France were Magnifique yesterday. From a purely rugby perspective it was a joy to watch! Power, precision, application, unity in understanding and performance? Eclatant!!!
England were disjointed in defence, and our forwards were overpowered far too often, they repeatedly failed to resource the breakdown and were turned over as a result. Smith is the future at 10, but there was little his undoubted talents can do when you have no platform to work from.
Going into this game -and next week against Ireland- I had no thoughts of victory, sport is gloriously unpredictable, but when you look at France and Ireland they are streets ahead of us in every possible measure. It is hard to underestimate the damage Eddie Jones caused post 2019, however yesterday was an example. Borthwick has yet to have his fully selected coaching team, and they are going to need time, because they have been parachuted into a pickle that the RFU and Jones created.
Next week will be a loss, Ireland are, in my honest opinion, better than France. We have to forget about the result and focus on the future?..and this also goes for the World Cup. Give it our best by all means, but also recognise that currently our best is no where good enough. It is time to rebuild and although that journey has already started, our aims to become a top team once more need to start to become very serious on round 1 of the six nations next year. Which players will be present for that journey will remain to be seen, and there will be many many discussions about that going forward. However I would be very surprised if Farrell is present, he may be an ultimate professional, but he is not a player that can inspire or lead us to success at the highest level.