by With two minutes to play, France are in front, and Thomas Ramos is standing over the ball on the halfway line, preparing to take the kick that will provide the final turning point in the championship. England had only just scored themselves to regain the lead in a game they had already seemed to have lost and won and lost again. They did it with a fine lineout effort inside the France 22. Danny Care to Manu Tuilagi, snap, Care to Maro Itoje, crackle, and Care to Tommy Freeman, pop. He slid over the tryline in the right corner and for three minutes, they were on the verge of a famous victory. But Ramos’ kick set him back again.
It was such a game. He turned wildly with the night wind, one way then the other. England were 13 points down in one minute, and eight points ahead again in the next. It was sloppy and exuberant and exhausting, like a game played in the halls on the last day of term. Ireland had already won the title when they defeated Scotland in Dublin earlier in the evening. But, distressed as everyone was on the pitch at the end of the championship, they played very well here in Lyon, although there was not much to be gained by doing it, thinking, perhaps, that it will be months until they will have another chance. go again
Related: Ramos’ late penalty gives France victory against England in a seven-try thriller
So here was France ripping the length of the field with one of the great free-kicks after François Cros had cleared a line from George Martin. Cros hooked the ball down like a bear on the bank snaring a salmon for himself and, one, two, three passes later Gaël Fickou was slipping through the gill gap left by Henry Slade in the England line and at dash off the field. He passed the ball again to Léo Barré and threw not one, but two dummies towards Louis Bielle-Biarrey outside him and sent the ball back the other way to Nolann Le Garrec. Never mind a tackle, England barely managed a touch between them.
And then there’s Ollie Lawrence, outside another back line, sliding through a gap in France’s midfield to pull one back. Lawrence also got England’s second, just after half-time. In those 10 minutes, England played the same exciting game they had against Ireland at Twickenham the week before. They moved the ball at pace and shot through the gaps while the French defense was still scrambling to close them down. Ben Earl was almost unstoppable, and he cut up the middle of the field like a hot knife through the cold block of Beurre d’Isigny. Three minutes later he set up another for Marcus Smith.
Excellent as it all was, the most impressive thing about their performance in this piece was what you didn’t see. For years, England have been a team that has celebrated every last little victory on the pitch, treating turnovers as the decisive test, penalties like the points that won the competition. This time, however, England didn’t even stop to congratulate Lawrence or Smith. Instead, the players turned on their heels and walked back the way they came, ready to start again. It was a sign of serious intent, and more evidence that Steve Borthwick’s odd wit is wearing off on them.
If only they could have played like that for the whole 80 minutes, or even an hour of them. But he was not in them, this week. Their line out, which was a finely calibrated machine against the Irish, was stopped and stopped, their balls went nowhere, and once again there were too many handling errors when they were on the ball, and a few too many holes. in their line of defense when one or other of them came charging up like a bull after the toreador. Using a blitz against a team that uses a half gap like this French team does would be a big risk. Men who move like Fickou don’t need a second invitation to make you look stupid.
Related: France 33-31 England: Six Nations player ratings from Lyon
For all that, there is no doubt that England are in much better shape now than they were back at the start of the tournament. For the first time in a long time, it feels like they’re back on track. They have achieved in Earl, Itoje, Martin and Ollie Chessum (Irish sports writer Con Houlihan used to say that every team should have a red head, and England had a good one). In Lawrence, Smith, Freeman and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who missed this game with concussion, there is skill, and speed, and strength in the back line, too. They will be back, and better, this time next year.
Some of this team will be missing by then, Manu Tuilagi, for one, and Danny Care, probably. It was good to see the two of them, who have been so frequent for England over the past decade, run through their last few plays together.
And it was good, too, to think, with Lawrence and Alex Mitchell watching their work, that England are finally ready without them both.
