What can England take from last weekend’s matches as they attempt to halt France’s bid for a grand slam in Paris? Well, in many ways they need to carry on where they left off against Ireland at Twickenham.
I mentioned in my column last weekend that I wanted to see some of the old England in that match — the emphasis on set pieces and a strong kicking game — and we saw that, even if it was forced upon them by the early red card for Charlie Ewels and, of course, they did fall away at the end mainly through fatigue.
It was certainly the right decision to kick and chase a lot, but it was their set piece that was so impressive. I was watching it and saying, “Yes, this is England. This is what they have always been so good at and what makes them so hard to play against.” I sensed that the players really enjoyed it, as it was almost a rediscovery of their old identity and the crowd really got behind them too.
Having said all that, while I am an advocate of a pretty conservative game plan like that, I do think that England are going to have to show a lot more in attack if they are going to succeed.
With Wales, Shaun Edwards would always set us targets of how many points we could afford to concede in a game if we were going to win.
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On a podcast I did this week with Danny Cipriani, Ugo Monye and the BBC’s Chris Jones I asked the others how many points they thought France would score this weekend, and the average was about 25.
So my question back to England then would be: can you score more than 25 points playing the way you did against Ireland? And the answer is almost certainly no. They are going to have score at least two tries, possibly more. Can they do that? Well, they can, but the recent evidence would suggest they can’t.
I actually think their attacking shape has looked decent at times, and there has definitely been an intent to attack, but too often the killer pass or moment hasn’t materialised. They do seem to be placing a lot of emphasis on Marcus Smith creating things from fly half without a great deal of options around him.
Their kick-chase work was excellent against Ireland. There were huge moments in the game when the likes of Maro Itoje, Freddie Steward and Joe Marchant chased quite brilliantly to win turnovers, but too often they then weren’t able to flip those moments into an attack that scored. That is going to be the challenge for them in Paris. They look as if they can get into the French third of the field with their traditional strengths but can they take better advantage of those positions? That is the big question mark surrounding them now and that is why I think the game is heavily in France’s favour.
I think Shaun will be telling the French team he now coaches, “If you only concede 15 points, the grand slam is yours.”
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The beauty about Shaun in these big Test-match weeks was that he would always strip things back to being really simple and concise. On that BBC podcast Danny Cipriani made a great point, to which the rest of us were nodding and laughing, that there are a lot of coaches who get carried away in big weeks like this. They get nervous and anxious, and as a result they are shouting a lot more in sessions. Team meetings are suddenly longer because they feel the need to cover everything, so that they can go into the game reassured they have done everything. But for the players this can be a case of information overload and all that nervous energy during the week is actually counterproductive.
Shaun would never be like that. He would only really speak on his defensive day on a Tuesday. His messaging would be so concise and clear. He would only have two or three clear points for the team to focus on, but he would hammer them home. That sort of simplicity and composure would rub off on the group. We all knew that Shaun had won so many things as a player and as a coach that you could trust him in these instances. He was a great example — and this was something that I tried to take into my coaching when I was with Wales — that you should never try to change who you are just because it is a big game and a big week.
What you do not want as a player is a coach constantly barking off all sorts of instructions and confusing matters. That never happened under Shaun. He was always so clear, calm and simple. That’s why he will have been such an influence for France this week. England can certainly take something from Wales’s narrow defeat by France in Cardiff. Wales were tactically really clever in that game. I thought it was a very good performance from them.
Wales just refused to play blindly into France’s all-enveloping defensive system, except at the end when they were chasing the game, and instead generally kicked smartly for territory. It frustrated France. We didn’t see anywhere near the same dominance as when they beat Scotland.
But Sir Ian McGeechan made an interesting point about that game in Cardiff. I was thinking how France had not got into their stride but then you have to factor in how difficult it is for away teams to play at the Principality Stadium. It is so hostile. Scotland found that earlier in the campaign.
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So when McGeechan was asked whether he had been surprised at how rattled France had been, he replied he had actually been impressed with how they had dealt with the situation, saying that French teams of old would not have been able to do that. They would have conceded many more penalties and been much more ill-disciplined generally. They managed to hang in there in the sort of arm-wrestle at which Wales are particularly good.
I think France will have been delighted with that win. Those sorts of performances often bring the greatest satisfaction, because there is usually one game in a Six Nations Championship title success that is particularly hard and that was it for France. Wales have a great record at home in the Six Nations and I thought France’s composure in defence was outstanding. For me it was the sign of a championship-winning side.
In the forwards there have been a couple of stand-out players for me. The lock Paul Willemse has been amazing. Some of the shots he puts in are huge. He is France’s physical barometer, while the hooker Julien Marchand has been everywhere. He is the single best hooker over the ball in the world. He is so explosive in his carries too, so to call him the best in his position overall in the world would hardly be an exaggeration now.
In Cardiff it was the first quiet game I have seen Antoine Dupont, the scrum half, have in two years. I remember thinking recently that no player can keep that sort of form up consistently, otherwise he would be the freakiest player that has ever lived, so while that Wales game was a little bit of shock it was also a reminder that he is human after all. Expect him to be back to his best, and France too. The grand slam should be theirs.
