RUGBY:THE FRANCE coach, Marc Lievremont, says he has been reading Winston Churchill's autobiography this week in an attempt to get inside the English psyche. The bulldog spirit clearly intrigues him and, if England's scrum guru Graham Rowntree has his way, the visiting pack can expect to encounter another classic example of stiff upper lip Anglo-Saxon defiance at Twickenham tomorrow.
While England’s backs have been leaving vapour trails in their wake, their forwards and coaches are still stewing over their narrow 12-10 defeat to France in Paris a year ago. That day the French front row of Nicolas Mas, William Servat and Thomas Domingo combined to create all kinds of first-half pressure, to the extent that England conceded nine scrum-related offences in the first 40 minutes and wasted their good work elsewhere.
One of the home team’s main priorities is to make sure the destructive Mas does not do the same again. Andrew Sheridan’s return at loosehead in place of Alex Corbisiero is a timely boost in that respect and Leicester’s Dan Cole is now a more experienced operator. Both Cole and Dylan Hartley were hauled off at half-time at Stade de France a year ago, a scenario which Rowntree believes will not be repeated this time.
“It was a hard lesson for all concerned but I’d like to think Dylan and Coley have learned a lot since then,” he said. “Luckily we cleansed our demons in Australia on last summer’s tour but what happened in Paris just can’t happen again. As a unit we’re certainly better prepared and more experienced but, ultimately, that will be shown on Saturday. Mas is a fine tighthead and our whole pack have got a tough job. Having Sheri back on board is a comfort but there’s no magic wand. We need to be cleverer and sharper.”
Sheridan, back for his 38th cap after withdrawing from the Italy fixture with a back spasm he suffered lifting “a light weight” in the gym, is similarly determined to end France’s unbeaten Six Nations run, which stretches to eight games. Injury prevented the Sale prop from featuring in last season’s championship but he has sensed an edge among those who were in Paris.
“I don’t think the players have forgotten about last year,” said Sheridan, braced for another full frontal French assault.
Rather than basking in the sepia glow of England’s 34-10 romp over the French in 2009, England manager Martin Johnson prefers to dwell on the frustration of Paris last year. “Who says I’m over it?” he asked, rhetorically. “It was a really disappointing game to lose when we’d done what we did in their stadium against the Grand Slam champions. Sometimes you’re beaten and you’re clearly not good enough but that one was disappointing.”
Johnson is wary of the idea this weekend’s game will determine the title. “It is factually incorrect to say this match is a Grand Slam decider because we both have two more games to play after this.”
But he accepts his team are in a far healthier place than a year ago, even in the continued absence of Lewis Moody, still unavailable because of a knee problem.
“Sometimes these things come together in strange ways,” said the former England captain. “I wish I could say everything gets planned out but it doesn’t.”
