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SIX NATIONS FOCUS: England need a change of script in Le Crunch

rugby05 February 2025 05:30
By:Gavin Rich
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England @ Getty Images

There will be the odd aberration, like last year’s shock England win against Ireland at Twickenham, but last week’s first round of the Guinness Six Nations confirmed what most thought they knew already - there are three different tiers in the competition.

The top tier is taken up by the two sides playing in the northern hemisphere international competition who belong in the top four of world rugby alongside the global champions South Africa and New Zealand. France and Ireland both confirmed at the weekend that they are a level above the rest, with Scotland and England some way behind, and Italy and Wales even further behind them.

If you didn’t watch the game, don’t read too much into the final scoreline in Dublin, which reflected just a five point Ireland win. The contest was long since over when England scored two tries against a lax Ireland who knew they already had the game won.

England will of course take heart from those two late scores, and their coach Steve Borthwick will cling onto anything that can give his team some hope before they host France in the game that is customarily known the other side of the English Channel as Le Crunch. The game is at Twickenham, which you’d normally think should give England some advantage, but let’s cast our minds back nearly two years to the last time a Six Nations match featuring these two teams was played at England’s home ground.

LAST TIME IT WAS LE MASSACRE

It was on 11 March, almost exactly 23 months to the day from Saturday’s game, that France humiliated England with a record 53-10 win. Of course, England were just starting out in the post Eddie Jones era under Steve Borthwick at that time, and they are undeniably a much improved unit on the one that was massacred on home turf.

But while England have become more competitive under Borthwick than they were then, you get the sense that patience is running out among England supporters and the English rugby media with performances that are regarded as competitive but which don’t get the team over the line as winners.

A loss by a respectable score against Antoine Dupont’s team will not be enough to satisfy the critics, for there have been too many of those since England came agonisingly close to beating France in France at the end of the last Six Nations season. Make no mistake, they’ve played some good teams in that time, meaning the All Blacks thrice, South Africa once, Ireland once and that game against France, but in their last nine games they have won just twice. And those two wins were both against Japan - once in Tokyo en route to New Zealand last July and then in London in November.

What has become frustrating for the English rugby public is the same old movie theme of those defeats. Invariably they’ve put up a good show for much of the game and then been unable to close it out in the last quarter. Even against the world champion Boks that was the case when they met a few months ago, with Siya Kolisi’s team winning by more than a score in the end but it was anyone’s game after an hour.

Against Ireland in the opener to their 2025 campaign it was a similar story and a sequence that has become all too familiar. They troubled Ireland in the first half, and took an early lead. But the longer the game lasted, and we are talking even before halftime, when England led by three points, the more it became apparent that England would not be able to sustain their challenge.

In the second half, until the last minutes when England grabbed their consolation losing bonus point, it was all Ireland.

IRELAND MADE THEIR POINT

I wrote in November after Ireland lost to the All Blacks in Dublin that what has become an established top four in world rugby could soon shrink to a top three. The assumption being that Ireland were going to start to flag and that they’d hit their peak. Well, hold the phone sports lovers, for maybe that assumption of Irish demise was premature. Don’t write off their chances of being challengers at the next World Cup in Australia in 2027.

Ireland looked flat in November and apart from losing to New Zealand they weren’t that flush against the Wallabies, sneaking to a win by just three points. But they had their zip back against England, they had tempo and most of all they had attacking shape.

There had been suggestions that Leinster, who provide most of the Ireland players, had veered too much in the opposite direction when former Springbok defence guru and World Cup winning coach Jacques Nienaber joined the coaching team, and that it was impacting on the national side. Well, those fears should have been allayed by the potency Ireland showed on attack and they were pressing for another try before England’s score at the end of the AVIVA Stadium clash.

Perhaps the biggest question that Ireland needed answering, and this dates back to their World Cup exit at the hands of New Zealand at the quarterfinal stage, is how they are going to survive life without Jonny Sexton. Last season didn’t provide a convincing answer, but Sam Pendergast’s introduction has provided plenty of promise.

