"It was a good win and it's always good to win when you don't play well. We didn't play well and I take full responsibility for the performance. Clearly I didn’t prepare the team well enough, I got some things wrong and I have a lot of homework to do over the weekend so that I make sure that the team plays much better against Wales."
From the opening minutes of the match when France enjoyed so much possession and confirmed to us all that they had arrived at Twickenham ready to make a statement it was obvious that England weren’t quite on the money. Passes that are usually slick and fluid were dropped or floated forwards and the go forward that is normally present was sorely lacking. Eddie Jones was clear following the final whistle that complacency was not the reason for the stuttering outing;
“I don’t think we were complacent. I just think we were so far away from playing how we play. Whether players fell back into club habits I’m not sure (?) particularly the forwards.
We’re at our best when we’re at the opposition with big forwards running at them and we do that in the first half. Instead we sat back and as a result we didn’t get any quick ruck ball and as a result of that we couldn’t attack.”
While the performance as a whole won’t be remember fondly what will be is the impact that the bench made. At team announcement day on Thursday England’s head coach made the bold statement that he didn’t think that anyone in the world had a stronger bench than England and boy did they do a job. In particular the go forward that James Haskell and Ben Te’o created finally tipped England over the line and their new faces onto the field made the difference.
The interesting thing now is looking at how Eddie Jones addresses selection for Wales. Just because these players came on and finished the game well for England doesn’t automatically mean that they’ll be starting against Wales. Eddie Jones talking constantly about it being a 23-man game and always stresses that he has 'starters' and 'finishers' and that both are required to play their role. Selection is where I believe that the Australian comes into his own as England's head coach - the fruits of his experience are showcased in the timing of substitutions and make-up of the 23-man squad - so I’m looking forward to seeing his masterplan to take on Wales.
In terms of what England can expect from Wales, well we are not totally sure yet, but after 80 minutes against Italy we all will have a better idea. There will be a number of areas of focus this week from getting England's pack back to delivering at full force to nailing the psychology of going to Cardiff as Eddie Jones highlighted following the full time whistle:
“England versus Wales in Wales, can you believe the test record? 60 per cent have been won by Wales only 40 per cent have been won by England so obviously mentally there are things that go on. I’ve been to the Principality Stadium and it’s just another ground, so we’ll need to work out why the English don’t play well in Wales. I don’t know what it is… maybe it is something to do with crossing the Severn river!”
Without a doubt England’s opening outing sits in the category marked ‘one of those days’ but the strongest sides in any sport deliver victories when it looks highly unlikely that they are going to. Professional athletes are human and don’t always reach 100% on a match day, no matter how much they desire to, and France were tough opponents. Personally I think it was great to see Guy Noves' team playing with such purpose and clarity and Louis Picamoles' outing was one of the best No 8 performances I’ve seen for a while.
After a recovery day on Sunday England will get back to Pennyhill Park and go hell for leather at their training week. The build up to a Test match against Wales always adds a little bit more spark than any other in the RBS 6 Nations and I have no doubt that England will be back to their usual shelves in the cauldron that is the Principality Stadium next Saturday afternoon.
After a recovery day on Sunday England will get back to Pennyhill Park and go hell for leather at their training week. The build up to a Test match against Wales always adds a little bit more spark than any other in the RBS 6 Nations and I have no doubt that England will be back to their usual shelves in the cauldron that is the Principality Stadium next Saturday afternoon.
