Six Nations: the worst French team in history?

England’s impressive Six Nations win over Ireland two weeks ago was no one-off, said Robert Kitson in The Guardian. At Twickenham on Sunday, Eddie Jones’s “rampant” team did it all over again: they beat France 44-8, to record their biggest victory over the French in 108 years. The home team were superior in every department. They “kicked cleverly, hit hard and found acres of space”. With six tries, including a hat-trick from Jonny May, this team is making the kind of progress that we haven’t seen “since England’s heyday in the early 2000s”.

How France would love to turn back the clock to that era, said Andy Bull in The Observer – a time when they regularly won the Six Nations. Today, they are No. 10 in the world rankings, behind Scotland and Fiji. Since Jacques Brunel took over as coach last year, they have won only three out of 13 games. What’s particularly concerning is the way the French keep throwing away a lead: in three of the four matches before the England tie, they were ahead at half-time, and went on to lose – most dramatically against Wales earlier this month, when they led 16-0 at the interval. Make no mistake, said Stephen Jones in The Times. This is “the worst French team I have seen”. And that’s because they have forgotten to play the kind of rugby we expect from a France side. The national team used to combine “terrifying” power with a “gorgeous attacking game”. But these “big softies” had no plan, no identity. It’s too soon to give up on France completely, said Michael Aylwin in The Guardian. They have “high hopes” for their young talent. Their under-20 team are the current world champions, and two promising players from that side – Romain Ntamack and Demba Bamba, who are 19 and 20 – have already appeared at this Six Nations. “Alas, their seniors are letting them down.”