Such would have been the words of Julius Caesar had he been slighly less egotistical, or those of Stuart Lancaster were he to address the media masses in Latin: We came, we saw, we conquered.
My odyssey started on Friday lunchtime, when a three course meal in the French sunshine started what was to be a cracking weekend off. Those who know me will know I spent many years in Paris, and going back is always a pleasure, if a strain on the belt come the end of it. This year's trip was no exception. I'll spare absolutely every detail, but Friday's dinner had started with 4 pints of Guinness, then went on to include pate while waiting for the table, 2 starters, 1 main course and a dessert, washed down by bucketloads of Morgon, before returning to Bastille, my Parisian base, for more Guinness.
Saturday kicked off with a full English breakfast, and continued at Bastille where the tv showed us early victories for Toulouse and Clermont in the Top 14, a comfortable Welsh win against Italy and a straightforward Irish win against Scotland. Tickets were distributed and paid for, banter was evident with the French very confident, and rendez-vous were made for the next day's game. Midnight saw me trek, uncertainly, home, realising that not a crumb had passed my lip since the midday breakfast.
Sunday dawned and started with a traditional Twickers car park picnic (or as the French would say 'un picnic parking') with friends old and new, in the shadow of the stadium. The Volvo easily identifiable with a complete leg of Spanish ham, on its stand, on the roof next to a magnum of Bordeuax. Bread, cheese, meat, pate, cake, beer, wine, coffee (with rum of course) all went down the hatch before the stroll round to our seats. It was at this point that I realised that, having missed the 2010 defeat, I had seen England win 2 in a row at the Stade de France (RWC07 semi final and 2008 6 Nations) and I had had a nagging feeling of confidence all week, to such an extent that I had tipped us to win by a point on the sportguru prediction website.
New this year at the Stade de France was an atmosphere. I've experienced many a 6 Nations game there, and they are usually flat, soul-less affairs, but the anthems set the stall this time around and they were sung with much gusto by both visiting hoards and hosts.
The game itself was not one of stunning quality, with errors as passes were forced by both sides. France started reasonably, and had a 3 on 1 overlap on 12 minutes, until Chris Ashton made his first telling contribution since he threw a dwarf in Queenstown and clobbered Szarzewski, allowing Farrell to pounce on the loose ball and send Manu Tuilagi haring past Rougerie and into the corner, where Farrell slotted a great conversion.
Ecstasy amongst the English fans, which became whatever the next step up from ecstasy is (sorry but it's been a long time) when Ben Morgan showed why he was so coveted by Wales and England, barging past Bonnaire and excellently handing off to Foden, who clobbered his way over by the posts allowing Farrell a somewhat easier conversion. 14-3, France having slotted a penalty in between. To be fair, France didn't go away, and helped by one of the more eccentric performances of his eccentric refereeing career from Alain Rolland, whose scrum and breakdown interpretations at times led you to wonder..... they came back into it.
14-3 became 14-9, became 17-9 as Farrell slotted a penalty, became 17-12 as the tenacious French clung on and became 17-15 as English hearts started to flutter. In the midst of this Monsieur Rolland compounded his eccentricity by yellow carding Sharples for a deliberate knock-on 5 minutes after he had merely given England a penalty after Fofana did the same thing (Note: he even had to be convinced that this was a penalty by his touch judge having initially given merely a knock-on.
England managed the shorthandedness well though, having learned from the way the Welsh controlled the ball and wound the clock down against them 2 weeks previously. With 8 minutes to go, another swift attack saw the ball recycled to Farrell, who quickly shipped on and we had the joy of a 3rd English try, as Croft rampaged past Poitrenaud and popped the ball down, near enough to the posts for a vital 2 points to be added by the ice cool Farrell.
There was still time to almost lose the game though, as first Fofana almost scored before being denied by incredible sacrificial defence by Dowson who was barely with it before Croft stood on his head, and totally away with the fairies after it. Fofana then did dive in the corner for a 4th try in 4 games, converted by Parra, to bring France back to a 2 point deficit. France had momentum now, and Trinh-Duc took position in the "seat" ready to drop a winning goal that would have been cruel on England, England resisted in defence though, meaning the kick would be a long range one, and he came up inches short and afterwards England managed the ball, territory and the clock well enough to clobber the ball into the crowd for a famous win, which was greeted with loud roars from the numerous English fans.
Parling, Morgan, Croft, Robshaw, Tuilagi and Foden were all immense, but this was a total team effort, with everyone contributing. Farrell was calmness personified again, even if some of his tactical kicking left a lot to be desired. His defence, with Barritt once more, was fantastic, and his presence of mind also set up the first and third tries to some degree. It was a performance of guts and no little bravery from England, and one which will remain with me for a while I am sure.
Wine, ham and cheese followed back at the car, before adjourning to Bastille once more to analyse the game in detail over a few more pints of the black stuff.
A marvellous Parisian weekend, with the right result and a successful mix of different groups of friends. England go on to Twickenham and the Irish, hoping that France will have done them a big favour by smashing Wales in Cardiff. I move on to Rome, as 18 of us will be taking our annual 6 Nations trip to sample everything the Italian capital has to offer.
You will of course read about it here!
Team of Week 4:
1. Cian Healy (Ire) - really performing well at the moment
2. Rory Best (Ire) - back to something like his best after two poor weeks
3. Dan Coles (Eng)/Adam Jones (Wal) - can't split these two this week
4. Geoff Parling (Eng) - fast becoming one of the first names on the sheet
5. Richie Gray (Sco) - unfortunate to be on the losing side, awesome sight rampaging to his try
6. Tom Croft (Eng) - try capped off an immense performance
7. Justin Tipuric (Wal) - another great effort from a man destined to play out his international career in the shadow of Sam Warburton
8. Ben Morgan (Eng) - a rampant performance particularly around the second England try
9. Mike Phillips (Wal) - set the stall out for a controlled Welsh win
10. Owen Farrell (Eng) - tactical kicking aside, a very cool performance
11. George North (Wal) - set the standard for the Welsh backs
12. Manu Tuilagi (Eng) - his try set the English chariot in motion
13. Jon Davies (Wal) - in a very rich vein of form and bossed the midfield once more
14. Alex Cuthbert (Wal) - a deadly double act forming with North
15. Clement Poitrenaud (Fra) - I'm his biggest critic, but I thought he performed very well on Sunday
So that's Wales 5.5, England 5.5, Ireland 2, Scotland 1 and France 1 this week.
Three great games lined up next week, with all 6 sides thinking they can win. While I want the French to win to give England a chance at the title, I can;t see it happening any more. Wales are not particularly brilliant (I maintain they are hugely over-rated in an average tournament) but France are all over the shop, seem to have little direction and look tired. So a Welsh Grand Slam, with England edging out Ireland and Italy and Scotland fighting out a very close one, which I will call nearer the time.
Thanks for reading. Look forward to hearing your comments as ever.
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