There's an old maxim in sport – "It's a sign of a good team, being able to win when you're not at your best". In England's case on Saturday, a slightly less catchy but certainly more appropriate version may well have been "It's the sign of a bloody lucky team (aided by moronic substitutions from the opposition coach and a couple of fortuitous non-calls from the referee), being able to win when you're only playing reasonably". In a frantic, brutal and fast paced match that consistently seemed to be the edge of bubbling over into an all-in-brawl – old school 'Le Crunch' style – the supporters witnessed an exciting match played on a knife-edge, poised to tip either way after 60 minutes, which was eventually decided by two blokes who weren't even on the field of play.
Stuart Lancaster and Philippe Saint-Andre are two very
different people. Saint-Andre was a
legendary international winger, scoring 32 tries in 69 tests, including the
'greatest try ever seen at Twickenham' in 1991 before moving into coaching and
leading Sale Sharks to European Challenge Cup and English Premiership titles, moving
onto French giants Toulon in 2009 on his way to the National Supremo role. Lancaster on the other hand was a PE teacher,
semi-decent winger for Leeds, and then a coach who rose through the ranks in
the RFU. Two vastly different
backgrounds, two vastly different outcomes.
Looking at Lancaster's face is looking at a man who sits with quiet
confidence and a sharp analytical mind, trusting his judgement and making calls
with absolute certainty and conviction.
Saint-Andre, meanwhile, looks like a naughty bulldog who has just been
found guiltily sitting next to a steaming pile of poo lovingly placed bang
smack in the middle of the living room carpet.
Although on current form, it appears the bulldog would have greater
tactical nous when it comes to rugby.
Although England went into this match as favourites, there
was an orgy of clichés being muttered by coaches, pundits, and the fans milling
around the ground at 5pm – the French might 'show up', you never know which
French side will take the field, Les Bleus are at their most dangerous when the
have their backs to the wall etc. It
certainly seemed that Saint-Andre had heeded the lessons of the previous two
debacles he had presided over, picking a team with the novel idea that the best
players should probably play in their best positions. Indeed, this French team did look like a more
dangerous one, not least because they had worked themselves up into a
borderline frenzy before they took the field.
Unfortunately, the immediate result of this enthusiasm was
to see Yoann Maestri fly off his feet in a ruck to give fly half Owen Farrell
an immediate chance at 3 points, which he duly took. It became clear though soon after that the
English weren't going to dominate the contact like they had done in their first
two games. The French backrow were
flying into the breakdown with a ferocity and intensity which was simply
non-existent in the Championship prior to this game, with Picamoles in
particular catching the eye with some barnstorming carries and crunching hits
in defence, eventually earning Les Bleus a pot at goal to level the
scores. Recalled scrum half Morgan Parra
made no mistake with his kick.
If the game struggled for fluency, it certainly wasn't
lacking for speed or brutality. The
first 20 minutes were dominated by sly elbows, swinging arms, trips and a SAGA
holiday sized collection of handbags, which saw neither side able to exert any
dominance in open play – although the French were disrupting the lineout well
and prop Thomas Domingo seemed to have the nudge on Dan Cole in the scrum. The crowd were treated to their first sight
of the two human juggernauts, centres Manu Tuilagi and Matheiu Bastareaud,
coming together on 20 minutes, and it was the Anglo-Samoan who took the honours
first up, blasting through the Toulon man's tackle to take play into the French
22. It was then Tuilagi again who next got
the crowd on their feet, this time going through prop Nicholas Mas and Maestri
off a switch from Farrell, before being brought down by an ankle tap from Parra
just metres from the line. With the
penalty advantage in the pocket, Farrell tried to pick out Ashton with a cross
field kick but misjudged it horribly – a dart for the line may have been the
better option with only the lumbering Bastareaud in the way. Nevertheless, Farrell converted the 3 pointer
to give England the lead.
