How strange it now seems, ahead of a Twickenham encounter with the maddeningly inconsistent French, to recall Clive Woodward's reported desire a few months ago to jump into bed rugby-wise with his Gallic counterpart Bernard Laporte and develop an entente cordiale based on mutual respect and shared scrummaging sessions.
No wonder the unbeaten England manager took refuge again yesterday behind the time-honoured shield of media exaggeration, claiming a simple desire to spice up training had been blown out of all proportion.
Even the most innovative of men do not care to be reminded of ideas better thrown from the crumbling cliffs of Beachy Head and most of the pre-match chat across the Channel this week has revolved around absorbing English lessons rather than teaching those tired old rosbifs a thing or two.
Within the home dressingroom today, though, France's under-achievement in this disrupted Six Nations season remains a definite source of short-term concern. Woodward and his coach Andy Robinson are well aware of the inherent dangers of a French team seeking to salvage both pride and dignity and, whatever they may lack in consistency, Laporte's men will never lose their mastery of the unexpected.
"They are the champions of one-off big games," Woodward reiterated, conscious that France's last visit to Twickenham saw them topple New Zealand in the World Cup semifinal. "It's probably the fastest back division they've put out for a long time and if we give them any turnover ball or poor kicks we know what's going to happen."
More to the point, England will also have to subdue what Robinson described yesterday as "a classic French pack," suitably beefed up for the occasion. "The forward battle will be worth the admission alone. Despite what certain people are saying I think it'll be very close."
History, at least, supports his argument and it should be recalled that England, for all their recent blizzard of records, have not managed a try against the French since Neil Back's effort in a losing cause in Paris in 1998.
Last year they won only 15-9 in Paris thanks to five Wilkinson penalties, squeezing home in a psychologically vital encounter with 13 men on the field and Mike Catt at flanker, and the year before it required seven Wilkinson penalities to prevent France from securing a fifth successive victory in the series.
Whatever the latent talent of Steve Borthwick and the sterling qualities of Julian White, the two members of England's front five will be experiencing their first taste of Six Nations action. A minor reshuffle was also required yesterday when the Gloucester prop Trevor Woodman, who damaged an ankle in training, had to be replaced on the bench by David Flatman of Saracens.
The form lines insist England cannot lose against a side who still appear several beans short of the full cassoulet. They may have spent the last three weeks in camp trying to forge more of a musketeering spirit than was evident against Wales yet, on fitness alone, England are worth backing to pull away in the second-half.
ENGLAND: I Balshaw (Bath); A Healey (Leicester), W Greenwood (Harlequins), M Catt (Bath), B Cohen (Northampton); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), M Dawson (Northampton); J Leonard (Harlequins), P Greening (Wasps), J White (Saracens), M Johnson (Leicester, capt), S Borthwick (Bath), R Hill (Saracens), N Back (Leicester), L Dallaglio (Wasps). Replacements: D West (Leicester), T Woodman (Gloucester), J Worsley (Wasps), M Corry (Leicester), K Bracken (Saracens), M Perry (Bath), J Robinson (Sale).
FRANCE: J-L Sadourny (Colomiers); P Bernat-Salles (Biarritz), X Garbajosa (Toulouse), S Glas (Bourgoin), C Dominici (Stade Francais); G Merceron (Montferrand), F Galthie (Colomiers); S Marconnet (Stade Francais), R Ibanez (Castres), P De Villiers (Stade Francais), L Nallet (Bourgoin), A Benazzi (Agen), C Milheres (Biarritz), O Magne (Montferrand), F Pelous (Toulouse, capt). Replacements: F Landreau (Stade Francais), A Galasso (Montferrand), D Auradou (Stade Francais), T Lievremont (Biarritz), P Carbonneau (Pau), D Skrela (Colomiers), T Lombard (Stade Francais).
Referee: Tappe Henning (South Africa).
Touch judges: David McHugh (Ireland) and Nigel Whitehouse (Wales).
