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Who were these guys in white, full of snap and verve? England? The same lumpen lot of last week? It couldn’t be.
Perhaps it was the change of strip back to their traditional white. Or perhaps it was the critical kicking the head coach got for the team’s flat-footed, joyless display in losing to the Pumas that spurred them into action?
Jones enjoyed the moment, as he invariably does when his back is to the wall and he can bite back at his critics, of which there are many, notably his old nemesis, Clive Woodward.
The complaints, though, have been fair game. England had lost five of their nine Tests coming into this match. That’s a pitiful return for such a well-resourced union. Selection has been here, there and everywhere. Jones admitted beforehand that the side was still in search of an identity, looking ‘to play like England.’ Well, this was much more like it. For all the coaching gobbledygook spoken by coaches it’s a simple game – get on the front foot, deliver quick ball and play.
Have England been transformed into the real thing, with Marcus Smith sharp and clever, scoring two tries and full-back, Freddie Steward confirming just what a talent he is? Maybe. 52-13 is an impressive scoreline. Japan are a decent outfit as they showed in running (an under-strength) New Zealand close. But they are not the All Blacks or South Africa, who are coming England’s way over the next fortnight. At least England are now focussed on what is in front of them and not spouting some nonsense about having half an eye on the World Cup.
Joe Cokanasiga of England is tackled by Kazuki Himeno and Warner Dearns of Japan. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
You don’t need to be rugby’s equivalent of a rocket scientist to recognise that winning matches in the here and now is by far and away the best possible preparation for any tournament. Suggestions that a team is holding something back, that they are working on a different strategy behind closed doors in order the catch the opposition napping in ten months’ time, is complete and utter hokum.
Patience had been wearing thinner and thinner with Jones among England followers. This was a welcome return to winning ways. But the jury is still out as to where he and his England team stand.
France used to be flaky, feckless, unpredictable – dazzling one minute, hopeless the next. They would so often play with the heart and not the head, emotionally fragile. As Brian Moore once put it in the nineties when asked by a colleague eager for an eve-of-match quote for Le Crunch – ‘France are like Eric Cantona, brilliant but brutal,’ said Mooro to the delight of the journo who had his back-page splash.
Those days are gone. Long gone. Quite apart from the flashes of brilliance that – thank the Lord – are still there, their defining characteristic these days is that they believe in themselves, in each other and in the Grand French Project.
(Photo by Clement Mahoudeau/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
For the second week in a row, they held on to win at the death, 30-26. Last week it was Australia who suffered that misery. This was France’s 12th victory in succession. That doesn’t happen by luck. It is how it used to be with the All Blacks. The more they played, the luckier they got as Gary Player used to (sort of) say. This is new-age France. And they did nothing in Marseille on Saturday night to suggest that they are anything but favourites to win the World Cup on home soil.
When will players learn to tackle properly? Two matches were severely affected by early red cards issued for dangerous contact with an opponent’s head: England’s Lydia Thompson in the women’s World Cup final and South Africa’s Pieter-Steph du Toit against France.
France scrum-half, Antoine Dupont was also later sent off for a reckless challenge. There are still some half-wits who claim that rugby has gone soft. Such idiots should be sent to a dark room and the key thrown away.
The sad, chilling testimony of former players such as England hooker, Steve Thompson and Wales’ captain, Ryan Jones, should be reason enough to know that repeated knocks to the head can lead to early dementia. That much is now clear. It would be a grave dereliction of duty if the game didn’t do something. In showing red cards in Auckland and Marseille on Saturday, the game is sending out a clear message. The head is a no-go area. Sooner or later players will get it.
Perhaps now the naysayers will stop knocking Italy. Perhaps those jump-on-a-bandwagon fools will stop shouting for Italy to be relegated from the Six Nations.
The Azzurri’s first-ever victory over Australia in Florence ( 28-27) should put an end to the foolish, short-termist clamour for simple promotion-relegation meritocracy to be applied to the Championship.
If Georgia were all-conquering contenders then, yes, there would be a case to answer. But they are not, admirable as they are. And, yes, too, if they knew that there was a pathway to top table maybe that would give them a further leg-up in developing their game.
But Italy, despite being perennial basement contenders in the Six Nations, have deep rugby roots and real pedigree. Sure, a missed last ditch conversion by Australia did gift them the victory here (as well as the fact that Dave Rennie made a raft of changes) but the Wallabies had similar good fortune a fortnight ago in Murrayfield.
The Roar experts Brett McKay, Harry Jones and Jim Tucker reflect on Australia’s demoralising defeat
After so much spade work has been done to get Italian rugby up to scratch it would be a disaster if they were to be relegated from the Six Nations. Wales were beaten in the Six Nations, Australia have now been downed. Italy deserve their status and standing.
If nothing else the Women’s World Cup has put paid to any blinkered, bovine-brained notion that the women’s game has no place on a major stage. What a final in Auckland. What a shuddering contest.
Elation for the hosts, shattering emotions for England. The sport was the winner no matter who had prevailed on Saturday. New Zealand rose to the occasion magnificently to capitalise on the early dismissal of England’s Lydia Thompson for a high tackle on Portia Woodman. 34-31, it was a no-holds barred humdinger. This is a take-off moment for the sport.
England’s Lionesses football team proved in the summer when winning the Euros just how much support there is for seeing women express themselves at elite level. That tournament reached out to millions, drawing attendances and TV audiences that were up there with anything the men have produced. The same potential is within reach of women’s rugby.
There was a 40,000 full house at Eden Park on Saturday, generating revenues never before seen in New Zealand. Back in England, the presence of the Red Roses in the final wanted for little on the news agenda even though it was up against the build-up to the FIFA World Cup as well as the prospects for England’s T20 final against Pakistan.
Like bookies in the ring who can sniff a decent prospect at a hundred paces, advertisers have bought into women’s sport recognising it as a growth product. To be fair to the Rugby Football Union – and that is not a sentence that has been tapped into this keyboard that often down the decades – they have supported the women’s game from a long while back.
This squad has been fully professional since 2019, New Zealand only for the last eight months. Given how thrilling and substantial the semi-finals and final itself have been in terms of quality, there is no reason now for other unions not to get on board. Some blokes will still splutter that it’s not like men’s rugby. Really ? Time to get a life, lads. Women’s rugby is the real deal.
Mick Cleary, who was Daily Telegraph rugby correspondent ( 1997-2021), was also a sports feature writer for The Observer ( 1988-1997). Cleary has covered eight Rugby World Cups as well as seven Lions tours. He was written several books on those tournaments and tours as well as worked with Jeremy Guscott on his autobiography. Cleary has also had extensive experience of other sports including tennis at Wimbledon, cycling at the Tour de France and golf at The Open. Cricket, athletics , horse racing and F1 also feature on his CV.