Fra v Eng (spoiler alert)

[Shugs]

Actually much better from England but we were playing as plucky underdogs. When did that happen? How Youngs starts is beyond me and if we played a second row of Lawes and Itoje we’d have a chance. Marchant has emerged as a future and current 13. We’ve lost three games in consecutive 6N which really isn’t good enough. A well coached side in France wins it - the contrast with our head coach is stark - woeful decisions throughout and a general regression.

[Westy68]

Absolutely agree about Lawes, must be 2nd row. Our 2nd row should be awesome, so why doesn’t EJ see that.

Slade is not international standard and definitely not a 12..

We have got to get a balanced back row

[backdoc]

We did not threaten France, so they had no problem defending.

[Heathen]

France started their development for RWC2023 with their U20 squad squads 5 to 6 years ago. Most of today's side came via that route. The results are there for all to see.

Contrast that to scatterbrain Eddie. He should have been building his squad for 2023 in the same timeframe. Youngs should never wear he Eng shirt again. He is far too late for 2023.

The RFU review has to to take a pragmatic view and the clock for 2027 starts now.

Bye bye Eddie. And get Shaun back in England whatever the cost.

[mike909]

I was quite relieved by that score, but it would be bold to think that England were anything but second best. We used the kicking game well enough - but it wasn't enough, and whilst looking to draw pretty patterns, the France defensive effort wasn't stretched that often. Watching Genge take the ball - from deep but not make many net gains, demonstrated many of the problems of this England team. Another issue is to decide if this team/squad has room for development. Brave losses wouldn't cut any ice with the ABs or SA (or France...) and it ought not for England

the back three wasn't up to the task much beyond a decent kick and chase. Nowell possibly lucky, and England improved with Daly on the pitch - but rarely threatened. Back row looked disjointed - and whilst Underhill tackled his socks off there was little ball in hand.

England's tour to Australia has even more riding on it, as they will need to not only start to look for a cutting edge, but think how the go forwards required for any way of playing might be produced. It's not starting from "ground zero" as a starting front 5 of v decent quality is an easy enough pick, but before picking a backrow, back three and midfield, England need to make some decisions about how they are going to play and win games. Effort and passion come as standard. Beating NZ, SA, France and Ireland on a regular basis requires an additional level of sophistication to add to effort, a kicking game and solid set piece. Whilst the return of several of the injured will improve matters - England might need to recognise what made them so difficult to beat in the recent past before deciding how they might best look towards the RWC.

Not convinced we can do this btw - agree we might be beter looking towards 2027.....

[Rossm]

We did not threaten France, so they had no problem defending.

Alfie was probably well out of that.

[backdoc]

France started their development for RWC2023 with their U20 squad squads 5 to 6 years ago. Most of today's side came via that route. The results are there for all to see.

Contrast that to scatterbrain Eddie. He should have been building his squad for 2023 in the same timeframe. Youngs should never wear he Eng shirt again. He is far too late for 2023.

The RFU review has to to take a pragmatic view and the clock for 2027 starts now.

Bye bye Eddie. And get Shaun back in England whatever the cost.

Sadly the U20 setup currently is not going well. They looked off the pace and very disorganised against Ireland, and they have had c 50+ caps this season

[hopwood]

Scatterbrained is a good way of describing it all.

Each match Eddie tries yet another ‘clever’ approach to outwit the opposition.
The problem is he outwits himself, his coaching staff, the players…and most definitely the fans.

There’s no consistency to selection…or indeed, how we’re supposed to play.
It’s tiresome now.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

There should be no disgrace losing to that French side in Paris, as there wasn’t losing to the All Blacks at their peak, but te score was flattering.

As in the Ireland game it’s hard to fault individual effort, Eddie put them there with his instructions and they did their best. There were even some periods of hope, but the reality is that France could have been out of sight after 20 minutes had they not dropped a couple of simple passes you’d expect most international players to take 99/100 times.

No doubt Eddie will survive because it was a gritty performance and for some reason we English seem to a love a gritty performance more than a win, or so it seems at times.   

At least that’s the 6N out of the way so no more distractions from the real game. 

[Heathen]

Eddie Jones: England head coach says he has 'not done a good enough job'

Stating the bleeding obvious - from the BEEB

Six Nations 2022: France beat England to complete Grand Slam - highlights

Eddie Jones said his performance as head coach has not been good enough after England finished third in the Six Nations with defeat by France in Paris.

France were crowned Grand Slam winners with their first title since 2010 after outclassing England 25-13.

