Top 14 : Wandisile Simelane (Stormers) pisté par Castres

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The English scrum was on top with starters on, and it got better with the bench.

Slade being left-sided will give him an added bonus with Lions selection - there's only really him and James Lowe on that front. If Felix Jones gets the defensive job he'll be on the plane for sure.

I'm prepared to cut Slade a lot of slack. BOD rates him so highly for a reason. He may not be big or particularly fast but his passing and kicking is better than any centre in the UK. The timing on his passes to turn defenders and put a man in space is exquisite. I really hope England can get the best out of him.

Top 14 is not a league with high ball-in-play time, but the Prem is, so it made sense to keep ball on field even if that meant giving the French kick returners extra chances.

Ppl wonder why France looked so average after looking like world-beaters v Wales but that was exactly the point I made in the previous article. Conditions are not the same and you learn far more about the character of your players.

I expect to see a few changes v Ireland from Galthie.

There was plenty to be excited about from an Anglo perspective - the back row balance looked better with the three 7's at the end not the start, the tight five looks v solid with George on the bench and LCD starting.

Agree that Slade is not at his best but we can cut him some slack!

Freeman has played at fullback but is too good on the wing to move. The other serious contender is George Hendy, who is equally as good at full back or wing. Hendy is still learning but he shoild definitely be in the mix for 2027. 6 nations may be a little too soon, though he should definitely be on the summer tour.

Freddie Steward seems to lack vision in going forwards.

If Marcus Smith had been at Flyhalf i dont think we would have scored the tries we did. He sees the gaps and goes for them, as opposed to Fin Smith who sees the gaps but also makes use of others. Marcus plays to make Marcus look good, Fin plays to make the team look good.

The rest is just feeble woulda, could, shoulda. England will not mind as they have lost so many games the same way over the past few months!

You misread the French Bull, end of.

There were a few performances to make me optimistic:

Tom Curry - looks back to his best, between him and Underhill we have two exceptional flankers

Ben Earl - also looks to be getting back into some form, carried well

Tom Willis - gave more balance to the back row, finally we've found a proper test level number 8

Ollie Chessum - always been a skilled backrower and great lineout option but he looked much more physical and got really stuck in

Fin Smith - first half display was a struggle due to lack of experience as Borthwick has given him no opportunities, but he was so composed in the second half and made so many good calls with a balanced range of kicking passing and taking it to the line.

Henry Slade - he's struggled in a team playing a reductive gameplan but demonstrated that he's a classy operator in a team prepared to move the ball

All in all I really hope England gain some confidence and back themselves in the next match with ball in hand. I'm so sick of seeing the sort of wasteful grubber kicks that Lawrence put in which England have used far too much and with a total combined net meterage gain in the last few years of minus 1 million meters.

France put themselves in multiple scoring opportunities, and failed to score.

Had the passes stuck on just two such occasions France would have won comfortably.

I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. England beat Ireland at home last year (by one point too). Champions of the 6 Nations, that did not make them.