James Haskell has challenged England to prove their performance against Ireland was more than just a one-off.
Victory over Grand Slam-chasing Ireland brought the feel-good factor back to English rugby, but dark clouds could rapidly resurface if Steve Borthwick’s side end their Six Nations campaign with a whimper against faltering France on Super Saturday.
Former England flanker Haskell, 38, has urged England to use the momentum as fuel in their quest to end an eight-year wait for an away win against Les Bleus.
“They need to make sure they capitalise on it and go from there,” said Haskell.
“There’s no point reaching those heights and failing. I think Borthers (Borthwick) is building something, we’ve got to have some face and hopefully the Ireland win will quell a few of the doubters.
“They were trying to get that performance out for quite a long time. They’ve been training like that and looking to play like that, it just hasn’t translated.
“They’ve got a performance they can build on now.
“We go into the weekend against France and I think there’s a lot of excitement around this team. Hopefully it will build and carry on.”
The Borthwick era has been blighted by debates around fly-half selection and inconsistency in style of play, but Haskell says that one shock result is all it takes to establish a more positive direction.
“The truth is that in 2015 we got knocked out of a home World Cup in the pool stages,” he recalled.
“Our first game back was away to Scotland and nobody gave us a prayer. We won that and then we went on an 18-game unbeaten run, which was pretty amazing.
“Winning breeds winning and the Ireland result gets a monkey off their back, everyone has been positive about it.
“France will be a very different case of affairs because they’ve come off an awful tournament, things have been pretty bad for them.
“Playing in Lyon is very different to the Stade de France, a completely different and an amazing atmosphere, so I’m quite excited to see how it goes.”
Borthwick has made just one change to the Ireland side with Elliot Daly in for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso after the young wing reported concussion symptoms on Monday.
Looking further ahead, Haskell anticipates sweeping selection changes ahead of England’s two-test summer tour to New Zealand.
“(George) Furbank has been playing well,” said Haskell, speaking at the Continental Tyres Schools Cup finals. “(Tommy) Freeman looks like the real well, George Martin was outstanding for me last week, Ben Earl has cemented himself as a world class player, or at least is in the form of a world class player.
“It was a great for them to get that experience, they’re blooded in now and I think you’ll see that some players will not play again after the Six Nations.”
Written by Ben Hart, Sportsbeat
The Continental Tyres Schools Cup is an important part of the age-grade rugby landscape in England, with schools’ rugby often where players fall in love with the game for the first time. For more information visit the Continental Tyres Schools Cup section of the England Rugby Website.
