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A week is a long time in sport but England just need to guard against complacency in order to avoid undoing their good work in Dublin last weekend.
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France have won just one of their last 10 visits to Twickenham in the Six Nations, that was 14 years ago, and last weekend they were guilty of blowing a 16-point lead and allowing Wales to produce the biggest comeback in the 136-year history of the Championship.
The only way to respond to what we witnessed at the Stade de France is with a Gallic shrug or the phrase ‘so French’ and the main danger England face this weekend is that the two teams’ experiences in Round 1 were in such stark contrast that people now think it is a foregone conclusion. The bookies have France’s odds as long as 6/1 now!
If you’re Jack Nowell, you’re wondering what the hell’s going on because he was outstanding last week but Chris Ashton set the record for most tries in a Top 14 season in the last campaign and I just think Eddie Jones has handpicked this game to give him his chance.
I’m pleased he’s kept changes to a minimum, though, and given these players the chance to build some momentum. Some people were suggesting that he’d make five or six changes to freshen things up after a Herculean effort but that wouldn’t have been the right thing to do.
It’ll be fascinating to see how the game pans out because there is an expectation on England now and it’s tough to produce performances with the level of intensity and physicality in defence that they did last week game in, game out.
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And, because France completely capitulated in the second half against Wales last week, a lot of people are going to Twickenham or planning to watch on TV and anticipating a big win for England.
That’s a pressure that the players will just have to deal with and one that they’ve experienced before when they were on their 18-game winning streak but it won’t have been easy preparing for this week’s game.
It might sound like a hackneyed old cliché but it’s 100% true that we have no idea what France are going to turn up on Sunday. They don’t even know what they’re going to do next and that was perfectly encapsulated by Sebastien Vahaamahina not knowing he was captain in the latter stages last week.
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They are either sublime or ridiculous and there’s no middle ground really. That’s always been the same. I played against them in Paris and they defended their home patch like their lives depended on it and won 31-6 with the likes of Christophe Dominici and Damien Traille providing the flair.
But then I played them at Twickenham and we hammered them. We were 29-0 up at half-time and it was like the under-15s had turned up!
Mentally there is clearly a weakness there and professionally they are light years behind the top teams in the world. They will be dangerous at times and England might not blow them away but they faded badly last week and England will know they have the edge when it comes to fitness if it doesn’t all go their way early on.
They picked the biggest pack ever last week and they haven’t lost too much in that department with the likes of Demba Bamba, Felix Lambey and Yacouba Camara coming in and then there’s the return of Mathieu Bastareaud, who Thomas Castaignede suggested this week should start playing at number eight!
They’ll pose a physical threat and it might actually help them playing away from home without the pressure of the Stade de France crowd on their backs but I think, despite the size difference, Henry Slade will be licking his lips at the prospect of coming up against Bastareaud.
The Exeter man’s greater speed and mobility will cause all sorts of problems for Damien Penaud and Gael Fickou and force them to bite in or make decisions that they don’t really want to have to make.
England will have been focusing predominantly on themselves, of course, and it’s no coincidence that they produced a display full of such energy and ferocity at the Aviva Stadium when the boys haven’t been made to go through numerous ridiculously intense and long training sessions in the build-up.
They even played Georgia behind closed doors in one of the fallow weeks last year and you could see the players were out on their feet. We’re only one week into the tournament but it’s safe to say they look much fresher this year.
All the clichés about the French are true but complacency is England’s main enemy on Sunday and if they get anywhere close to the level of performance they put in over in Dublin, this French side won’t be able to live with them.
Comments on RugbyPass
Following his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
1 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to comments