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Jack van Poortvliet: England 'have a lot to fix' but Paris is the 'blueprint'

Jack van Poortvliet, Ollie Chessum and Henry Pollock of England sing their national anthem prior to the Guinness Six Nations 2026 match between France and England at Stade de France on March 14, 2026 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dan Mullan - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)
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Jack van Poortvliet insists England must build on the attacking foundations laid against France in Paris amid regret that it took until the final round of the Guinness Six Nations for them to be uncovered.

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England came alive on Saturday night after escaping the straightjacket that had held them back in the Championship, outscoring their rivals on the try count 7-6 by showing intent and ambition with the ball in hand.

It was not enough to prevent a fourth consecutive defeat and they still face fundamental questions over the alarming collapse lasting from rounds two to four, but van Poortvliet insists the path ahead was lit at the Stade de France.

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“The way we attacked is our blueprint. That’s what we have to take forward,” the scrum-half said.

“The boost and the confidence it gives when you’re really going at a team like that, challenging them with speed of ball, it puts a great feeling into the team. That’s something we’ll look to build on.

“The style and the way we attacked really gave us energy. We’ve attacked well in parts in the tournament, but probably because we haven’t finished our chances, it’s taken it away from us a bit.

“We know we have a lot to fix. We’ll get to the bottom of why we had some of the performances we did, but we can take a lot forward from that performance against France.

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“Particularly Scotland and Ireland, our performances weren’t there. We know in this tournament that if you don’t perform, you get punished.

“The frustration is that we have performances in us like we showed against France. For whatever reason, particularly against Scotland and Ireland, we couldn’t deliver that. Why can’t we do that more often?

“We’ll take huge lessons from it. The adversity will help us going into the rest of the year and next year.

“The boys put everything on the line. I felt the performance was there, we just couldn’t land it.”

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France’s remarkable 48-46 victory was not without controversy with Steve Borthwick uncharacteristiaclly criticical of the officials for awarding a penalty try and yellow card against Ellis Genge for collapsing a maul.

And Borthwick, England’s head coach, will also seek clarification from World Rugby after his team pressed a second-half attack in the belief they had penalty advantage only for that decision to be overturned by the TMO.

England then turned the ball over and France pounced through Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s fourth try in the 66th minute.

“When you’ve got a penalty advantage, you get a free shot almost. I shouted it out loud: ‘pen advantage’. We were under the impression we could chance our arm,” van Poortvliet said.

“And then there’s the confusion of why we didn’t get it. You’re in a confused state, and then they boot it in behind and you’re trying to stop a try.”

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7 Comments
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Mark 44 days ago

Englands backrow combination, with effectively 3 opensides, no big ball carrier and no 3rd lineout option was cruelly exposed by scotland, ireland and italy.

Add to that the incoherent selection roundabout, that is the flyhalf and midfield combinations, and the odd use of the bench, and you have a litany of fundamental coaching errors.

These are not work on, or lessons to be learnt from yet another half arsed review by the RFU.

The people currently in charge are patently out of their collective depth.

G
GG 45 days ago

Cannot believe how much talk and noise there is constantly around the England rugger side who have achieved basically

Nothing for years. I suppose the media and ex players have the ear of the news journalists but their game and results to be honest is ok to average.

A wonderful 6 Nations and now look forward to adding some SH sides to the mix. Sometimes get the feeling that all the the North forget about the ABs, Aussies and Boks, and never give Argies any credit.

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PMcD 45 days ago

I know this is clickbait article stuff but ENG learned all the lessons last 6N’s, went through a similar process and brought int eh Fin Smith attack and played like this.


Then for some reason, Borthers decided to go back to George Ford/Freddie Steward kick fest and we’ve unravelled.


How on earth was this allowed to happen? We have lost the entire 6N’s based on poor decision making from the Head Coach, who screwed up massively.

u
unknown 45 days ago

Borthwick doesn’t really want to play attacking rugby and only changes when pressured to do so. The RFU need to get someone in who can install the right mindset and give the players more freedom, that and a defence coach who actually knows what they’re doing!

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Eric Elwood 45 days ago

England were clearly the stronger team in Paris. They must take massive encouragement from that. There are easily eliminated errors that will help but that performance is a basis.

D
DA 45 days ago

A big difference from the autumn was the lack of top class replacement props. Baxter and Stuart allowed a mix and max approach across the games. Joe Heyes has come on massively and is arguably the in form tight head in the competition. For me England's player of the tournament.


Feyi-Weboso was a big loss and provides pace and x factor on the wing. Atkinson and Freeman with another year together could be a good partnership. The development of Coles allows Chessum to play as a big 6. With Earl at 8 I feel we need a bigger six to offer more carrying power and as another line out option. I would like to see Cunningham-South kick on and have a greater number of impacts.


My biggest concern is full back. Daly is too old to start there. We need more pace. He was exposed against Italy and France is slightly different ways. Hopefully Furbank can get a run of games. I wouldn't mind seeing Carpenter getting a go if Furbank can't get back to what he was. He has a decent all round game. Hendy would be a decent shout but he seems to pick up a few injuries and needs work defensively.

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