Lucky Sithole
The curtain raiser for the France vs England match was the match between Ireland and Scotland. There were no surprises at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin as Ireland scored a bonus point victory (26-5) in their last Six Nations match of the year.
This meant that France had it all to do at Stade de France in Paris – and the prize would be winning the Six Nations Championship, something Les Bleus hadn’t done for 12 years.
France, known traditionally for either being brilliant or accepting defeat with a Gallic shrug – and nothing in between – started the match nervously. They had two scoring chances, and spilled both by literally dropping the ball. Then they had another knock-on that could have been a try and then they made a mess of a crucial throw-in at an attacking line-out.
And the match was not even ten minutes old!
But England fared no better. Through the season, Eddie Jones has steadily worked his way backwards from being the popular coach who always has a trick up his sleeve to being a cumbersome Mr Plod (pun intended) who needs to get away from England’s national team. This match would not have done anything to improve his image.
If there was a game plan, it seemed to involve trying to do what the French do – but doing it better. And if that was the plan it was a big mistake. England players were running around all over the place throwing the ball around and happily conceding one penalty after another.
Gaël Fickou’s try for France in the 15th minute seemed inevitable.
Progressively, the French attack started asking more and more questions of the English defence and on the stroke of halftime the brave Englishmen had run out of answers. François Cros scored a try making the score 18-6.
Great coaches can change games at halftime if they need to. Rassie Erasmus is the master of that. French coach Fabien Galthié had nothing to change. (If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.) What would Eddie Jones do to change the game? Well, nothing.
Freddie Steward’s try in the 48th minute is a testament to the fighting spirit of the English. The score was now tantalisingly close at 18-13 that was basically the end of their match.
Antoine Dupont’s brilliant try with 20 minutes to go took away what little wind the English still had in their sails.
As courageous as the English were, they were never really in the match.
This match will not be remembered for much, but it does end, as a commentator said, “12 years of under-achieving” for France.
And, the gauntlet is firmly thrown down for the Rugby World Cup. While it is unlikely that France will win the Webb Ellis trophy next year – they are too inconsistent for that – but they will certainly be the team to beat.
France: Tries: Gaël Fickou, François Cros, Antoine Dupont. Two conversions.
England: Try: Freddie Steward. One conversion.
Score: France 25-13 England.
Image source: @Independent
