All is not yet lost for England at next month’s Rugby World Cup on the basis of one grim warm-up defeat but alarm bells are starting to ring.
Two matches against France on successive weekends were supposed to soothe pre-tournament nerves, resolve any remaining selectorial conundrums and reinforce the perception of a forward pack to be feared. In all three respects there is now less certainty than existed 10 days ago.
Perhaps the most telling line in Paris on Saturday evening came from France’s coach, Philippe Saint-André, who had just been asked whether his own side had finally emerged from three years of toil and trouble. “I know exactly what I’m doing and where I’m going,” confirmed Saint-André, whose days of being seen as Inspector Clouseau in a tracksuit by the French media are suddenly over. England, in contrast, have stalled sufficiently for a concerned Stuart Lancaster to dismiss the first 60 minutes on Saturday as “not good enough”.
It is even possible that Fiji – never mind Wales and Australia – will study elements of this English performance and quietly conclude the host nation might be beatable on the World Cup’s opening night on 18 September, in a fixture that will once again be refereed by South Africa’s Jaco Peyper.
True, that game is taking place at Twickenham rather than on a ploughed field in Saint Denis but the swagger one would expect from a confident English team about to embrace the biggest opportunity of their lives is nowhere to be seen.
Some of it should be easily fixable. It is hard to believe England’s scrum will not squeeze Fiji’s tight five sufficiently to neuter their opponents’ physical threats elsewhere and this was the first competitive game of the season for many. On the flip side England’s set-piece foundations, discipline, breakdown work and accuracy were nowhere near where they should have been on Saturday night and weeks of intense training have not noticeably improved the quality of their decision-making.
Which brings one, yet again, to the heart of the matter. Barring a major U-turn, Lancaster will name a squad this week that is set to omit both Henry Slade and Danny Cipriani, the two ball-players who have greased England’s attacking wheels most effectively in their two French tests. The difference the latter made in terms of straightening the backline, drawing defenders, creating half a metre of space on the outside and delivering a telling pass was every bit as striking as Slade’s contribution at Twickenham the previous weekend. England will not win the World Cup without a strong forward platform but nor will they do so without at least one centre with a modicum of playmaking vision.
Cipriani’s ability to take some of the pressure off poor George Ford – who had previously endured the worst 60 minutes of his short Test career – was pivotal to England’s final-quarter rally from 25-6 down and underlined precisely what the squad will be missing if – as they are threatening to do – the management go squarely for physicality over subtlety. If Luther Burrell, Brad Barritt and Sam Burgess all make the squad instead, the claims that warm-up form and backline balance would be key components of the final 31-man selection will ring hollow indeed.
Lancaster has some awkward issues up front, too, where Billy Vunipola’s loss of weight did not instantly translate into a commanding performance at No8. England also lost four of their own lineouts and, for the second week running, found it extremely hard going at the breakdown. The names of Dylan Hartley and Steffon Armitage continue to clog up social media’s various arteries and forward efforts like this do little to dissipate it. Jamie George of Saracens made a good impression when he came on but in terms of dynamism and set-piece assurance France finished well in front.
The good news for Lancaster is that Jack Nowell looked up for the challenge on the right wing, Mike Brown was his old bristling self in his first competitive Test since his recovery from concussion symptoms and both Dave Attwood and Nick Easter added some oomph when they came on.
France, despite their overwhelming first-half dominance, were restricted to justonly a solitary converted try, a spectacular side-stepping effort from Yoann Huget, and six penalties. The late brace of tries by Cipriani and Jonathan Joseph also implied that, fitness-wise if nothing else, England are in a reasonably good place.
Yet, if one was asked to back one of these two sides to reach the 2015 World Cup final on this evidence it could only be France. There is still time – England’s World Cup winners of 2003 lost to France in Marseille at this stage, albeit with a largely second-choice team – but England’s final warm-up against Ireland at Twickenham on 5 September is assuming mounting importance. The details of England’s final 31-man squad will be known later this week but whether they will collectively rise to the huge challenge ahead remains a subject of increasing conjecture.
France Spedding; Huget, Bastareaud (Fickou, 69), Fofana, Nakaitaci; Michalak (Tales, 69), Tillous-Borde (Kockott, 71); Ben Arous (Debaty, 57), Guirado (Kayser, 57), Slimani (Atonio, 63), Papé (capt; Flanquart, 67), Maestri, Chouly, Le Roux, Picamoles (Nyanga, 57).
Try Huget. Con Michalak. Pens Michalak 5, Spedding.
England Brown; Nowell, Joseph, Burrell (Twelvetrees, 63), May (Cipriani, 63); Ford, Youngs (Care, 48); Marler, (M Vunipola, 66), T Youngs (George, 48), Cole (Wilson, 66), Launchbury (Attwood, 55), Lawes, Haskell (Easter, 55), Robshaw (capt), B Vunipola.
Tries Cipriani, Joseph. Cons Ford 2. Pens Ford 2.
Referee J Peyper (South Africa).
