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Six Nations: Chris Ashton warns of an 'angry' France as Sebastien Vahaamahina reveals scale of calamity

After being responsible for throwing the shocker of a pass that gifted Wales' George North the match-winning try, Vahaamahina revealed that he had no idea he was the France captain for the final 22 minutes

Jack de Menezes
Monday 04 February 2019 22:29 GMT
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Six Nations round-up: England beat champions Ireland

Chris Ashton has warned his England teammates to be wary of an “angry” France side this weekend who will be reeling from their shambolic collapse against Wales last weekend in their Six Nations defeat.

France spurned a 16-0 half-time lead to lose 24-19 against Warren Gatland’s side and suffer a seventh loss in their last eight Six Nations matches between the two sides, leaving their campaign on the verge on an early crisis should they fail to beat England at Twickenham for the first time since 2005.

As if those runs and last Friday’s defeat were not bad enough, the fallout from the Stade de France clash has proven even more calamitous than initially thought. Sebastien Vahaamahina, the lock whose terrible looping miss-pass landed in the hands of George North for the match-deciding try, has revealed that he had no idea he was the side’s captain for the final 22 minutes of the match follow Guilhem Guirado’s departure.

Referee Wayne Barnes had asked the second row what France wanted to do with a penalty, with Vahaamahina explaining: “I told him to address the captain. He replied ‘you are the captain’. I did not even know I was a captain. The staff did not warn me.”

That damaging defeat weighs the odds heavily in England’s favour this Sunday following their impressive display in defeating defending champions Ireland, with the home side 1/5 favourites to win at Twickenham and France as long as 11/2 with some bookmakers.

But after experiencing French rugby first hand with his one-year excursion in the Top 14, England wing Ashton has warned his teammates that the embarrassing scenes will only pump up the French more than they would have been had they held on to victory, with the unpredictable nature of Les Bleus making them a dangerous opposition.

“I watched their game,” Ashton said following his late cameo at the Aviva Stadium. “Obviously they will be up for the game against us a little bit more now than they would have been had they got the win. We’ll be at home, which is in our favour, but it will be an angry French team, desperate to make up for the last 20 minutes of that game against Wales.”

Although France have not tasted victory in the Six Nations at Twickenham in 14 years, they do at least hold the bragging rights in this fixture after adding to England’s woes with victory in Paris last March.

That 22-16 victory provided a timely reminder of what France are capable of, and if they are able to reproduce the extravagant and creative rugby with the precision that they achieved in the first half, England will have plenty to worry about. The task for Jacques Brunel’s side, beyond identifying who their captains are, is to find a way to use the emotion of defeat in a positive way to bounce back immediately, and Ashton believes that they are a side who know exactly how to do that.

Vahaamahina revealed he did not know he was France captain against Wales

“I’d say yeah, a lot of it is (emotion), but they’ve got a lot of good players in there too,” Ashton added. “It’s really unusual for them to lose like that at home, so I’m sure there will be repercussions from that and that goes beyond emotion. They’ve got to get a win and make up for last week.

“If we know anything about the French, it’s that they love a reaction. They’ll definitely be putting everything into winning next week and they’ll have to really, in the situation they are in after losing at home. Their backs are against the wall and we expect nothing less.”

Ashton has warned England to expect a backlash against France

But this situation is happening year-upon-year for France. The problem for them is that they appear to take too long to get used to the intensity and physicality that comes with the Six Nations, with their performance significantly dropping after the 60-minute mark, and Ashton believes that after experiencing it for himself the reasons for that lie deeply entrenched within the Top 14.

“The speed of their domestic game is definitely affecting the step up to international level,” said Ashton, who will spend the week attempting to convince Eddie Jones that he deserves a promotion to the starting line-up to face a number of his former teammates.

“The Top 14 is a slow stop/start game. When you’re in an international game it’s the highest intensity it could possibly be whereas their league isn’t at that level. I’m speaking from experience, it’s not anywhere near. Maybe that step up shocks them it that first couple of games but they will get up to speed very quickly. I’d definitely say the Premiership is a lot more intense. The ball is in play a lot more and the whole game is a lot quicker.”

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