The Martin Corry column

Planet Rugby's exclusive column from former England captain Martin Corry, brought to you by Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge the Video Game

The second edition of Planet Rugby's exclusive column from former England captain and World Cup-winner Martin Corry, brought to you by Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge the Video Game.

As both a player and pundit, I've been asked often to comment on many aspects of the game, but it's rare I'm asked to give my thoughts on a non-game!

And that's exactly what the France v Ireland game turned out to be, an absolute fiasco of farcical administration and incompetence.

At Tuesday's pre-match press conference, Vincent Clerc, a player I respect highly and an international veteran of almost 60 Tests, implored the authorities to take note of the weather forecast and to manage the pitch properly. He told them, as a winger who naturally spends a lot of time near the touchlines, that during the Italian game the pitch was freezing up and he was aware much lower temperatures had been forecast. He was totally ignored.

Why then, was nothing done?

I realize that the ownership of Stade de France causes logistical issues (FFR are effectively tenants), but where international rugby is concerned, loyalty and commitment must be shown to the fans, players, TV stations, and, importantly, the sponsors, who are spending hundreds of thousands supporting the sport. Both of those qualities, together with common-sense and foresight, were sadly lacking from the French authorities.

I look at my time at Tigers – we would move heaven and earth to keep a game on, prepared to take a financial loss to keep the fixture live. We'd hire tents, hot air blowers, whatever it took to keep our promise. In the fixture congestion caused by the big freeze last season, we were the one side that didn't lose anything to the weather, purely down to our commitment to keep the fixture on.

As the day progressed the conditions got worse and worse, the FFR compounded their errors buy refusing to consider options such as an earlier kick off, mitigation of the freeze by using equipment and technology, and then, leaving it to the last possible minute to make a decision that was inevitable.

To compound this, their attempt then to effectively hang referee Dave Pearson out to dry (or should I say leave him out in the cold?!) was wholly inappropriate. Pearson's remit is simple; is this surface fit for rugby? That is the only decision he is empowered to make, nothing more. The events that led up to him calling off the game are the key issues, not the decision itself, which, by that time, was pretty much a fait accompli.

And what of the players? As a lot of professionals will tell you, we have something that might be described as a 'Match Clock' in our bodies. We all have habits, rituals, superstitions, and we get used to our 'routines'. Two hours before: arrive, get strapped, get stretched. Hour before: warm up, basic drills (as a back row forward, I might go on a run with the other two flankers, just to emphasize we're a team within a team). When there's uncertainty, all of this routine goes down the pan and people lose focus.

As a regular skipper myself, had I been Thierry Dusautoir or Paul O'Connell, I'd have been doing my best to act as a buffer to keep the rumours away from the players, but it's tough. I could totally understand Ireland's decision to hold a full training session on the pitch after the postponement; they had a lot of energy to burn, and if they'd not done nothing, they'd have been effectively three days on the trot without any real physical work.

Anyway, finally the game has been re-arranged for this season, and I'm delighted that it's not spilled over into next season (I have suffered personally at one of those instances in 2001!), but we should NOT have been in this position in the first place.

So, onto the rugby itself. As I said last week, I always relish Welsh/Scottish encounters and this one again delivered. Wales' backline movement and attacking flair was sublime. They are truly building something very special and it's a pleasure to watch the talents of Jamie Roberts, George North, Leigh Halfpenny and the outstanding Jonathan Davies cutting loose. They are playing a brand of rugby that's hugely attractive and that's to their credit.

I was also delighted for my former Lions team-mate, Ryan Jones, one of those lads who is 100% selfless, rolls his sleeves up and does all of the graft and just gets stuck in. He had a strong performance as a lock, although Wales will still worry about a lack of a dominant line-out. It is truly their Achilles Heel right now, and once they get that sorted, they will be as strong as any side in world rugby.

Scotland too, made their contribution. Again, Ross Rennie and Dave Denton were outstanding in the loose and young Stuart Hogg was denied a deserved debut try when referee Roman Poite erroneously called him back for a knock on. But with Richie Gray rampaging in the loose, and a competitive back and front row, Scotland are improving, and it is only confidence that they need to progress.

In Rome, in conditions that were more suited to 4-man bobsleigh than rugby, England and Italy produced exactly the kind of match that everyone predicted. Yes, the weather compounded that, but Stuart Lancaster and his coaching team must be worried about the fact they've now played 160 minutes of Test rugby against the poorer sides in the Six Nations and have not created one clear-cut try opportunity.

England's performance was truly a game of two halves. With the personnel available to them, they need to produce quick ball and play fast tempo rugby. The strengths are in the broken field running of the back three, and they need that speed of service to thrive. Historically, England have always had a pack that could, when challenged, bully and grind the very best into submission. Without that power of pack, we need to change our thinking to win.

In the interval, I believe the coaching team looked hard at the contact area, and the players responded by moving the ball further before taking contact. In the first half, with skipper Chris Robshaw's comments about standing toe-to-toe ringing in their ears, they worked on 'one pass and one run' before contact. This played straight into the hands of the strong Italian fringe and pillar defence, and allowed the Azzurri to slow our ball, something they relish and do well. In the second half, England moved the ball wider and through more hands, before seeking the tackle. Factor in the speed and sniping of Lee Dickson at half-back, and that is what changed the game.

Ben Morgan's direct running also made a telling difference. These were match conditions that any number eight would relish. Phil Dowson, for all his undoubted intelligence and skill, was lacking in that physicality, and was very much second best to the phenomenal Sergio Parisse, who again turned in a