Lewsey expects no favours from France

Josh Lewsey has urged England to leave no stone unturned in their quest for RBS 6 Nations glory tomorrow night.

England are braced for anything that Grand Slam-chasing France can throw at them after arriving in Paris as undoubted underdogs.

Just four months after being crowned world champions, Clive Woodward’s men know they are in danger of becoming Six Nations also-rans unless they get it absolutely right.

The stage is set for a bone-crunching heavyweight confrontation between European rugby’s principal warriors.

England must win by a minimum seven points and stay ahead of France on try-count – or eight points and above to be certain – otherwise a successful defence of their Six Nations crown will disappear into the Parisian night sky.

Lewsey and company are determined to spoil the French party, but a team already beaten at home by Ireland this season and that struggled for long periods against Wales, must belatedly hit top form.

“I am hoping that France don’t get out of first gear, and they stall, to be honest, but I don’t think they will,” said Wasps wing Lewsey, who will make his first appearance at Stade de France.

“I think they have played this tournament with something in reserve, and I think they are ready to let all cylinders loose and let the engine fully go at us.

“But we have been there before. We have played France before in big games, like the World Cup semi-final – they were the favourites again then. We need to play heads-up rugby, play what we see and adapt to the situation accordingly.

“We have got the ability to do that, but on an individual level we have got to look at ourselves and realise that we have got to come off the field knowing that we could not have thrown anything more at them,” he added.

“We are fully aware that we have spluttered somewhat with our performances in this championship, but it was nice to get back to winning ways against Wales.

“We need to align the physicality and dogged-mindedness we showed against Wales with some guile and performance.

“France are on fire in this tournament, but this England team is very experienced, has been there and won some very important internationals through gritting it out and thinking correctly under pressure.

“There is a ‘no blame’ culture with this squad and, as a result of that, if someone makes an individual error, then we take it collectively as a team fault. That is why it hurts so much that we have conceded three tries in the last two games, which for us, is below standard.

“We need to put that right, and in terms of the attack, we need to make slightly fewer unforced errors so we can actually establish some pattern on the game.

“It is not often that a rugby game makes prime-time viewing on the BBC. I just hope that the performance of both sides lives up to the billing.”

England boss Sir Clive Woodward has been in a feisty, defiant mood all week but the stark fact remains that if his players do not move up at least two gears, then France are unlikely to see their champagne go flat.

England have under-performed in this season’s championship – there is no escaping that fact – and the prospects do not look good for a demanding summer tour featuring two Tests against New Zealand and a Brisbane reunion with Australia.

By their own high standards, England have been well below par since the World Cup, although there now remains one last chance to turn things around.

Irishman Alain Rolland will be in charge for tomorrow’s floodlit spectacular, and Woodward declared: “He is the best around.

“We know him well, we have had him loads of times, and I am surprised that he did not go further in the World Cup.

“There has been quite a lot talked about referees since the World Cup final but hand on heart you look at referees and see afterwards whether they affected the result, and the answer is always ‘no’.

“The guy in the World Cup final (Andre Watson) was probably the closest we have come, but even in the loss to Ireland when we had a few issues with the referee, we looked afterwards and asked did it affect the result, and it was down to us, not the referee.”

England have talked a big game all week, but they need to deliver. France are rightly firm favourites, based on untroubled victories over Ireland, Italy, Wales and Scotland, although Woodward seems to have found trouble getting his head around that fact.

England would love nothing more than to gatecrash the planned French celebrations but, just for once, the world champions are not guaranteed a thing.

Woodward says his players perform best when the pressure is on, yet France are aching to avenge that 24-7 World Cup semi-final loss and the force, it seems, is with them.

England will either have to tear up the form book, or play second fiddle. The latter appears likely.