All Blacks legend identifies lessons learned by England from Ireland loss which helped them to beat France
Former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall and Fin Smith of England and Matthieu Jalibert of France inaction during their Six Nations Test.
Legendary All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall believes England learned some crucial lessons in their loss to Ireland in their Six Nations opener which helped them to beat France at the weekend.
The Red Rose showed glimpses of their potential as they held the lead for most of their match against Ireland in their clash at the Aviva Stadium before the men from the Emerald Isle took control of proceedings in the final quarter to clinch a 27-22 victory.
And Marshall believes that experience stood Steve Borthwick’s troops in good stead when they sealed a narrow 26-25 triumph over Les Bleus in a thrilling encounter at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday.
Marshall felt the game could have gone either way and emphasised what an exciting spectacle it was.
“That’s what true Test matches are all about,” he told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin. “You know, the ebb and flow of it, the physicality, there was skill set.
“And obviously on a difficult afternoon as well at Twickenham where there was a bit of rain around, but both teams entered into a contest that went all the way down to the last minute of the match.
‘They had England as quite overwhelming underdogs’
“You would have to say two evenly matched teams, which many didn’t think leading into that game. They had England as quite overwhelming underdogs, but they fronted on the day.
“They’ve been close and near enough in recent Test matches that they’ve played, but just haven’t got across the line in terms of getting the W, but they managed to do that at the weekend.”
Marshall, who made 81 Test appearances for the All Blacks between 1995 and 2005, highlighted how England’s defeat to Ireland impacted their performance against France and helped them to win the latter encounter.
“I think the Ireland game sort of showed them that if they switch off and fluctuate, which they had been trending doing in Test matches, good teams can take the Test match away from them very, very quickly,” he said.
“And that’s what Ireland did to them.
“Look, yeah, they got two late tries, which flattered the scoreboard, but ultimately Ireland just came out with more tempo, controlled the game in the second half and completely took the game away from England, who were leading at half-time.
“Let’s not forget that. So they were in the contest, but then when they drift, they tend to drift so much that good teams put them away and take the Test match out of their control.
‘They were always in touch and they always fought back’
“So at the weekend, they never really let France get too far away from them. You know, I think the margin of six points was probably the maximum that the French got in that Test match on the scoreboard ahead of England. So they were always in touch and they always fought back when they needed to.
“And yeah, I certainly think what happened to them in Ireland made them learn that this is probably an equal or a better side. We cannot allow ourselves to switch off like that again.
“We’ve got to keep them close on the scoreboard, which they did and then eventually pipped them by a point.”
Marshall admitted to being surprised by the number of unforced errors made by France in that clash and how it ultimately affected the end result.
“I certainly felt that in terms of the entire contest, they created a hell of a lot more opportunities. You know, they are a dangerous side,” he said
“They’ve got skill set across the park. Even when they moved Antoine Dupont to the wing, I was like, ‘what? What are they doing that for?’ You know, like there’s still 20 minutes to go and you’re changing probably the most influential player on the planet at the moment, taking him out of his jersey.
“But what they did do is not take him out of the game.
They put him on the wing. That’s how talented he is. And then he ultimately created the try that probably should have won France the game from the back with his counterattack.
“With defenders all around him and he freed up the space and then, you know, from there they were away, weren’t they?
“But in terms of the drop (in intensity from France and their botch opportunities) yeah, they absolutely did. When they were creative, even Dupont himself dropped the ball with the line open.
“You know, he found himself on the wing as last receiver in the first half and he dropped one where he would have scored.
“And it was something that they never really extricated from their game. And I think when they look at it, if they’d taken that out of their game where they’re piggybacking England back in just through general handling errors, they probably would have won that Test match because they were certainly opening up England at ease at times when they wanted to with ball in hand.”
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