It was once billed as "Le Crunch" but outspoken England coach Eddie Jones was ready for a rugby "war" against France in the opening match of his grand slam champions' Six Nations title defence at Twickenham on Saturday.
Eddie Jones had the "finishers" to thank as England edged a titanic Six Nations tussle with France at Twickenham, according to Jamie George. The organisers hope the reward will encourage more attacking play and yield more tries, but will the innovation really change teams' approach to matches? The English were sluggish and sloppy until replacements in the last 15 minutes made a difference.
"We have got some nice selection issues which is good", Jones added.
George Ford struggled to get into gear at the start of this match.
"They [Arsenal] go there, second in the comp playing against a team that hasn't won for seven games". At halftime, we weren't even panting. "We dug in and found a way, so we'll take something from that. The second half was much better". The forwards continued to take the ball at short bursts around the five-metre line until Farrell spotted space to the left and launched the replacement centre through the gap.
Against England, it was a similar story as their hard work was ultimately undone in the final 15 minutes as Ben Te'o crashed over to secure England the win. James Haskell and Danny Care both have over 50 caps and they just said: "Look, this is what's going wrong, this is what we need to do in order to fix it'". If the loss of number eight Billy Vunipola is England's biggest disadvantage, for France it's the absence of Wesley Fofana, their one world-class back.
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He told Omnisport: "England are strong favourites, they were invincible previous year, but Guy Noves has got France enjoying their rugby with the way he has got them playing". But contain them they did.
"Traditionally Six Nations teams feel themselves into it a little bit, and we don't want to do that", Leicester's Youngs said.
"The attitude of the players has been first class but sometimes these things happen, it's a game of rugby, you've got human beings involved".
England struggled through the first half with France looking the more risky team but the sides were tied 9-9 at half-time following three penalty kicks apiece.
Those misses appeared costly when England errors gave France an opening, and offloads by Sebastien Vahaamahina and Kevin Gourdon sent in fellow forward Slimani beside the posts.
Lopez converted and France led by four points. Ireland coach Joe Schmidt admits that this year's aim is to finish in the top two, which certainly looks achievable. With World Rugby having announced a crackdown on risky tackles, May was sent to the sin-bin by Australian referee Angus Gardner for "lifting" France centre Gael Fickou.
