Ugly England need a big makeover to face Wales

From NICK CAIN at Twickenham

England 19pts

Tries: Te’o 70

Conversions: Farrell 71

Penalties: Farrell 10, 23, 55; Daly 38

France 17pt

Tries: Slimani 60

Conversions: Lopez 61

Penalties: Lopez 7, 13, 20

RECORD 15-match winning run? Done. Running repairs at the start of the Six Nations? Done. But how long will it last?

Let’s not mince words, this was England’s worst performance under Eddie Jones, and they came perilously close to losing this tournament opener against a French side which was well-prepared, and for long periods more cohesive and effective.

That the defending champions were able to march on to Cardiff with a second Grand Slam still in their sights owed everything to the much needed drip-feed of urgency and energy provided by the bench in the final quarter. Take a bow Ben Te’o, Jack Nowell, James Haskell and Danny Care.

Te’o deserves to take the laurels because he has had to wait patiently for Test chances due to untimely injuries, but if ever there was a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man, this was it.

Before his arrival England had tried to weave and chip their way through a steel-trap French defence with little success.

However, with George Ford and Owen Farrell surprisingly ineffective as string-pullers for over an hour, it needed a bristling, physical runner like Te’o to test the tiring French midfield – and the powerful Worcester centre pulled this one out of the fire when he crashed through for the winning try with ten minutes left to play, with Farrell adding the extras.

Up until that point France had looked likely winners, with replacement tight-head Rabah Slimani’s 59th minute try – which gave them a 16-12 lead – just reward for their improved discipline, accuracy and enterprise.

That England frequently found themselves on the back foot was because their patched-up back row was outplayed by the French, with their Northampton No.8 Louis Picamoles bashing holes to give them constant forward momentum.

The French loose trio were helped by a scrum which – bar a couple of penalties for collapsing – won the scrum battle decisively.

Unlike the home side, France also had a busy, linking openside in Kevin Gourdon, who played a key role in Slimani’s try.

While Tom Wood can never be faulted for grit and sweat, he was outplayed at the ruck and gave away a steady flow of penalties, and it emphasised that he is much better suited to the six shirt rather than seven.

It would also be difficult to call Maro Itoje’s move to blindside an unqualified success, despite having played there regularly for Saracens. He was less effective in the loose than usual, and it was noticeable that he started to get his hooks into the French only when Haskell came on and he moved into the second row.

Despite Nathan Hughes having a solid game at No.8, this match reinforced the belief that there is a lack of balance in the England backrow, and it emphasised the need for a faster, creative openside if this backline is to flourish into the attacking force Jones wants. The punishing setpiece the coach hankers after is also a work in progress, with the newly returned Joe Marler not surprisingly struggling to make his presence felt.

The Red Rose scrum was more of a holding operation against the French than a dominant force, and while the line-out drive improved in the final quarter it was not a truly punishing siege machine.

England were guilty of a couple of slow, unconvincing starts in the autumn and there were signs that instead of stiffened sinews they were slack for much of the first-half.

One notable exception was Elliot Daly. The Wasps back made two try-saving tackles from his new post on the left wing, cutting down Noa Nakaitaci and forcing him into touch just before the half hour, and then decking Scott Spedding, with the big French full-back doing a passable impression of a runaway rhino just before the interval.

At that stage the match was locked at 9-9, with Daly levelling it with a longrange special after an earlier exchange of penalties between Camille Lopez and Farrell had seen the home side trailing by three.

The second of Lopez’s strikes had come after Jonny May was sin-binned for a leg tackle in which he lifted one of Gael Fickou’s legs marginally above the horizontal. It was one where the referee should have used his own judgment, and simply given a penalty.

The 9-9 scoreline was more than England could have expected after the French wrenched the game away from them in the first quarter.

It began with a wobble in the opening exchanges when France attacked wide through their Fijian wingers, Virimi Vatakawa and Nakaitaci, with the latter threading a grubber down the touchline to unnerve the English back three.

England had promised war-war, but it took some half-time jaw-jaw by their coach to wake them up, and immediately after the break they made two chances in quick succession.

First, Jonathan Joseph was denied when the pacy Baptiste Serin covered his chip-and-chase attempt.

Then, after a delayed pass by Ford freed Farrell, and his long pass gave Daly a whiff of a chance, he was denied in the corner by an excellent Nakaitaci cover tackle. England eventually took the lead for the first time, 12-9, thanks to a further Farrell penalty, but it prompted a steaming response from the French.

With Picamoles making headway down one flank, and Vatakawa taking it deeper into the English 22, the ball was whipped to the other side of the pitch where Sebastien Vahaamahina battered towards the line.

As the lock was tackled he found Gourdon in support, and the flanker slipped the ball to Slimani for the try.

Lopez’s conversion left England staring at the abyss, but Jones’ late deployment of the bench cavalry paid off as Nowell, Haskell and Te’o smashed into the French 22 to knock them onto the ropes.

With Care providing quick service to Farrell from the last of a series of rucks, the centre’s pass hit Te’o coming at pace, and he blasted between Spedding and Nakaitaci for the match-saving try.

France had a glimpse of a late chance with a penalty to touch in the penultimate minute, but when Jean-Marc Doussain found Nowell rather than the touchline, the lights went out for France.

As Jones said afterwards of the win, “You can’t get much uglier than that”.

It will have to get a lot prettier, and smarter, if England are to win in Cardiff on Saturday.