England left their fans regretting the decision to forego their Saturday-morning lie-ins as they whimpered their way towards defeat and an early trip home against a rejuvenated French side.
It is thankful, then, that Wales and Ireland put on such an excellent display prior to England’s sniffling demise, as it meant that not all British supporters were left to spend their weekends with an extreme case of the grumps.
Of the four northern hemisphere sides left in the competition, England were the only one who failed to really impress at any stage. Sure, they ran in 10 tries against Romania, but then again, that was Romania…
England spent the first half of the quarter-final being totally dominated by the French. Not for the first time, they were unable to induce any rhythm or fluency into their attack and never looked like they were really troubling the French defence, who were impeccably disciplined in the opening half, not even giving a once-again poor Jonny Wilkinson the chance to kick for three points.
By contrast England’s old bugbear once again reared its ugly head as they gave away sloppy penalties, Matt Stevens guilty as ever. A contrast also, it must be said, was seen in the performance of the French. Regardless of how poor England were, France were excellent, especially when you consider the change from their embarrassing defeat to Tonga in the final pool match, and indeed most of their performances in recent memory.
Mercifully, England managed to improve slightly over the course of the second period, yet on the rare occasion they managed to produce some form of penetrative attack they counteracted it by needlessly throwing the ball away or thwarting themselves through some other careless error. England needed a minor miracle at the end of the game if they were to keep their World Cup dreams alive, but the fact that they were still just about in the game at its close was miraculous in itself.
The vast majority of headlines surrounding the English over the course of their campaign concerned them allegedly disgracing themselves off the field, but I would go so far as to say that they were far more disgraceful on it. Perhaps if they had managed to actually perform well on the pitch these tales of apparent debauchery would have been noted as the minor incidents they truthfully were.
While England go home with their heads bowed in failure, the Irish can at least be proud of their efforts in this tournament after being beaten by a simply outstanding Welsh team, who must now be seen as surprising but realistic contenders for the trophy.
The Irish win over Australia in the pools has been my personal highlight of the tournament; they showed incredible resolve to grind out a battling victory, and they left everything on the field once again against Wales, who were just too good for them.
Ireland enjoyed prolonged periods of intense pressure throughout the game but were just lacking in penetration. They needed a special spark to unlock this solid Welsh defence and on the day they just couldn’t find it.
Should Wales beat France, which I believe they will, it will be very interesting to see how their defence will stand up to a southern-hemisphere side. If it can be as strong as it was against the Irish, they stand a genuine chance in this competition, for if they can keep the flair of the southern hemisphere out, they have enough weapons of their own in the form of Shane Williams, George North and co. to be able to cause some real damage of their own going forward.
It seems strange to be sitting here with Wales and France representing the northern hemisphere in the semi-finals, while all England have to ponder is the long flight home. What has happened since the six nations to make things change so dramatically? England impressed on their way to winning the tournament, beating Wales fairly comfortably in the process, while France suffered a humiliating defeat to the Italians and have looked all at odds in recent times.
The English team is very much the same; they have the same coach, the younger players should be improving and gaining experience with every game they play, yet English rugby has taken a large step backwards at a time when it doesn’t really make much sense.
England have previously been labelled as a big tournament team on the back of their 2003 World Cup triumph and unexpected journey to the final four years later, but this time they have choked in a fashion far more akin to that of their footballing counterparts. To make matters worse, the French now have their World Cup revenge and the squad must sit back at home and watch two teams they know they can beat battle it out for the honour of appearing in a World Cup final. I really hope this bothers them as much as it bothers their supporters, because judging by their toothless exit, it doesn’t really look like it.