blue kits.
It doesn’t do them any favours and the colour isn’t any part of the national flag…what…it wasn’t England in the blue…it was the French…England were in their usual white…nah you’re pulling my leg now…pull the other other it plays La Marseillaise.
But…but they won, they stuffed the Frogs 34-10, especially in that first half, well “stuffed wise” only in the first half really – 29 to bugger all.
They ran in try after try, didn’t give away stupid penalties in easy kickable positions, in fact gave away very few penalties in their own half full stop. They kept stripping the ball from the opposition, forcing them into turnovers and then countered straight through them with the wingers even touching the ball.
They won lineouts on the French throw as well as looking extremely secure on their own throw and during all that the previously – rightly so – much maligned captain Borthwick was outstanding. He epitomised the team, leading from the front winning ball, carrying ball, offloading ball. He could have been quite easily the man of the match.
All done with 15 men on the park through the whole 80 plus minutes.
Very, very strange.
Yes on another day another ref would have found some petty excuse to send a player in white to the bin, but when the French gave away a penalty on their own line it could have very easily been a penalty try and England actually facing 14 men for a change.
Yeah the French didn’t turn up in that first half and the second, after the opening couple of minutes was a bit of a write off, with the French having most of the ball, England bizarrely missing Flood at stand off and giving away too many penalties, but they weren’t going to get through that white wall enough to change the outcome.
Now why didn’t they play like that before and can they do it against the jocks next week?