England may have just suffered their worst defeat at Twickenham in seven years but Eddie Jones declared it a foundation game for his World Cup side.
With 14 men for 78 minutes, England had admirably held off and nearly beaten the Irish before errors and a lack of energy seeped in during the final 15 minutes and an unlikely win turned into a 32-15 defeat.
Charlie Ewels’ red card after 82 seconds could perversely prove to be the turning point for Jones’ new-look England but that will be put to the test in the toughest of circumstances in Paris on Saturday night.
Now is the time for Jones’ side – if they can keep all 15 men on the field this time – to prove what sort of team they are exactly.
Against Ireland on Saturday, we saw one united by their backs-against-the-wall cause, a forward pack that made Ireland’s usually sturdy eight look lightweight.
At the full-time whistle at Twickenham, it begged the question what England might have achieved with a full complement of players. Would a backline of attack-minded players containing Harry Rendall, Marcus Smith and Freddie Steward have finally produced the tries missing from England’s Six Nations copybook? The Italy game aside, they have mustered just two in three matches.
With the pressure in some ways off – there is no Six Nations title to contend with, simply pride – it will be interesting to see what approach Jones opts for.
Does he trust that attacking line to break off the shackles and take it to the French? Or does he – despite his insistence he doesn’t like to copy other sides – take the approach that Wales did to such effect to put France under pressure in Cardiff last weekend?
The former is the more mouth-watering, the latter the more likely, an aerial attack inside the Stade de France, which could potentially warrant a return for Ben Youngs at No9 from the start.
Jones knows he needs a positive end to a Six Nations campaign which has not yet been disastrous but, at the same time, not becoming of England. That they travel to Paris tomorrow night knowing a defeat could well see them end up fifth for a second successive Six Nations is not acceptable for the playing pool that England have at their disposal.
The prospect is a tough one for an attacking side to finally find its spurs against a French defence that has been superbly marshalled by Shaun Edwards as Wales used to be during the Englishman’s lengthy tenure there.
A plus point for that cause, potentially, is the fact that France are chasing a Grand Slam. Should Ireland win their game against Scotland earlier in the day that could further cement the pressure on the French.
A Grand Slam being within touching distance can have a debilitating effect on teams, and France, for all their brilliance, will not be oblivious to that fact.
Unsurprisingly, that is part of the Jones’ playbook already for this week. Still in the bowels of Twickenham on Saturday, he said: “For them to be playing for the Grand Slam, it does become something in their head and the only way we can make that live in their head a bit more is to lay with such intensity that we put them on the back foot.”
With what’s at stake, the spotlight will understandably be on France but so too Jones if next weekend proves another chastening defeat.
