Valuable defeat as England’s future stars shine bright

These summer tours for England, taking place as the British and Irish Lions hog the spotlight, are strange affairs.

Three months on from the Six Nations, having had time to reflect on the tournament, teams either want to build off momentum generated or fix areas where they struggled.

Except your best players have been called away to tour with the Lions. Maro Itoje and a dozen more players are off to Australia, leaving England head coach, Steve Borthwick, in an interesting position ahead of a tour of Argentina and the USA. Do you press pause on tactical evolutions or press on regardless?

“Now is the time to build our attack,” he said. “I want to play fast, I want to play aggressive and be brave with the ball. That’s the way our players enjoy playing and our supporters enjoy seeing the team play.

“The challenge with a new group is do you try and stay the way you were, or do you want to take steps forward? Everybody in the environment wants to take steps forward.”

There were signs of England sticking to that script in a 24-26 defeat to a France XV at the Allianz stadium, Twickenham, yesterday, trying to play at high tempo while relying on a dominant scrum and control provided by fly-half George Ford.

The Lions absences create chances. And Borthwick would love some of the uncapped, inexperienced players in this group to take them. While the proof will be in the Test matches, there has been evidence in training over the past two weeks to suggest they will not be overawed by the occasion.

The breakout player may end up being Seb Atkinson, the Gloucester centre, who set up a try in the first half for Joe Carpenter with a break. Atkinson stands out for a number of reasons, including his 6ft 4in frame which he is not shy about using to get over the gain line. Borthwick, when asked who impressed in training, said it would be unfair to single out one – but couldn’t help himself.

“The way he has jumped into it, I think he’s smashed every record we have on GPS in terms of his running,” Borthwick said, before highlighting Atkinson’s soft hands when attacking right up to the gain line and his improved jackalling ability.

The main negative was Immanuel Feyi-Waboso. Two dropped balls and a clear red card for a bad tackle on Antoine Hastoy will likely rule him out of a tour on which he could have made a huge impression.

Borthwick will be pleased with how his side responded to the red card and a 12-0 deficit to take the lead, and equally frustrated by how France stole the win in the final play. But this summer is all about growth, learning and identifying key future players. In that sense, this was a valuable start.

Photograph by Bradley Collyer/PA Wire