Rugby’s Les Miserables flourish by having a little fun
AS THE Six Nations’ form team comes to town, England’s defensive coach has vowed that his side will not take a step back. ‘At no point will we stop playing on the edge,’ John Mitchell told the media this week. Rightly so. Test matches are won on the smallest of margins, and walking the tightrope between execution and failure is a tough act with little room for error in an unforgiving arena.
The problem with Mitchell’s declaration is England have not been playing on the ‘edge’. They have been going way beyond the line. To paraphrase the great Joey Tribbiani, ‘they’ve been so far past the line, the line is a dot to them’.
England’s lack of clarity around the breakdown is evidence of a team searching for confidence, their individual and collective frustrations spilling over into penalty counts of 15 and 14 in their defeats to Scotland and Wales respectively.
This confidence issue is only
The desire to restore the French flair was coach Fabien Galthie’s dream
heightened by who is coming over the Channel. A team brimming with verve and ‘je ne sais quoi’. Driven by their diminutive but wonderful No.9 in Antoine Dupont, France have become the Six Nations benchmark.
A high-tempo, offloading game has always been the DNA of any great French side, demanded by players and public alike. The desire to restore the French flair was coach Fabien Galthie’s dream. He did so by making the French camps fun.
Daft, I know – surely international players enjoy playing international rugby? Not always. In the case of France, it became the smaller brother to the Top 14.
A once revered team was made up of players who were Les Miserables.
It created a toxic environment, where players no longer wanted to be in camp. This disillusionment has been reversed by the new coaches and with the spine of the side receptive to the defensive changes made by Shaun Edwards, they have a solid core to match the French extravagance.
It leaves England a little on the back foot, even if the bookies have them as favourites. Without doubt England on their day have the ability to beat this all-court French side.
In fact, pre-tournament, this looked likely to be the Grand-Slam decider only for Scotland and then Wales to put paid to that.
Sure, France will arrive at the gates of Twickenham post-Covid outbreak having trained less and missed a match, and as underdogs in a contest their country want to win more than any other.
Pressure, what pressure? When compared to England, France will feel like the cock of the walk.