England back line more balanced without Owen Farrell

Despite shipping three tries against France, England’s defence has improved. It has gradually taken shape and become more effective. No defensive system is impervious, and rush defences leave space out wide and are vulnerable to short chip kicks. However, both those weaknesses are difficult to exploit, and the pressure exerted by persistent blitzing was shown fully in England’s win over Ireland.

If you look closely at the French tries, two of them came because England simply failed to win their own line-out ball. The first outflanked an England back line that was set for an attack. The second came from a speculative hack forward from Thomas Ramos which, fortuitously, bounced straight into the hands of Damian Penaud who didn’t even have to break stride to score.

England’s loss was also caused by the fact that in the first half they could not create much pressure, with too many handling errors and imprecision. In the second half, they lost the aerial battle. Too many kicks were either too short or too long and it was France, not England, that more often gained possession. Had they added a more solid kicking game to their four tries even France, who also improved markedly throughout the tournament, would not have been able to take the win.

What has most pleased fans, is that England’s attack has shown more sophistication and ambition. In the last two games, against the best two sides in the championship, England have finally shown a recognisable identity. Importantly, they have posed defences multiple challenges. Unsophisticated, one-out, ball-carrying had been the hallmark of previous Borthwick teams, but this tournament has ended with distinct improvements. 

Picking a more attacking-minded full-back, with more pace, has provided a dimension England did not have with Freddie Steward. George Furbank has improved over the tournament and offers a point of difference. When Marcus Smith was forced to replace Furbank, he helped fashion finish or fashion two tries. It is very hard on Steward, who has done nothing particularly wrong, and had proved himself ultra-reliable under the high ball, but if England want to create a permanently threatening back line, they need pace and creativity at full-back.

After the game, the French defence coach, Shaun Edwards, condemned France’s defensive effort as probably the worst under his tutelage. He was justified in this claim – but only in part. Ramos did continue to try to find colleagues to throw in front of him to make tackles and Ollie Lawrence’s first try saw a lamentable attempt at a straightforward one-on-one tackle. That said, the two clean line breaks that led to Lawrence’s second try and one for Marcus Smith were created by England posing more difficult problems for France’s midfield defence.

On both occasions England presented two potential ball-carriers for the French to deal with. The first of those breaks had Maro Itoje positioned inside the eventual carrier, Ben Earl and the second involved Earl himself outside Ellis Genge. Rather than knowing which England player was to be the ultimate carrier, the French defenders were forced to try to deal with more than one simple option. This, as much as any French reluctance to tackle, was the reason for the breaks and this continued the pattern England set the previous week at Twickenham.

Cynics might say that anything creative would be heralded with glee after England’s long drought of inspiration, but that would ignore the fact that creating three tries in six minutes, away from home, is a noteworthy achievement. Of course, replicating and enhancing the improvements will not be easy. England must be consistently more precise in nearly every area of their overall game. That said, the change in atmosphere around the games and what we have seen toward the end of this tournament cannot legitimately be ignored. We have finally seen England’s direction and an emerging identity.