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It required overtime and sudden death, but England are Autumn Nations Cup champions after an extraordinary final at Twickenham. The locals squandered a great opportunity to score the crucial ‘golden’ points when an Owen Farrell penalty hit the inside of the right pillar, but a crucial loss by Maro Itoje gave the England captain a second chance, landing on the corner from the 22 meter line.
Few had given an impoverished France any chance of winning, but here was a contest to add an extra chill to this week’s key Brexit negotiations. Despite the unavailability of two dozen of their top players, Les Bleus gave an excellent account of themselves against a disadvantaged England team for long stretches of a combination of seeming complacency and a desperately unambitious game plan.
Inexperienced France led most of the normal time, thanks to a try in the 19th minute from their outstanding winger Brice Dulin and an influential performance from visiting midfielder Matthieu Jalibert. In addition to creating the Dulin scoreboard, the quiet Jalibert also conceded the conversion and two important penalties in contrast to Farrell who also missed three penalty attempts in regulation time.
Earlier this fall England had smashed almost every package in front of them, but this was a very different story. France have some extremely talented promising players destined to achieve a great deal in their careers and they also had something even more invaluable in the modern game: the willingness to try something different from time to time.
Jalibert is one of those fly halves that seem to be pacing until, too late, he’s gone before you can say “Voila!” The Bordeaux 10 saw the flash of a hole between Jamie George and Farrell, accelerated past the flat-footed English hooker and put up an unmarked Dulin for the kind of classic try that almost qualifies under the title of ‘vintage’ these days. .
England, which had taken advantage of some of the early French indiscipline, was suddenly on the defensive and had to catch up. Simply kicking the ball skyward and waiting for the opponent’s mistakes suddenly wasn’t enough, with Les Bleus now visibly growing in confidence. After cameras saw Sam Underhill kicking the ball out of the hands of the visiting scrum half, Jalibert took his second penalty without jitters and the 13-6 score at halftime was not even remotely flattering to France.
It was also the product of a remarkable period of defensive endurance on his own line that ended when the ball came loose from Ellis Genge’s grip as he tried to pass. Shaun Edwards has already made a significant impact as a French defensive coach and here was another clear example of his influence.
Eddie Jones’ desire for strong second-half improvement was evident in the abrupt 43rd minute substitutions from Underhill and Joe Launchbury, with Ben Earl and Jonny Hill invited to add a little extra enthusiasm. There was an occasional blink, but a competitive French lineout and Farrell’s failed start continued to thwart the hosts’ comeback efforts.
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Even when Jalibert was forced to limp, a series of fine-angle penalties from his replacement Louis Carbonel kept England at bay until Luke Cowan-Dickie’s close-range score gave his team a lifeline. At least the return of 2,000 spectators enhanced the ghost ship atmosphere of recent games, but an exasperated cry of ‘Stop kicking!’ from the stands it reflected quite well the prevailing local atmosphere.
