>> Gallagher: England thrive as underdogs
JUST a few months back this was predicted as the Championship decider and as a contest it was indeed comfortably the best and most compelling game of the 2021 Six Nations thus far and exactly the kind of rugby spectacle that needs to remain on terrestrial TV.
But of course it was not the Championship decider. England had endured a tournament of mid-table mediocrity up to this juncture and had only pride and possibly Lions places to play for. It was France who had everything to lose and although it would be way too harsh to suggest they froze, they did look a little nervy on occasions.
Antoine Dupont may have started with a cracking trademark try – plotting his usual support line between the five and 15 metre lines – but during the course of the game he was also charged down twice, went up a couple of blind alleys and knocked on right at the death when he fumbled the ball at the bottom of a ruck with France in a prime attacking position. There would be no Hail Mary extra-time attack and victory.
For once he looked human and all credit to Ben Youngs and Tom Curry in particular for being on his case all evening. They were my England standouts although the entire squad went well.
And another thing. There were some England smiles and a real sense of enjoyment for the first time in a while. Very timely. Attractive, positive, winning rugby is also great fun to play. Who knew?
It was the icing on the cake and England need to remember that in the next couple of seasons if they ever get tempted to adopt the safety first, box-kicking, aerial ping pong option again. Life is just too short to be faffing around with that kind of nonsense.
So a terrific England win to celebrate and give hope for the future but also a victory that should spark, if not an inquest, a little reflective thought. Why do England tend to produce these performances when the critics have been on their backs or when they are underdogs?
Why does English excellence often seem a reaction to adversity when what would serve England much better is if they could show the same hunger and ambition every week.
It’s a definite trend. Big bounce back after the awfulness of the 2015 World Cup when they slipped to 8th in the World Rankings and another big bounce back after yet more awfulness in 2018 when they finished fifth in the Championship and struggled on tour in South Africa.
And again yesterday. Mentally England love to adopt the backs to the wall persona but the trouble is England are not one of nature’s underdogs. They should be top dogs, or challenging hard for that title, and they need to embrace that more willingly.
Let’s not get too psychological and deep about this but why can England not show the joie de vivre and attacking purpose and skill on the ball we witnessed yesterday in all their games? Ok just occasionally there will be days when it just doesn’t happen – that’s sport and you learn to live with that and not lose confidence – but if England could replicate yesterday in 90 per cent of their games they would be winning Grand Slams as regularly as say Wales! And who knows what else besides.
Hopefully something clicked mentally yesterday with England and the muscle memory of playing so well and winning against such talented opponents will become part of this group’s DNA. Many of those concerned regularly contribute to similar vibrant performances with their clubs so let’s see the same on a regular basis in England colours. Let’s have no regression from yesterday.
I suspect a huge sigh of relief will have swept around England fans watching on the sofas and the ever-present Warren Gatland – up in the stands as usual – will probably share in that. Wales might well win the Championship; Scotland have gone well and there are a number of Irish players putting their hands up but Gatland will still want some big England names at their best this summer.
Maro Itoje was on song again yesterday, Kyle Sinckler and Anthony Watson also, while Curry should not be discounted. Owen Farrell is getting there, Henry Slade looked livelier in a more open game suited to his talents and Youngs went toe to toe with Dupont.
This is a fiendishly difficult Six Nations to ‘read’ from a Lions point of view but I would suggest performances against France is the best benchmark.
What of the French? Head coach Fabian Galthie looked a little numb and bewildered at the end when he took off his ubiquitous Joe 90 glasses and rubbed his eyes.
His side by no means played badly but it was something of a wake up call. They are not the finished article yet and in the long term that is probably no bad thing.
France need a few characterbuilding defeats here and there before they kick on and reach their full potential. Not too many you understand, L’Equipe gets a little nervous and bad tempered if Les Bleus lose too often, but a little adversity will do them no harm.
They need two bonus-point wins in their last two games – at home to Grand Slam chasing Wales and Scotland – to stand any chance of taking the title and clearly that is not beyond them but Wales have the wind in their sails now and will be incredibly difficult to stop.
France badly missed the stroppy streetwise Bernard Le Roux yesterday and they could do with him back fit and firing and although it would be harsh to drop fly-half Mathieu Jallibert, who again conjured up a few sublime moments, next Saturday against the Welsh might the moment to unleash a fit-again Romain Ntamack.
Elsewhere they still lack a jackal. They are on the look out for such a jewel but have not unearthed him yet and in the meantime their back row – three strong, rangy players – doesn’t quite work as a unit. They need a bit of mongrel and at the moment only the excellent Julien Marchand at hooker really provides that.
“Why do England tend to produce these performances when they are underdogs?