England may be the pre-tournament favourites, but
France in
Paris is a tricky first hurdle for Eddie Jones’s sideEngland’s
World Cup seemed to be judged on the no-show in the final against
South Africa, the manner in which they overwhelmed Australia and
New Zealand in the previous rounds largely forgotten. They had one of the youngest teams in the tournament with Eddie Jones changing direction a year out from
Japan and jettisoning some of his more seasoned players. The result was that they played with greater pace, if not invention, and at last had a complementary back row.