For anyone who watched yesterday’s matches, it is safe to say that the Six Nations went out in the most spectacular style. Wales laid down the law against Italy in what was certainly a match of two halves, and Ireland extended the benchmark after an emphatic win against Scotland at Murrayfield. It all came down to 80 minutes at Twickenham to decide who would take the title and enjoy the glory of being Champions, what an 80 minutes it was.
It was one of those games of rugby that had you twitching on the edge of your seat, intensely watching every phase and taking a breath with each flurry of excitement. For Welsh, Irish and English fans alike, the pressure mounted on this judgement game seemed too much at points in the game, most definitely in the dying moments where the French kept the ball alive for longer than they needed to. 26 points was always going to be a tall order for Stuart Lancaster’s team, but to come so close was perhaps made even more painful by the fact that they showed such passion in the second half, enough to rival any Southern Hemisphere team. So where did England go wrong?
Well nobody can claim that they didn’t start with a bang; barely a minute had gone by and a slick phase of ball handling saw Ben Youngs rack up the first five points of the game. An electric moment for the scrum half, putting England on the front foot by drawing first blood minutes after he’d wiped tears from his eyes during the national anthem. George Ford kicked the conversion but missed a penalty moments later, displaying how easily England became undone. Two French tries in quick succession left English fans in despair, wondering whether the men in white were going to be left chasing for the rest of the match.
And that’s how the match went – England shaved the points difference and looked to be on track to upset the Irish, but France answered back each time. A tit for tat game, and when England cranked up the pressure in the second half, getting more desperate and increasing the pressure, Saint-Andre’s men kept closing the gap again and again. A series of French replacements seemed to initially unsteady Les Bleus, allowing Jack Nowell to go over the line. Even a yellow card for James Haskell looked to go unnoticed, until Vincent Debaty scored a superb try to make it 41–30.
Fresh legs took to the pitch just after the hour mark in the form of Kieran Brookes, Mako Vunipola and Danny Cipriani, who took to the wing in place of Anthony Watson. Ford continued his good form from the tee to dissect the posts for Billy Vunipola’s try but in open play the kicking was something to be desired. With ball in hand, England were impressive; some clean passing, thundering breaks and nifty footwork poured hope into the hearts of many an Englishman, however the odd dropped ball brought things crashing back to earth. Some abysmal choices to kick instead of run with the ball had the phrase “Stop Kicking” being bellowed at thousands of TV screens across the country.
Jonathan Joseph and Chris Robshaw seemed to up their game throughout the game, both making vital metres and eyeing up space in what was, at times, a very solid French defence. Jack Nowell also proved why he has become one of England’s rising star’s, taking high balls well and adding a sense of skilful ruthlessness when it came to speeding down the wing. Courtney Lawes sent tongues wagging with a crunching tackle on Jules Plisson, leaving ref Nigel Owens in debate of whether it deserved a stint in the sin-bin. Owens’ decision that the tackle was legal allowed pundits to praise Lawes for coming back into the team with the same powerful presence as before his bout of injury. Geoff Parling’s tackle rate makes good reading, him and Robshaw having 14 each to their name (same as highest French tackler Gael Fickou) whilst Billy Vunipola added a further three on top of that to make him England’s top tackler.
The French have such heavy front rowers that they seem to belittle England’s power when it came to scrums. Despite not losing a scrum and winning two of France’s, Graham Rowntree will know that England’s scrummaging was tested and their ability to withstand the French strength and not be forced into giving away a penalty deserves praise at least.
Fundamentally, France chose this game of all (when England were most desperate for a large-margin win) to pull together and seize opportunities like the France of old. England did their best to curb this creativeness and on any other day this would have gone down as one of England’s most triumphant of victories. A huge 55-35 final score proves how good the standard of rugby was, however the 20 point difference was still not enough for Stuart Lancaster to seize the Six Nations title for the first time as head coach. Amidst the ‘What If’s’ there comes a sense of pride that for such a injury-beaten squad at the start of the campaign, England have managed to beat more tried-and-tested sides such as Wales. Billy Vunipola’s post match tweet sums up the title chase perfectly:
“Won the battle today, sadly not the war. Great competition though and gives @EnglandRugby a great platform to build to this years World Cup”.
And there we have it. Things still need to be worked on and injuries will come and go, but to be undefeated at Twickenham this year is something to be satisfied with six months out of a home World Cup. After the early disappointment of this weekend, perhaps there is a silver lining for this England side after all?
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