Six Nations Betting / Editor / 21 February 2008 / Leave a comment

It's crunch time against France for Brian Ashton's England in the RBS Six Nations on Saturday. Can they repeat their epic World Cup victory in Paris a few months ago? Betfair asked former England scrum half and now Premiership club Bristol's manager Richard Hill about the chances...

People say this will be a different French team to the one England faced in the World Cup. Is that right?

I think so. The new team led by Marc Lievremont have brought in a completely different playing philosophy, and they will give the players licence to really have a go. I think on the basis of the first two matches their forwards are not as strong as they have been in the past, but they are sacrificing strength in the set pieces for the ability to run and handle and play a 15 man game. They won't win as much possession as they have, but with that back line they can use every ounce of possession they do have to the maximum benefit.

So are they going back to what they've always been good at?

Yes. I think back to the 70s, 80s and 90s and the French line-out was always a shambles because they did very little work on it. They spent hardly any time on set pieces, and far more on the backs and running with the ball. You could always pinch a few of their line-outs but once the ball was in play they were a class above everybody else. I'm not saying they are not doing no line-out work now, but the priority again is to get the ball in play, keep it, and really threaten the opposition with the ball in hand.

As a former scrum half yourself what did you think of the decision to give Richard Wigglesworth his debut? Was that a surprise?

Not really, the position has been a problem since Shaun Perry and Harry Ellis both got injured. There really has been a tough job to find a scrum half to replace both of those in my view. There are one or two candidates. Wigglesworth is untried at that level so it will be interesting to see how it goes. The French are going to play a scrum half who is playing for the first time as well. I don't think there have been any outstanding scrum halves in the Premiership in the last couple of years apart from Perry and Ellis, so it's been a tough position. It's funny because at fly half there is a glut. You have Wilkinson, Hodgson, Lamb, Flood, Cipriani, these are top quality Premiership number tens, and it's a problem to pick between them. Meanwhile the scrum half has been a problem for Brian Ashton as to finding anybody to pick.

You mention Jonny Wilkinson. There were question marks put on him after the defeat by Wales. Is he still our top player?

It's hard to say he's not. It was ridiculous that because of one pass he threw out people started talking about him as not being the player he was. That was nonsense. Every time he plays for Newcastle they win, if he doesn't play for them nine times out of ten they don't. He's a massively influential player and I know every time Bristol play against Newcastle if Wilkinson is playing we don't often win, if ever. He wins matches for his team week in and week out. For me any player that has that influence on a team must be there. He's outstanding

You worked with Brian Ashton at Bath in your playing days. Tell us about him

He's a great innovator, he makes training fun, he challenges players, he thinks differently to a lot of coaches and is very, very attack minded which is refreshing. Rather than containment he is about putting pressure on the opposition through attacking, and normally will have that philosophy. I think we are all looking for Brian to revert to that type of philosophy now, where maybe there has been a little bit of a conservative element where senior players and other coaches might have influenced him. Brian at his best sticks by his philosophy, and will be open and attacking and very similar to the French. The French have come in and said this is what we will do as a unit, we will pick younger forwards and a back row who are more exciting. They have sacrificed a bit of set piece but will bring on players who can handle and run with the ball. That's Brian's philosophy too and I think we will see he will get that round to that.

So is he growing into the job after going in at the deep end before the World Cup?

I just hope he gets the chance. It's a tough position with just a one-year rolling contract. I don't know what the French have done but I suspect they are building for the next World Cup with longer term contracts. They can make longer plans. It's very tough for Brian to make long term plans. He almost has to go from game to game.

What will be the key things he needs to get right in Paris?

England have started superbly well in both their first two matches. Against Wales everybody said at half time what a fantastic 40 minutes. Why the players then go out and perform like they did in the second half who knows? That can't be the coach's fault. They started against Italy 20 points to six up away from home. Any team would accept that. The All Blacks would be happy with that. Then to struggle in the second half is beyond belief. Again that can't be the coach's fault, that's players on the field who have to be responsible too.

I think the players have let Brian down a little bit because had they continued on the same vein they would have beaten Wales by 40 or 50 points and we would have all hailed the start of a fantastic new era. Brian must be extremely frustrated that they have put in two unbelievably poor second half performances. Nobody has yet put their finger on the reason why because how can you explain that? It's absolutely bizarre. So they need now to start off as they have in the last two games and then the task is to maintain that in the second half. Shouldn't be that difficult.

Betfair have got a £50 free bet for you in aid of your favourite charity to say thanks for your time

That can go to our Bristol club charity which is is called PROPS. It'sa project the players have had for five years working with children who have severe learning difficulties. Details on www.props4ward.org. Once the game is priced up the money can go on Bristol Rovers, who share the Memorial Stadium with us, to beat West Brom in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. I really rate their chances.

Tags: England Rugby, France Rugby, Richard Hill, rugby betting, rugby odds, six nations, six nations odds