Time to be hard-nosed

Ian Chadband|Evening Standard|In Marseille

13 April 2012

With the sweat of a steamy Marseille prizefight still trickling down his cheek, the old French warhorse Raphael Ibanez glowed with satisfaction about outpointing England, but offered an even more wicked grin as he pondered what it would be like when the bell for the second round rings on Saturday.

"This means, er, L'Enfer ... how do you call it? Hell? Yes, it means hell for us at Twickenham," he said.

Yet somehow, the grand hooker still did not sound too alarmed by this prospect of trial by fire as Clive Woodward planned to uncage Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson and the rest of the crew that Ibanez called "the big guys" in a bid to ensure England erase this barely-recalled feeling of deflation and immediately exact revenge for their 17-16 defeat.

That is because the dynamics have now changed for the return in this compelling double-header. With the World Cup looming, this had been the match France could not afford to lose - their strongest XV against England's second-string for their home send-off in their Marseille fortress - and now Ibanez could tease us with the suggestion: "With this victory, I think we had a very big present from England. For them, it would be a disaster to lose at home now."

On a night of 60,000 deafening cheers and jeers that seemed designed for headiness or headlessness, even persuading new French anti-hero, poor old kit man Dave "Reg" Tennison, to accidentally but hilariously puncture the entente cordiale by sprinting down the touchline right past Frederic Michalak's nose as he was about to run up to convert Nicolas Brusque's first-half try.

Michalak missed, prompting Woodward, profuse with apologies, to still note cheekily that it was England's best move of the night.

Now, Ibanez pondered, it was England's turn to sweat. France's shadow team could march on Twickers with nothing to lose, even when presented with Johnson, Dallaglio and Co being let loose. "If I don't play these guys, I think they'd just explode," noted coach Clive Woodward.

Yet there are going to be some sitting on the sidelines at Twickenham who will only feel like exploding with frustration. Like Iain Balshaw, perhaps Sale's number eight Alex Sanderson and Austin Healey, who may have blown their fleeting chance to muscle their way into England's Australia-bound 30.

It was maddening because they all felt it was a game they could and should have won, thus protecting their 18-month, 14-game unbeaten streak even before Paul Grayson's two last-gasp drop attempts failed.

Now even those possibles like the Leicester pair of Ollie Smith and Martin Corry, who may have impressed enough to be on the World Cup squad sheet next Monday, may have to sweat while watching the certainties attempt to finish the job against France.

Mike Tindall, one of the certs who will be rested, felt for them. "It's a very harsh world. It was dire in the dressing room. Some of the boys in there had this down as their last shot but we let ourselves down," the lone try scorer said.

Perhaps this faint air of desperation was at the root of a performance which, by the imperious standards England now routinely set themselves-was pretty scrappy. Ball retention-was poor and the set-pieces were worse, particularly the malfunctioning line-out.

You had to feel for the comeback jack-in-the-box Healey, fighting an unequal battle at the base of the scrum with the ever-splendid Fabien Galthie, and Tindall felt sorriest for his best pal Balshaw, who injured his knee during a tight, mistake-ridden struggle never designed for his sort of adventure.

But there is no time for sentiment. Woodward insisted: "We have got to be very hard-nosed about it now. The World Cup is just around the corner, and we've got to take tried and tested players."

Cue the entry of Johnson and the A Team.

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Time to be hard-nosed

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