French survive US scare in typical

Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. Onwards go France, febrile, jumpy, part-brilliant, part-bonkers, the Jekyll and Hyde of the global game, heading towards a pool-decider showdown with England in Tokyo with little or no consistency in their game. Even a shuffling of the deck, with 12 changes made for this fixture to conserve energy for Sunday’s match against Tonga, made little difference. This lot were just as erratic as the front-liners who had flip-flopped their way to a narrow, last-gasp win over Argentina on the opening weekend.

England had made light work of beating the United States last week in Kobe and, even though there was far more resolve and bite in the play of the Eagles, there was simply little to persuade onlookers that France have managed to cure themselves of their age-old wishy-washy habits.

It took three tries in the final 14 minutes, a real rolling back of the stone from the seeming dead, with the US within three points at that juncture at 12-9, to ease the jitters and to claim the all-important bonus point with Baptiste Serin’s try in the 70th minute. And yet it had all looked so different at the start, as black clouds gathered and rain briefly fell. Never mind Typhoon Mita that had flirted with the Japan coastline and put the match in jeopardy, France were intent on whipping up a storm of their own making, with Yoann Huget scoring within six minutes, running free and looking sharp.

Then, yes, as ever, France went all French. Good bits, poor bits, walkabout bits, shrugging-shoulders bits, all very indecisive and all very typical. They envy the Anglosaxon for his sangfroid, for his self-discipline, for his conviction. Unless France can mine deep within their psyche over the next 10 days to find such traits, their chances of beating England in Tokyo look forlorn. “Before England, we have Tonga and we are very confident for that and want to prove we are not “Frenchies” by staying focused and then afterwards we have the final against England,” Guilhem Guirado, the France captain, said.

There is angst in French play these days, a knot in their stomachs that will not untangle until they succeed in making full use of the talent they have. It is as if they know that they should be better for, on an individual basis, they have the skill levels to match any, yet the collective never quite comes together. They need a spell on the therapist’s couch if they are to shake off the tag of being the basket case of world rugby.

“For 66 minutes they were like spoilt brats,” Sean Fitzpatrick, the former All Black captain, said on ITV. “I’d hate to be a [coach] Jacques Brunel or Fabien Galthie. They must be tearing their hair out.”

England themselves struggled in their opening win over Tonga, but there was a marked improvement