Jeremy Guscott: Breathless, but the Referee didn’t blow

Stuart Lancaster spoke before this game about the last 20 minutes being crucial, about how England‘s now superior fitness would pay dividends as the French creaked and crumbled.
When he said it, I did not feel it was strictly true. The last 20 minutes of a game are not always as crucial as, say, the first 20. But it was a clever way for Lancaster to motivate his team. It ensured they stayed in the match mentally – and lo, and behold, he was proved right.
The French did crumble, partly through their own mystifying substitutions and partly because England’s spirit coupled with their levels of endurance took the French to the limit. Suddenly they were conceding penalties and, at long last, in a thudding, thrilling collision the pressure was off England.
The price the men in the Red Rose paid for this victory which keeps them on track for a potential Grand Slam was summed up by try-scorer Manu Tuilagi who loooked in need of an oxygen supply at the end of the game. Even the effort required to answer touchline questions seemed to be  carrying him over the edge.
To a degree, England were fortunate. Referees do tend to favour the home team and this was no exception although it was more a case of Craig Joubert and his assistants missing infringements rather than ignoring them.
When Tuilagi broke free from a ruck for his try it should have been a scrum for France as the ball had been kicked against him by Tom Wood and he was accidentally offside.
The other occasion came when Mako Vunipola knocked the ball out of  Morgan Parra’s hand to halt a dangerous French sequence. It should have been a yellow card and a penalty kick. Joubert gave nothing.
England were fortunate those ‘decisions’ went their way but they were still good value for this triumph through their second-half superiority.
Parra missed a penalty just before half-time and just after but that was surely no reason to take him off and replace him with Maxime Machenaud. That seemed incomprehensible as did Philippe Saint-Andre’s decision to swap Francois Trinh Duc for Frederic Michalak. Both men were inferior to the players taken off.
England captain Chris Robshaw was made man-of-the-match and I have no quarrel with that. I didn’t feel anyone truly stood out in a fine team performance but Robshaw deserved his nomination for his wholheartedness and willingness to carry.
He plays at the same level almost every week which is a real credit to him and he brings a steadiness to the England team which they are starting to rely on.
His back row colleague Courtney Lawes, however, had  a bit of a nightmare at times. I’ve never seen him miss so many tackles.
No player, of course, is going to tell the coach he doesn’t want to play in a certain role in an international. But Lawes was out of place at blindside, a position he has not featured in for years at Northampton. It would have been better for Joe Launchbury to move to No.6 with Lawes going to the second row. Launchbury has played far more frequently at blindside for Wasps and it would have been an easier transition.
England had dominated the breakdown against Scotland and Ireland but here they were second best in the first half to Louis Picamoles, Yannick Nyanga and Thierry Dusautoir.
This impacted on the effectiveness of Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell to get their line moving and it was left to the brawn of  Tuilagi to propel England’s backline forwards. Tuilagi has that gift of being in the right place at the right time as he was for his questionable try.
One of the great clashes of the match was Tuilagi against Mathieu Bastareaud. I flinched every time these two heavyweights came into contact. Both bludgeon into their opposition and make the hardest of yards.
But for an old outside centre like me, the most magical sight was Wesley Forfana running through England to score his try. A swing of his hips here, a fix with the eyes there and he was beyond Chris Ashton, Lawes, Youngs and Ashton again to score a beautiful try.
It reminded us of the poetic excellence of the French at their best. England had the strength of mind to overcome such moments of magic and now move on to face Italy … and then Wales.
The Welsh were pragmatic in Rome yesterday. They have got themselves back on track. Cardiff will be no place for the faint hearts on March 16.