England 26 France 25
This was not the Le Crunch as the English press like to call this contest as the French beat themselves and it was not England beating France by playing well. The French must be kicking themselves travelling back to France tonight and they need to fix their mentality as this has always been a French problem.
This evening England upset the odds by beating France 26-25 when on paper you would comfortably say he French would easily win. The big problem backing a French victory is their temperament which blows hot and cold. Every year they somehow beat themselves when clearly they should be winning these games.
Todays match saw the French butcher 3 tries with the try line in sight with the final pass not going to hand. The score line would have been very different if those chances had been taken which they normally are and we would be talking about a French score above 50 points.
Who can forget 2024 when the dominant French drew with Italy 13 all and it is madness like this that always has a question mark hanging over their head. Their weakness is not in their abilities, but more so in their attitudes and how they are thinking as a team mentally.
If you are a coach you cannot influence very much from the side lines so it is more so with the teams leadership that is bought into question. I would also love to know what is the build up like before matches within the squad and is there anything different because this must be worrying for the team to have these off days.
I have no doubts they will go on and win the 3 remaining games left in this tournament, but there will be no Grand Slam which is a white wash wining every game. They can never seem to do this as they mess things up somewhere.
In 2023 they hosted the World Cup and were knocked out by South Africa in an epic quarter final. The team did not botch their lines that day and were beaten by a team that was equal in their abilities. The French seem to have learned noting since that day a each game needs to be played with 100% focus making sure the result is never in question.
Championship winning teams know how to put a game to bed and with the French leading up until the 78th minute today you just knew they were mentally not there. They are a great team, but not a winning team that will rewrite the record books even though they are capable of dominating world rugby if they chose to. The French flair is what sets them apart and also what makes them vulnerable when they are making mistakes.
The first 20 minutes of todays match they counted 6 handling errors which turns the ball over to your opponent giving away possession. The players on the field should have come together and slowed things down in order to be more clinical and this is he teams fault more than any particular player. The leadership group needs to recognize this and this is the real weakness in the team.
England were not any better than last weeks loss to Ireland and they rode their luck more than any other major factor. I still see England as the 3rd or 4th best team in the Six Nations and todays result changes nothing besides giving them more confidence and the coach a reprieve from being axed any time soon.