In days gone by it was Brian Moore who set the bristling pre-match tone for England v France fixtures, muttering about the French XV comprising “15 Eric Cantonas” in terms of their ability to display both brilliance and brutality. Eddie Jones did not go that far after confirming his lineup to face Les Bleus but the scent of traditional cross‑Channel rivalry is again drifting through England’s team rooms.
At one of the squad’s meetings this week the England defence coach, Paul Gustard, asked his players to guess how many full-on battles the armies of England and France had fought over the years. He reckoned the answer was 20 – or slightly fewer depending on how you prefer to regard the hundred years war – but the key message was sporting rather than militaristic. He wanted to get across to the players that the French will never stand tamely aside in any contest with their neighbours, whether the backdrop be Crécy, Agincourt or Twickenham.
Trite, perhaps, and not enough to qualify Gustard as a threat to AJP Taylor on the list of all-time famous historians but England’s rugby men are right to be wary of the threat heading their way on the opening weekend of the Six Nations Championship. Missing from the team Jones might otherwise have picked are the injured Vunipola brothers, George Kruis, Chris Robshaw, Anthony Watson and Manu Tuilagi, while Dylan Hartley, Joe Marler and the replacement James Haskell have played scant recent rugby between them. It is a sign of the times that England can still pick a more than decent XV but their much-vaunted squad depth is about to be seriously examined.
Jones, as the Australian does so well, chose to deflect that argument down a different boulevard. England, lest anyone has forgotten, have won their past 14 Tests and in the management’s view are no longer reliant on one or two dominant figures.
“The way we play we are not dependent on individuals or rely on one player who does extraordinary things for us. We work together, we have got a certain way to attack that allows all to play their part and we have got great depth in the country. We have got good players who work hard.”
The England head coach is also confident that Wasps’ Elliot Daly, last seen in an England jersey being handed a red card in the November Test against Argentina, will prove an inspired choice on the right wing, despite the fact Exeter’s Jack Nowell has been the outstanding club winger in England over the past month. While Nowell missed a chunk of training this week for personal reasons, Jones insists that was not necessarily the reason he lost out.
“He’ll be great off the bench for us but Elliot gives us something different. I believe Elliot can really develop into a great winger for us. That’s not to say he won’t be a great outside-centre. One of the things I want to help the team develop is versatility.”
There is certainly no issue about the number of lineout jumpers at England’s disposal, with Maro Itoje having been lobbed the No6 jersey. France will do well to outwit him, Courtney Lawes, Joe Launchbury and Tom Wood in aerial combat but may feel there is potential scope for them in the set scrums, with Marler having made a remarkably swift recovery from a broken leg to start at loosehead prop. Hartley, who has played precisely six minutes of club rugby since early December because of suspension, has been working tirelessly on the training ground, however, even paying for his own room at the heftily priced Pennyhill Park hotel in “off weeks” to liaise more closely with the squad’s conditioning staff.
“There’s no rust,” he insisted. “Knowing how hard we prepare gives the team confidence.”
By the sound of it, Hartley is extremely glad to be back in the bosom of his team, the joys of fatherhood having all but taken over the rest of his life. He said: “I’ve got nothing in my house apart from baby stuff … I’ve got one sofa, three ride-on giraffes, a little pink car, a book corner dominated by farm books and baby TV constantly on.”
Even listening to his room-mate Owen Farrell singing in the bathroom seems preferable: “He’s a beautiful singer. I left to come here and he was belting out some songs in the shower. He sang ‘My Girl’ and a couple of others … he was very good.”
France’s Guy Novès will be rather more concerned with Farrell’s goal‑kicking ability but the visitors are themselves set to arrive with a hard‑nosed pack, including Northampton’s Louis Picamoles, and a refreshed sense of motivation. “Under Novès I think players want to play for France again,” Jones predicted, but was nevertheless confident that his side’s intensive preparation will bear fruit.
“Do you think Roger Federer stands at the back of the court patting the ball back to his hitting partner? You’ve got to train intensely because rugby’s an intense game. I said to the team today: ‘I don’t think anyone in the world has a stronger bench than we have.’ We can finish the game strong with those guys.”
