Rugby Union: We've been kicking our heels - now let's punish the

PSYCHOLOGICAL warfare used to be England's chief weapon in blowing away the French. Not any more.

We don't need to indulge in fanciful mind-games or send out our agent provocateur to strike a few mouthy pre-match blows.

No, the days of Brian "Pitbull" Moore putting the verbal bite on our big Gallic rivals are long gone. Guys like Lawrence Dallaglio, Martin Johnson, Richard Hill and Jonny Wilkinson don't need to use a mental winding-up process to do the job.

They just let their strength, skill and professionalism inhibit the opposition - then kill them off.

That's what this England side is all about. No boasts, no frills - just results. You never caught the great All Black or Wallaby teams bragging about what they were going to do to the opposition - no matter if it was South Africa or South Korea.

The game is now all about fitness, strength and skill. Talk has never been cheaper in rugby union - if you open your big mouth there are too many people waiting to stick your foot right back down it.

France are a team capable of doing just that despite their strange championship so far. And we certainly won't be taking it for granted that it will be an easy ride next Saturday.

If we're going to make it four wins on the bounce we will need Jonny Wilkinson's boot to be primed for another remarkable kicking display. One thing the French have been prone to do at Twickenham and in Paris over the years is give away plenty of penalties for us to kick.

Two years ago Jonny beat them by kicking 21 points. And from the way he's kicked so far you would expect him to add a few more to his tally.

But you can't take anything for granted in this game - and we must not just expect Jonny to be a kicking metronome each time he sticks on his studs.

One day he may have a total nightmare. Mind you, a nightmare to him is seven kicks out of eight! He just hates missing one - which tells you everything you need to know about the lad.

The French have always had teams with a good mixture of strength and skill. So far this time they have struggled to find that old flair and running style against Scotland and Ireland.

They stepped up a gear or two in Rome before showing they have not lost that old exciting way of playing against Wales.

The only problem was the defence that had looked pretty secure early on failed them - and Neil Jenkins the boot made them suffer for bad discipline.

But don't be fooled. When you have world-class backs like Christophe Lamaison, Christophe Dominici, Philippe Bernat-Salles and Olivier Gaulthie in your side you have potential for real fireworks.

Take it from me, the French can be formidable one moment and dreadful the next.

I'd happily settle for dreadful when they arrive at our place. I'd also happily settle for a 3-0 win.

Call me boring if you like but winning is the be-all and end-all in sport. We've missed out on two successive Grand Slams and you can cut with a knife the determination not to do it for a third time.

Our game plan will be no different from the first three matches. We'll aim to create as many clear-cut chances as we can by moving the ball when possible and then make those opportunities count.

But we'll also keep things as tight as a duck's derriere at the back. So far our defence has matched our attack - that's the sign of all the good sides.

We've managed to get our defence well-oiled and well-drilled thanks to the ultra-professional coaching unit now in place.

The philosophy is to work hard and play hard - on the training ground and pitch.

If we continue to act out that philosophy in the remaining two games there is no reason to believe we will make a mess of it this time. Of course, the disruption caused by the foot-and-mouth outbreak has had us all kicking our heels.

But it's not affected our morale. The management have made quite sure that despite not being able to perform on the field we've been performing in training.

Nobody has been holding back. The guys have been going hell for leather and taking the mickey out of each other afterwards.

It's the day we stop winding each other up when the England fans should start to worry.

SIX NATIONS GAMES

Saturday, April 7

ENGLAND v FRANCE (Twickenham, 2.30pm, Sky Sports 2, 1.30pm)

Sunday, April 8

ITALY v WALES (Stadio Flaminio, 2pm, BBC2, 2pm)

Sunday, April 29

WALES v IRELAND (Millennium Stadium, 2pm)

Saturday, May 5

IRELAND v ENGLAND (Lansdowne Road, 4pm)

Saturday, May 12

SCOTLAND v IRELAND (Murrayfield, 1.15pm)

SIX NATIONS TABLE

P W D L F A Pts

England 3 3 0 0 167 41 6

Ireland 2 2 0 0 63 37 4

France 4 2 0 2 96 90 4

Wales 3 1 1 1 86 107 3

Scotland 4 1 1 2 60 106 3

Italy 4 0 0 4 83 174 0

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