England: Jamie George says silencing France’s fans crucial to spoiling their Grand Slam celebrations
England hooker Jamie George revealed that his team are planning to make the type of start that will turn the home crowd against them when they face France in Paris on Saturday and, in doing so, they intend to mute Les Bleus’ Grand Slam celebrations.
Les Bleus are chasing their first Six Nations title since 2010, in the process issuing a statement of intent ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup on home soil, with only Ireland capable of stopping them.
France’s fickle fans
They enter ‘Super Saturday’ as overwhelming favourites to inflict a third loss of the tournament on England, but their fans can be fickle if events on the pitch do not go according to script and it is this vulnerability that George believes his team can exploit.
“There’s a huge amount of pressure on it for those guys. In terms of our psyche, we want to give them something that they’re not going to expect, we want to go there and spoil the party a little bit,” the Saracens hooker said.
“Generally French crowds are quite different. You go to Ireland and the crowds get in behind them when they kick the ball in the air, tackle and counter-ruck.
“The French noise comes from loose play, knock-ons, turnover ball and offloading. The atmosphere’s amazing, electric.
“We want to try and silence that crowd pretty early on and we’re aware of how to do that.
“Physically, it’s about not giving them the things they want, and that might put more pressure onto the French team if the crowd isn’t getting behind them.
“It might start becoming a little bit more difficult for them and they might start second-guessing themselves a little bit. That will all be part of the plan.”
Among England’s priorities this week is recovering from the monumental effort put into Saturday’s record home defeat by Ireland, which was played with 14 men for all but 82 seconds after Charlie Ewels was sent off for a dangerous tackle.
Having fought themselves to a standstill and then conceding two late tries that distorted the final scoreline of 32-15, their preparations for Saturday are about restoring depleted energy levels as much as plotting France’s downfall.
“Our recovery is still ongoing, emotionally and physically. Eddie (Jones) has given us a little less time on the field because he knows the physical and emotional strain we’ve had,” George said.
“We’re pretty bruised and battered, emotionally and physically. The game was as physical as a Test match against Ireland would ever be and one man down, you might have to get through a bit more work.
“But in terms of head space it was also a tough one. I was super proud of the group, really happy with a lot of the elements of the game and the character we showed, but bitterly disappointed that we couldn’t get over the line.
“Fundamentally, we want to put in an 80-minute performance against France that we are proud of because in parts we’ve been brilliant in this Six Nations, but there have also been parts that weren’t good enough.”
Jones names his team on Thursday evening, with openside flanker and right wing the biggest areas of doubt.
Max Malins has been dropped as a result of England’s misfiring attack, creating a vacancy on the right wing, while Tom Curry’s hamstring injury means an alternative at openside is required.
READ MORE: England: Charlie Ewels handed three-week suspension after red card against Ireland
Expert Witness on the final Six Nations weekend
Former England hooker George Chuter, ex-France centre Brian Liebenberg and Times journalist Alex Lowe join Planet Rugby's James While this week.