Just 21 years of age, Pendergast has long been rated as the next big thing in Ireland rugby. He didn’t deliver a perfect performance. There were times when he appeared almost too Harry Casual in his approach. But his calmness is surely a plus, and those who remember how the prodigiously talented Gaffie du Toit fell short in that regard when he was tried by the Boks would agree that is better than the opposite.

Ireland’s start wasn’t quite as emphatic as their big win over France in the opening game last year, and while it is several weeks away, you’d suggest they will be underdogs in what everyone expects to be the decisive clash in the Championship on 8 March.

SCOTS WILL PRESENT A GOOD TEST

We will know more after Ireland have played Scotland at Murrayfield at the weekend. The Scots started like a house on fire against Italy and then the visitors fought back to make it a close game until Scotland drew away with two tries towards the end. The fact that it wasn’t a perfect performance has pleased some Scottish critics on the basis that it means there won’t be a danger of their team being over confident against Ireland, but there was never going to be a danger of that. Ireland have beaten Scotland a lot recently, and won comfortably in the key Pool game at the last World Cup, so they will start as strong favourites to make it two wins in two starts.

However, Scotland boast an impressive recent record at Murrayfield, with the Boks the only team to beat them there in November, so Ireland should be wary of repeating the off night they had against England last year.

France never really appeared to engage second gear and some would say delivered no less or no more than was expected in their 43-0 whitewash of Warren Gatland’s hapless Welsh team in the Paris opener to this edition of the competition. Wales were never expected to challenge and that contributed to the game being the most boring of the three played in the opening round.

But they will be looking to hit their straps against England, who will have further motivated them with some of the quotes that will travel across the Channel as they prepare for the game. Like Tommy Freeman, the England wing, pointing out that the world’s most celebrated player, Dupont, is only human and can be tackled just like everyone else. It’s stating the obvious but in rugby statements of the obvious can fuel extra testosterone when said out loud.

ENGLAND NOT MOVING ON FROM THE OTHER MISTER JONES


France present a mountain of Everest proportions for England to climb as the hosts reach a critical crossroads in the Borthwick reign as coach.

There were positive signs against Ireland, and England have evolved into a much better team to watch than they were at the start of Borthwick’s tenure as coach and the last days of the Eddie Jones era. But their biggest gains in last year’s campaign revolved around the defensive effort that at that time was being coached by former Bok assistant Felix Jones.

Jones was still with England in New Zealand last July and their rush defence gave the All Black some problems, but since then they haven’t been able to sustain a strong defensive effort across the full 80 minutes. England have moved on from Eddie, who is now working as an ITV pundit covering the Six Nations, but they are not moving on as easily from the other Mister Jones.

ROME IS HUGE FOR WALES



They’re in a much better place though than the team from the other side of the River Severn Bridge, who head to Rome at the weekend regarding their clash with Italy as akin to playing in a World Cup final.

And it is nothing less than that, for if we look at those aforementioned three tiers, it is Scotland and England in that order who make up the second tier, and Wales and Italy who make up the third. Saturday’s game will determine how we order them, and you sense that if Wales lose again to Italy, who look the only team that they are capable of beating, then it might finally be tickets for coach Gatland.

What to do after that is of course an interesting question, for it is quite clear that despite the improvement of some of the Welsh regional teams in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, the problems in the Principality extend much further than the identity of the national coach.

It will be hard for Wales to beat Italy away from home given how Italy hung in against Scotland and given the progress that nation has made since they were humiliated in successive Pool games by France and New Zealand at the 2023 World Cup.

England against France tops the billing in the Six Nations this weekend, with so much on the line for the hosts, but there’s also plenty on the line in the other two games too.

WEEKEND GUINNESS SIX NATIONS RESULTS


France 43 Wales 0

Scotland 31 Italy 19

Ireland 27 England 22

GUINNESS SIX NATIONS ROUND 2

Italy v Wales (Saturday, 8 February 16.45)

England v France (Saturday, 8 February 18.45)

Scotland v Ireland (Sunday, 9 February 17.00)

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