The clock keeps ticking. No matter how much the critics criticise and the chairmen give votes of confidence, the World Cup gets closer. Argentina versus England in Christchurch is less than 17 months away and anyone who thinks of changing manager/coach from here on in needs their bumps felt. Likewise anyone intent on pressing for change when the man at the sharp end doesn't want it.
So on Wednesday Twickenham gave Martin Johnson a ringing endorsement and he, in turn, praised his coaching staff for the work done during the Six Nations. Where we are in rugby's global calendar no one would have expected less. However, if this Six Nations proved anything it is this: while on any given day anyone can beat anyone else in the northern hemisphere, on the majority of days all – and I include France here – are currently likely to be beaten by the best of the big three from the south. And that, of course, is where the World Cup is to be played.
It was one of the more fantastic details of 2003; that England won their World Cup in the southern hemisphere. To get into a similar challenging position in 2011, everyone – and again I include France – has to up the ferocity of performance and learn how to sustain it for 80 minutes. I know from personal playing experience that anything less and the north will come home empty-handed.
As of today, France come closest to the standard required and are maturing. Marc Lièvremont has used his time well, pumping fresh blood into the careers of guys like Clément Poitrenaud, Yannick Jauzion and Imanol Harinordoquy, while providing the conditions in which Morgan Parra, François Trinh-Duc, Thomas Domingo, Marc Andreu and Alexis Palisson can flourish.
Making Thierry Dusautoir his captain was inspired, but a coach needs luck and Lièvremont has had his. Without injury to the Biarritz prop Fabien Barcella, the squat Domingo might not have got his chance to cause mayhem in the Six Nations scrums. And had Julien Dupuy not been caught with his fingers in Stephen Ferris's eyes, we might never have seen Parra develop into the play-maker and little general he has become.
In previous Six Nations there have been some pretty weird Lièvremont selections, but this time around he got most things right without losing that hard-nose approach which gave him the confidence to try close on 80 players before the team looked anything like settled. When he had to – against England in the driving rain – he screwed the game down in a way foreign to most French teams.
Lièvremont proved he had a Plan B, but then again so did England. Slow and methodical in patches, hyperactive in others, it was still possible to see a gameplan, but if Johnson suffered it was probably because of the loyalty he showed in selection. Coaches can be conservative and it's more than understandable if they continue to pick guys who have done it in the past, even though their current form might be a bit on the thin side.
Last time around Delon Armitage was stellar and Johnson could be forgiven for sticking with his man in spite of the more obvious signs that he was struggling after injury. You do want big-game players around you and while Armitage might not yet deserve that appendage, Jonny Wilkinson does and that final kick in Paris showed why.
In Wales we certainly felt the difference when our Lions were fit and firing. Mike Phillips increased the tempo when he came back and to see Gethin Jenkins, a 120kg prop leading the kick-chase was to watch world class on the hoof. When we have our first XV on the field we are a match for anyone and bit by bit this season I've come around to believing the adage about the season following a Lions tour always favouring the French.
Certainly there were times when those very fine Irish players who came to South Africa in the summer fell short of the glory of last season's slam, particularly when the triple crown also slipped away at Croke Park. That said, I wouldn't begrudge the Scots their win in Dublin. No Six Nations side has ever played better for two points. They played us off the field for most of the game in Cardiff, could and should have beaten England, and in Dan Parks have a fly-half who knows how to run a Test.
