England v France Analysis….. At the Kick Off England were disorganised! Marcus Smith kicked off, into the France 22m to his right. England sent 11 up in the chase line. One thing i couldn’t get my head around, was why they sent up Van Poortvielt to the right touch line and kept back Jamie George (initially) in the pocket? France had roughly the same numbers, where they received possession, so with 4/5 players in the England back field England were out numbered, should France decide to play wide! Did England anticipate a kick back at source, so thereby positioning each player accordingly? This is a 6 Nations encounter Mr Borthwick. Not An English Premiership Club match! (I say this because i’ve always felt The English Premiership is unhealthy for The National Team. In my view, there needs to be more Competitive Clubs/Regions from other 6 Nations  countries playing in it, which would break up the predictability and style of play which all the English Clubs play.)Anyway, besides, didn’t happen. France moved the ball wide, with an initial 8 v 5 but decided to carry into contact, recycle and then kick long. The problem England had then, was Van Poortvielt had a long way to travel (from right touch) to be in position at the base of the breakdown. So when Steward carried the ball back, he wasn’t there early enough to organise his ball retention team from the base of the ruck. Next thing Itoji and Chessum, bizarrely drove him into the ruck and off his feet! There was no one to play the ball at the recycle and France simply picked up the ball and countered. When Van Poortvielt got back to his feet, he ran back into the defencive line in a straight line, so as France played to their left at the turnover, he was nowhere near the next 2 rucks! By this time Jamie George had left his position (in the pocket at Kick Off!) and moved around to the far side of the breakdown. At the turnover, France played the ball from Right to left (George had just left that side!) with an 8 v 4 but Fickou passed to Cyril Baille and he butchered the opportunity by throwing a dummy and being tackled! France retained possession though and following 2 rucks (Watson, England’s Left Wing, tackled Ollivon on Malin’s Wing at this point!) they switched play and had England outnumbered Again! (Watson did well to run the entire with of the pitch to get back into his position) Obviously, England were now in complete disarray, whilst France were in control and Organised. When France moved the ball backed across field from Left to Right, England,  short on numbers, with several players running around like headless chickens, they got lucky again, as Dupoint’s off load wasn’t held, otherwise Danty would have strolled in from half way! England’s start can only be described as a complete shambles!