Eddie Jones’s side can deny France a first grand slam since 2010 on Saturday but the contrast between the sides is striking
As Voltaire put it: “Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” The great French philosopher might just as well have been referencing Eddie Jones’s England before their final leg of a hitherto unrewarding 2022 Six Nations voyage. Paris is never an easy place to go, let alone for sides whose title hopes have, in effect, already left the harbour on a P&O ferry.
Compared with France, seeking to seal their first grand slam since 2010, England have had a consistently turbulent passage since they initially embarked for a storm-lashed Scotland last month. Murrayfield misery has been followed by last week’s Twickenham tribulations and now here they are needing to beat Europe’s best side, in Paris, to avoid finishing in the bottom half of the championship for the second year in a row.
