England could be on for Grand Slam if they negotiate tough Paris test - Andy Goode
The last two teams to have beaten France away on the opening weekend of the Six Nations have gone on to win a Grand Slam and I think England will do the same if they can emerge victorious in Paris.
England’s biggest hurdles are in the first two rounds of the tournament as they travel to France and then Scotland, both games they lost a couple of years ago. If they can negotiate those, most would back them to beat Wales and Ireland at home and Italy in Rome.
This is the big one and, while this French side does look exciting and has been talked up this week, the opening round is the perfect time to play them as they’re still getting up and running and used to playing with one another, as well as under a new coaching team.
They are also very, very inexperienced. Fabien Galthie has come in as head honcho and been allowed to start planning already for a home World Cup in 2023. Eddie Jones only has a contract for another two years, so the present is far more important for him.
Bernard Le Roux is the only player over the age of 30 in Galthie’s 42-man squad, which contained no fewer than 19 uncapped players, and experience could play a big role at the Stade de France, especially in the pack.
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WATCH: In the latest episode of Don’t Mess With Jim, Jim Hamilton chooses his all time Six Nations XV that he played against.
France’s starting forwards have just 85 caps between them, that’s the second most inexperienced pack named by any side in the Six Nations era. England’s eight have 305, not far off four times as many, and seven of them played in a World Cup final three months ago.
It’s a similar story in the backs as well with England having around three times as many caps as their opponents and they are rightly favourites not just for this game but for the tournament.
The World Cup final heartache should drive them on and, as well as being one of only two teams without a new head coach in this Six Nations, there has been far less upheaval in their squad than the others.
George Furbank is the one completely fresh face in England’s starting XV and he’s been a shining light for Northampton this season so deserves his shot in the absence of Anthony Watson.
He and Elliot Daly, in particular, might just get peppered with a fair few high balls so it’ll be interesting to see how they deal with that and it’ll also be interesting to see how George Ford reacts after Eddie Jones’ revelation in his book that he should’ve left him out for the World Cup final against South Africa.
I like the selection of Ollie Devoto on the bench and also Will Stuart because Dan Cole has been a fantastic servant to England over the years but there needs to be a long term replacement for him and Stuart has been in good for Bath since joining from Wasps.
Eddie’s comments during the week about the French youngsters’ ability to deal with the “brutal physicality” his side will bring have caused a stir in some quarters but I don’t have an issue with them at all. What he’s talking about is a given in international rugby nowadays.
This French backline does look like a ridiculously exciting prospect on paper but Virimi Vakatawa’s performance for Racing against Saracens a couple of weeks ago was the perfect example of its unpredictability. He was almost unplayable in the first half but anonymous in the second.
If it all clicks, England will be in for a hell of a test in defence but they will have prepared in great detail tactically for what they’re going to come up against and much of that will have been focused on keeping the ball away from France’s outside backs.
It’s another open Six Nations in prospect but not only did England reach a World Cup final a few months ago, they also produced one of the greatest performances in their history against the All Blacks a week earlier.
They are definitely favourites for the tournament. Tomorrow in Paris looks like their toughest test on paper but I think they’ll win by eight points. Beyond that, who knows, the Grand Slam could be on.
Comments on RugbyPass
Excellent analysis Nick as we have come to expect. I was not really aware that NFL strategies have been adopted by rugby teams, especially in defence. One point I would make is that the Northhampton attacking player on the end of the chain in the video examples has not maintained the correct depth to be effective. In the footage shown the outside player is too flat to make the best of the opportunity his inside players have provided. In each case they have to reduce speed and turn their body backwards to secure the ball, losing all momentum and giving the impressive scrambling defence the chance to shut down the threat.
1 Go to commentsMorning, John. Do you think that it may be a good idea to rest both teams from the Madrid comp leading in to the Olympics
2 Go to comments« I am preparing myself for much more, something much bigger. I’m focussing on the next cycle, » You don’t say…
1 Go to commentsGeez plenty of time to come right before test season starts. Dont panic mr Mannering!!!!!
1 Go to commentsGreat read Nick. The Reds really have been great to watch this year, and the improvement of not only the players you mention, but the squad in general has been obvious. The Reds 10/12 play making axis is a nice counterpoint to the 10/15 partnership at the Brumbies and Rebels. If Schmidt was to pick say, Lolesio, Paisami and Wright / Kellaway, would this be too many play makers? I notice in a lot of those clips Tim Ryan playing across the field in support of Vunivalu. Is this a feature of Kiss’s structure?
2 Go to commentsSo sad, god rest him. Too young to be gone. RIP
2 Go to commentsRIP big man 🙏
2 Go to commentsThe GB coach. “Just because we don’t get together as much as other teams we don’t use that as an excuse for performances when we don’t hit the mark”. Why mention it at all then?
1 Go to commentsNo mention of the yellow card for Harlequins which really cost them.
3 Go to commentsThought you’d left us Nick. Good to have you back writing for us. So hunter ikitau works? I reckon wright kellaway as two of the back 3. Tim Ryan and Toole looking good for strike winger but I still want the power of korobeiti and figure our forwards still need him to help them out. Million dollar question is who plays 10? I’m thinking Noah for his kicking and combo with wright. Reckon the pair adds up to an attack and kellaway will help. Can you comment on Zac Lucas in Japan? How is he going?
2 Go to commentsMack Hansen, Ethan Roots, Taine Plumbtree, Louis Lynagh, Emmanuel Meafou? Which country do you want to pick your Barbarians from?
3 Go to commentsInstead of apologising, try to act like an adult, fcknut.
3 Go to commentsLooks like the Force twisted his leg…ahem arm
7 Go to commentsScotland should change their name to the Barbarians
3 Go to commentsThe game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
3 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
8 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
3 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
3 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
3 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
7 Go to comments