the New Zealand-born centre. “It’s a fierce rivalry. I’m a big guy, but I’m up against a bigger guy. He’s athletic as well, though, and he can move. We’ll have a job on our hands to stop him.”
Before any of that might unfold, England have to win ball and deny France any momentum. That elemental battle has always been at the heart of the contest. The shape of it may have changed down the
‘France are like a European South Africa. They are big, they are physical and they want to hurt you’
years with new laws, but the essence remains the same.
“You have to front up in Paris,” said Dick Best, the former England coach, who saw two French frontrowers, Vincent Moscato and Gregoire Lascube, sent off in his first match in Paris in 1992. “You have to slug it out first and then play.”
To that end, England simply have to compete more ferociously at the breakdown than they did at Murrayfield, where they were monstered by John Barclay, in particular.
“We’ve learnt our lesson there,” insisted scrum coach Neal Hatley yesterday. “We’ve had two weeks to put a lot of work into the breakdown, which we’ve done.
“We’ve obviously identified it as an area that needed improvement and we’ve worked hard over two weeks right across the team.”
Much, too, rests on England’s ability to scrummage well. If there was value in organising training sessions with Georgia last month, then it will be found this evening.
If England falter, then everything else is put under significant stress. Mako Vunipola has to stand firm against the impressive Rabah Slimani, while Jamie George has the opportunity to show that he merits a regular starting slot.
If all that does come to pass, then the bonus-point calculations are triggered.
“Teams are no longer naive about bonus points, pretending that they don’t come into play until this and that happens,” said Rob Baxter, Exeter Chiefs’ director of rugby. “Players are used to that reality every week. England have to be clear in all that they do, not over-tweak things, and to believe in what has got them to this point.”
Redemption for England or a serious revision of their prospects? The stakes are high.