A fine second half performance against France keeps England on course for the Grand Slam but a few question marks still remain. A relatively poor first half was mitigated a little by the slippery conditions but that does not explain France looking hungrier and lapses in concentration at the restart that led to two of their three penalties. We looked a little nervous in the last ten or so minutes, almost inexperienced as if stung by previous criticism of not playing flowing rugby that we insisted on trying to run from our own 22 all the time. This led to one of the penalties at the restart straight after our first penalty and worryingly it was not as if we had not cleared our lines with Nick Easter kicking the ball away at the right time, although the ball was not in hand at the time and was from a French breakdown.
   One might think that a lack of experience with a young team full of exuberance, keen on showing off their skills may appear rash at times but by the end of the match, with England two scores ahead, we had the World Cup winners Mike Tindall, Jonny Wilkinson, Steve Thompson and Simon Shaw all on the pitch as well as other senior pros like Easter and Mark Cueto. Thankfully France were unable to capitalise and while I enjoy watching us attempt to counter attack all the time it would be reassuring to see us clear our lines once in a while when the occasion demands it.
   With England performing well internationally in rugby and cricket (although tomorrow is the acid test to determine whether recent one day performances were due to an Ashes hangover or we genuinely underperform in ODIs: Relaxation against the weaker Dutch team may explain only scraping a win against them but that is not an option against India) it may be time for the national football team and start utilising more players from "the colonies". Unfortunately whilst 2nd XI South Africans and New Zealanders may prove useful assets to our rugby and cricket teams I don't believe their footballers are good enough to represent England yet. But then again...