Jeremy Guscott’s verdict on England: Character is there… now cut out errors

After a horror start England showed they have the character and class to fight back and almost win this marvellous match in Stade de France.
A lot has been said about how the transitional period for Stuart Lancaster’s side has gone and now is the time for results. But this England team really is a work in progress – only nine of the starting lineup were in the team at the beginning of the tournament last year. Injuries and loss of form meant England went into the game with a new midfield pairing and back-three partnership – but they still went out with intention to play attacking rugby.
It was only a lack of finesse at crucial times that cost England the match. There were only a handful of mistakes from Lancaster’s side but they were crucial ones. It was in those moments when the accuracy was not quite there and opportunities not quite taken that cost England. It put them on the back foot from the off and if you make mistakes and lose possession at this level you might not get the ball back for a few minutes.
The start wasn’t great and poor old Jack Nowell would not have wanted that as his first touch in international rugby. But the knock-on wasn’t his fault after Joe Launchbury had gone up and mistimed his jump to receive the kick-off and so it came to Nowell unexpectedly. And after a few attacks, a nice ricochet off Billy Twelvetrees and the bounce goes to France’s flying winger Yoann Huget.
However, albeit from a turnover, France rode their luck and deserved the try. The second Huget try was from another turnover. France again made the most of their fortune but it was a well worked score and before they knew it England were down 13-3.
But one of the most pleasing things was they did not crumble. They kept going and Mike Brown’s try was good reward for their endeavour. For although they were trailing by two scores, England looked comfortable throughout the half when they had the ball. It was just those crucial errors that kept zapping momentum.
After half-time it was just all England and believing Robshaw’s boys to be the fitter of the teams I felt confident they could go on and close the game out. But that didn’t prove to be the case and when Owen Farrell was suffering from cramp England could do nothing as all their backline replacements had been used.
Farrell had another superb game in an England shirt. He made a good couple of breaks and his kicking and distribution are improving, as is his decision making. It was Farrell’s vision that set up the try for Luther Burrell.
He saw his opposite number Jules Plisson come out of the line, slipped inside and delayed the pass beautifully to the charging Billy Vunipola who made tremendous yardage before another deft offload to Burrell who had followed the break through. That’s what has been missing from England of late. They have been making breaks but lacking someone supporting on the shoulder to finish it off.
Danny Care‘s drop-goal made it 21-16 and it looked comfortable. But three crucial mistakes again stopped their tempo and lost them territory and possession.
The first was from Lee Dickson, fresh from the bench when his first put-in to the scrum was crooked. Next it was Nowell’s turn on 65 minutes when he spilled the ball and then a very rare knock-on from Chris Robshaw handed France possession and from a resultant scrum penalty, replacement scrum-half Maxime Machenaud kicked the penalty.
Again credit to England for coming back and earning their own penalty, but then all they had to do was keep the ball in French territory, call a drop-goal play and knock it over to secure the match.
However another lapse in concentration let the French back in and their last try was full of flair – the France of old; hooker Dimitri Szarewski straighted the line like a three-quarter, passed to teenage sensation Gael Fickou, who dummied Alex Goode and went over under the sticks.
England will be mightily disappointed. They huddled together on the pitch long after the whistle had gone and I can only imagine Robshaw was telling his men they should be proud of their performance.
I expect Lancaster to stick with the same 23 next week if May is passed fit and the key area to improve is defensive alignment before the Calcutta Cup next Saturday.
Too often England were caught too narrow and France were allowed to go round the outside. And on more than one occasion little grubbers got into the gap between the full-back and the defensive line which France capitalised on.
They are improving, no doubt, and it is just the small errors that lose games at this level. It is a game England know they could have won – should have won possibly – because in the first half France didn’t play, they lived off England’s mistakes.
England dug deep to get back into and it’s too easy to say inexperience proved costly – it was small errors that lost the game. Lancaster will be reiterating this week: accuracy and execution.
I hope England continue with the same tactics in attack next week and with fewer mistakes. I am pleased to see more shape to our attack. It’s coming together and the side showed good ambition. We saw glimpses of what Burrell can do yesterday and this centre partnership will need a bit of time to develop.
The bench offered huge impact late on and I was particularly impressed with Ben Morgan and Tom Youngs.
I am confident there is a lot more to come from England and both belief and accuracy will make huge strides forward throughout this Championship.