England only won two matches for the second successive season, raising questions over Jones' future.

"That is not a question I need to answer. I just do my job. It's a question for other people," Jones said.

"I'm disappointed for the fans and for the players. I obviously haven't done a good enough job, I accept that, but we're moving in the right direction.

"The results aren't good enough. When you rebuild a team it takes time."

France finished top of the 2022 Six Nations with Ireland second, England third, Scotland fourth, Wales fifth and Italy sixth

England trailed 18-6 at half-time on Saturday but fought back in the second half thanks to Freddie Steward's try in the corner.

However, Antoine Dupont replied with a classy try to wrestle back control and although England showed some promising signs, they lacked the firepower to break down France's well-drilled defence.

"France are deserved champions of the Six Nations, they are the best team," Jones added. "But we had enough chances to win that game, we just didn't put them away. We were not quite clinical enough.

"That has been a little bit of the story for us in the Six Nations. We have put ourselves in positions to win the three games we have lost but not been clinical enough, not been good enough, to win those games.

"That is disappointing but the spirit we showed is going to make sure this team keeps moving in the right direction. This is a great benchmark game for us.

"We have got a lot of good young players coming through and some of the older guys are starting to play some really good rugby again, so we are going to have a good blend going through to the World Cup [in 2023]."

England started the Six Nations with defeat in Scotland before beating Italy away and Wales at home.

Their title hopes were ended by a record 32-15 home defeat by Ireland - a match they played mainly with 14 men after lock Charlie Ewels was sent off after just 82 seconds.

England faced the possibility of a second successive fifth-place finish but defeats for Scotland and Wales ensured they stayed in third place.

[Sting]

England seem not to have learned from previous encounters. The attitude still persists?
https://youtu.be/llQL7HPj0dk

[JonnyD]

England seem not to have learned from previous encounters. The attitude still persists?
https://youtu.be/llQL7HPj0dk

I remember this very clearly, cannot believe it was two years ago.
But then again….

[Nigel Med]

This years Six Nations was pretty dire as a contest. France and Ireland are playing rugby on another level to the other 4 teams so there's was only one meaningful match which was France v Ireland to determine who would be Grand Slam Champion. The rest were fighting it out to decide who was least worst and the final table is a pretty fair reflection of the pecking order.

England, Scotland and Wales served up some utter dross for much of the tournament. Wales had the most shocking drop in form; Champions last year to 5th place losing at home to Italy is going to make for a grim post tournament review. They seem to suffer when their talisman Wyn Jones isn't fit and Bigger is a dreadful skipper. Scotland need to get over their obsession with beating England, they celebrate a victory like they've won the World Cup and then completely fail to raise their motivation to beat anyone else! Guys, you're far from the only country who hates England but everyone else manages to be a little more professional and treat every match as one they want to win.

As every one has said, both professional media pundits and us armchair experts, England are suffering at the hands of Eddie Jones. He quotes utter guff about "building for the world cup" then picks a seemingly random team that he thinks have the game to beat that weekends opposition. As the team haven't actually played together before they inevitably lose. If you pick a consistent team and combinations get used to playing together you should be looking to impose your game on your opponents and should be good enough to adapt to defend against their strengths. That is precisely what France and Ireland have done. They're also building for the World Cup and I know who is more likely to win it and it isn't England.

England show in brief glimpses that there is quality there, with the right coaching they could genuinely mount a challenge but they need players playing in their regular positions, an identity and game plan with a back-up strategy when plan A isn't working. None of that is going to happen with Jones at the helm.

Congratulations France on a thoroughly deserved victory playing some sublime rugby. Player of the tournament is obviously Josh Adams for the wonderful gesture handing his man of the match medal to Ange Capuozzo. That speaks volumes about why rugby is such a fantastic sport that we love so much even when our own teams are playing like muppets.

[Skippy]

Jones is rebuilding the team? Really? Pull the other one. The fact that Ben Youngs keeps getting picked seems to provide solid evidence against that preposterous claim.

It also feels as though Wales have similarly failed to blood new players. They’ve reverted this season to the type we’ve seen since Pivac took over. The last 6N was a fluke that did not reflect form. It was simply down to the fact that Wales ended up playing most of their games against 14 men after sendings off.

[Shugs]

Jones tactics are poor but for me the real problem is selection. The 6N is done and if we’ve to have any chance of being competitive in the RWC we really must not be seeing Youngs, Stuart, Daly, Furbank and George again. No more silly experiments and he needs to find a reasonably settled 23. Chances of Jones doing it - 1/10.