What followed next was a piece of sheer inspiration from the
other French centre, Wesley Fofana. The
Clermont man had cut a frustrated figure over the opening 2 rounds, after being
shunted out to the wing, but here he showed his clueless coach what he had been
missing. Fading onto an outside break,
Fofana left blindside flanker Courtney Lawes – who was doing his best
impression of a headless chicken in the first half – for dead before shimmying
through a Chris Ashton tackle which was about as solid as a wet flannel. Ben Youngs, covering across, was straining to
reach him and went too high, receiving a palm to the face for his troubles
whilst Ashton, chasing back, missed his tap tackle and the French centre glided
in round the posts for one of the great individual scores seen at
Twickenham. England looked shell-shocked
– and so they should have. They had missed
14 tackles by that point – 4 by Lawes – and were coming off second best in the tight
exchanges where flankers Yannick Nyanga and Thierry Dusautoir were causing
havoc, but somehow they went into halftime only 1 point behind following
another Farrell penalty.
After the break, the game remained finely balanced, with
England perhaps displaying slightly more continuity in attack and Les Bleus
still edging the set piece – another scrum penalty gave Parra the chance to add
to their lead, but he pushed his kick across the posts. Instead it was the ever-reliable Farrell who
managed to nudge England ahead following an infringement from Parra, and England
found themselves 12 -10 up after 50 minutes.
And it was now when the game-changer came. Saint-Andre hauled off the excellent hooker
Benjamin Kayser and powerful Thomas Domingo, and then replaced the solid
Trinh-Duc (solidarity being exactly what the French needed) with the perennially
unreliable Freddie Michalak. Lancaster,
meanwhile, replaced the ineffectual Lawes with Haskell and brought on the
energetic front row duo of Mako Vunipola and Tom Youngs. The difference was immediate and obvious.
A high ball was spilled by Huget, before the superb Tom Wood
stuck a boot on the loose ball – which cannoned off Vunipola from point blank
range, who was in an offside position.
It wasn't noticed by the referee, and Tuilagi plucked the ball off his
bootstraps to outstrip Vincent Clerc from 30 metres to score in the
corner. It was a lucky try, but brought
about by an increase in tempo and pressure that the English substitutes were
bringing into the game. Despite a
well-struck penalty by Michalak, England were beginning to dominate. Vunipola was carrying strongly, Haskell was
making his tackles and Tom Youngs stated his intentions with a huge 10 metre
drive on his first contact. The set
piece was tightened, and all of a sudden France seemed lost. Toby Flood and Danny Care, on for Farrell and
Youngs, then hammered home the advantage, playing the corners effectively and
raising the tempo, whilst Tuilagi continued to make Bastareaud suffer in the
midfield.
Two well struck penalties by Flood gave England an
unassailable lead of 10 points. France
no longer seemed competitive and intense, they seemed panicked and devoid of
ideas. By the time the full time whistle
went, the vigour and ferocity of the opening half seemed a long time ago for
Les Bleus. A lucky bounce for England,
perhaps? Maybe. But as Stuart Lancaster
will argue, sometimes you make your own luck; Saint-Andre, on the other hand,
has discovered you can engineer your own misfortune.
England Player
Ratings
Goode – 6 – Solid under the high ball but didn't see much in the way of attack this time round.
Ashton – 4 – A couple of pathetic attempts at tackling in the first half were almost laughable, none more so than his misses for the Fofana score. Needs to up his game quickly.
Tuilagi – 8 – Answered the short-memoried critics who questioned his place in the side. Dominated Bastareaud, made yards and scored a try. Quality performance – and with half his ear dropping off.
Barritt – 7 – A couple of missed tackles for once but on the whole another all action performance from the solid Saracen. He took Bastareaud down all day and carried hard.
Brown – 6 – Struggled to get involved a lot, but went on a couple of his trademark wriggly runs.
