The emotions surrounding England Rugby are now running higher than ever courtesy of last night’s match in Paris. Needless to say it wasn’t an glorious eighty minutes of rugby and in spite of finishing with a bang today's mood, both inside and outside of camp, will be far from jovial.
Before we delve into the areas that were unexpectedly off in Paris let's be very clear about the fact that there won’t be a single England player that will accept that performance. Prior to the match we all talked about this England side making a statement and sending out a thunderous message to their colleagues that played last weekend and to the wider rugby world and with respect they didn't do that.
Across the park the effectiveness that we expected from key partnerships didn’t deliver and by all accounts the side looked "rusty" to use Stuart Lancaster's description. For the past International season, at least, we have discussed England’s pack as one of the best in the world however for the second week in a row France packed more of a punch in the set piece and at the breakdown. It is the fact that they did so with the personnel that we all hang in so high regard; Marler, Youngs, Cole and co that hurts the most. Last weekend we took the imbalance on the chin slightly knowing that these aforementioned players were waiting in the wings however last night's contrast hurts.
Discipline cost England greatly in the opening half and the only positive is that it will be a valuable lessoned learned about the whistle of Jaco Peyper prior to him taking charge of their match against Fiji. The lineout didn't function strongly throughout and that with a less than solid scrum meant that England had little platform to work off and as a result very little ball to play with. The statistic that highlights this most clearly is that in the opening half an hour England made 54 tackles whilst France made just 4 and we all know you cannot build a performance off nothing. After the break England injected life into proceeding, they cleaned up their act, not wholly but enough, and then in the final ten minutes looked like the team that you and I know. From seventy minutes onwards upped the tempo which surely is a testament to their fitness levels and overall the ball was cleaner, the gain line was broken and there was invention however the damage had been done and they ran out of time.
Unfortunately for Stuart Lancaster the selection conundrums that he had heading into the match are largely still up in the air and potentially new ones have come to the forefront. First, Danny Cipriani’s impact can’t have gone un-noticed however let's not forget about the performance of Alex Goode last week and we know that they are in a straight shoot out for one spot. Jamie George didn’t hit all of his arrows however he did do some effective carrying around the park and didn't looked overawed by a hostile French atmosphere - does that push him ahead of Luke Cowan-Dickie? Nick Easter showed that an experience head is always of benefit as he made a big impact off the bench and as for the Burrell/Burgess face off... well everyone will have a different opinion on that one.
For all of the negativity that will be passed at England’s door now ourselves the message has to be that this match doesn’t automatically indicate a poor tournament. It was eighty minutes of rugby and eighty minutes that this side will wish to replay over and over. This performance, at this point in time, wasn't part of the plan however it cannot be changed. One incomplete, and dare I say it, poor performance does not define this squad however it will be a strong test of their character and one I expect them to pass.
Now all eyes shift to Stuart Lancaster and his coaching team, the deadline for selecting their 31 man squad is fast approaching and with two contrasting warm up games and plenty of training performances that none of us have seen their decisions will make for extremely interesting reading come the end of the week.
Now all eyes shift to Stuart Lancaster and his coaching team, the deadline for selecting their 31 man squad is fast approaching and with two contrasting warm up games and plenty of training performances that none of us have seen their decisions will make for extremely interesting reading come the end of the week.
