England ‘forgot how to play rugby’ as Eddie Jones feared Six Nations defeat against France would ‘get ugly’

England head coach rued their sluggish first half that echoed the Rugby World Cup final performance as the Six Nations favourites opened their account with a convincing defeat

Eddie Jones feared England’s Six Nations defeat against France would “get ugly” after his side “forgot how to play rugby” in an opening 55-minute spell that left them with too much to do.

Two scintillating second-half tries from Jonny May were not enough to claim the most unlikeliest of victories after France overpowered England in a first half rarely seen from Les Bleus in more than a decade, despite Jones’s promise to deliver “brutal physicality”.

In what was a second consecutive defeat in as many trips to Paris, the 24-17 result was largely built in the opening half where England could not do anything to breach the French line, whereas the hosts scored tries through Vincent Rattez and captain Charles Ollivon – who added a second in the 55th minute to extend the lead to 24-0.

"It’s like we forgot how to play rugby in the first half,” Jones said. "We were slow out of the blocks, we were sorry for ourselves and out of kilter, we let the situation get to us.

“We weren't good enough first half and they were very good. We didn't win the gainline and struggled to get advantage there.

“I was really pleased with our second half. That was a game that could've been quite ugly for us, the crowd was going nuts, they got a bit of a roll on and the response of our players in the second half was absolutely outstanding.”

May’s double did give England a chance at victory, with Owen Farrell kicking a final-play penalty to at least take home a bonus point, and Jones was keen to stress that the way England found a way to take the ascendancy at least shows they have learned something from the Rugby World Cup defeat three months ago, in which they failed completely to get into the game against South Africa.

“I don't think we'd have seen the response we got in the second half if we had a mental hangover,” he added. “It was one of those games where France played well. We should be giving France credit. They were a young team, there's a bit of a renaissance in French rugby, there was a good narrative about their performance and we didn't match their intensity early on. We struggled to get there. Why? We'd all like to know. If we knew, we'd never lose a game.”

The England players were infuriated by Ollivon’s first try, which came when the flanker appeared to knock the ball on when competing with Courtney Lawes for an aerial box-kick from Antoine Dupont. Referee Nige Owens raised his whistle to his mouth which caused a number of England players to stop in their tracks, only to wave play on and review the incident with TMO Brian MacNeice, before determining that there was no obvious knock-on.

“When I look at the scoresheet after the game it was a try,” reflected Jones. “I used to play cricket and be given out and a lot of times I wasn't out. But in the scorebook it said I was out. It doesn't matter what you think, it matters what the referee's decision is.

“He made the decision. It's his 98th Test and he gets them right more than often (than not) and it's one of those things. If it wasn't right, then we suck it up and get on with it. If it was right then we suck it up and get on with it. So there's not much difference.

“You always get taught to keep playing to the whistle blows. I thought he blew the whistle at one stage. It's a mistake we made, but we can rectify that.”

That sentiment was shared by Jonny May, who was one of the main culprits in not chasing Ollivon after he recollected the ball from Rattez.

“That’s one of the first things you learn as a kid isn’t it? Play to the whistle and I didn’t, so I’ll own that one,” May said. “But what I saw is it hit his hand and then somebody in front of him caught it, and Nigel did go to blow his whistle. But I own that own. Play to the whistle.”

France captain Ollivon took advantage of England switching off to score (AFP via Getty) (AFP via Getty Images)

England now head to BT Murrayfield in six days to face a Scotland side licking their own wounds from their opening weekend defeat against Ireland, but who like France have memories of beating England in the last time they met on home soil two years ago. England may do so without Manu Tuilagi, with the centre forced off after just 15 minutes with a groin injury, and Jones admitted that he does not yet know how serious the problem is given the previous issues that he has experienced in that region before.

“He tweaked his groin, and we're not sure how serious it is,” Jones said. “Obviously he's a big gainline player for us and in those conditions we definitely did miss him. But we need to be good enough to cope with that.”