Farrell – 5 – Yes, he kicked his goals well. But the old questions about his decision making and execution with the ball in hand came up again – and nobody wants to see some of the pathetic gobbing off incidents he was involved in
B Youngs – 6 – Decent service and kicking considering the quality of ball he was working off, but that missed tackle on Fofana blotted his copybook.
Marler – 7 – Impressive. Didn't always enjoy the scrum but carried hard and made some notable yardage
Hartley – 6 – Was OK around the park but won't enjoy watching the replays of some of his botched lineouts.
Cole – 6 – Not his finest day. Struggled against Domingo early on, although he eventually turned it around and was a menace in the loose, forcing several turnovers.
Launchbury – 6 – A first reality check for the youngs Wasps man. Was hit hard in the tackle a couple of times, might need to alter his running style so he's lower.
Parling – 6 – Superb around the park again but he will have to take some responsibility for a faltering lineout.
Lawes – 4 – Experiment failed. Sprinted around manically but missed far too many tackles, including one which unleashed Fofana.
Robshaw – 9 – Does he ever make a mistake? Strong under the high ball, in the tackle, on the carry. Another all action performance by the captain and another example of his leadership qualities. Man of the Match.
Wood – 8 – Really stood up in the second half with some superb supporting lines and aggressive work in defence.
Subs Used
T Youngs – 7 – Big statement from the hooker. Some thumping tackles and massive drives,
combined with a solid set piece, showed Lancaster he doesn't want to be viewed
as an 'impact' sub.
Vunipola – 7 – Got his hands on the ball regularly and made
plenty of yards. Looked hungry for work
and helped sure up the scrum. Haskell – 6 – Gave a better balance to the backrow, making several strong carries whilst he was on.
Care – 6 – Took advantage of the go-forward his pack were getting with some snappy service.
Flood – 6 – Kicked well and looked sharp on the ball, varied the game nicely.
France Player
Ratings
Huget – 6 – A couple of promising runs from the full back
but faded as the game went on. Shouldn't
have bothered getting involved with Farrell
Clerc – 5 – A couple of solid high ball takes, but no chance
to show off his running ability.Bastareaud – 5 – Came off second best against Tuilagi. Despite a couple of decent carries, he was well shackled and his overriding memory will be eating dirt after being palmed off by the England centre
Fofana – 8 – Had a quiet second half, but what a score. A wonderful display of silky running – why the hell hasn't he started in this position all along?!
Fall – 6 – Some strong defensive work by the winger, but saw very little of the ball in open space
Trinh-Duc – 6 – Very solid, made little/no mistakes. And yet was taken off for no obvious reason – that'll help his confidence…
Parra – 8 – Composed and authoritative performance by the scrum half. Was another unlucky to be substituted.
Domingo – 7 – Didn't see much of him in the loose but was on top of Cole at scrum time in the opening half
Kayser – 7 – A strong performance from the hooker which was both accurate in the lineout and powerful on the carry
Mas – 5 – Had an even battle with Marler, but was virtually anonymous outside of the scrum
Samson – 6 – Aggressive performance, seemed to love the physical nature of the test match without excelling in it
Maestri – 7 – Can take responsibility for a strong lineout. A couple of silly penalties given away however.
Nyanga – 6 – Solid outing from the Toulouse man. Didn't carry a lot but caused a lot of disruption at the breakdown.
Dusautoir – 7 –Better performance from the captain. Was frequently first to the tackle zone and excelled in slowing the ball down for England.
Picamoles – 9 – The big Toulouse man was a standout for his team, making some massive runs and cutting people in half in the tackle.
Subs Used
Debaty – 5 – Was unable to replicate Domingo's power in the scrum and was anonymous elsewhere
Szarzewski – 5 – French line out suffered for the first time when he came on, came off second best to Tom Youngs
Ducalcon – No time to make an impact
Suta – No time to make an impact
Claasen – No time to make an impact
Machenaud – No time to make an impact
Michalak – 5 – A well struck kick and then a chip showed promise, before he faded away with an aura of indecisiveness.
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