Graphic: How England can make the breakthrough against France

Last weekend, England mercilessly laid waste to the Australia scrum. This Saturday, according to Neil Back, they need to show the same ruthlessness in targeting France’s lineout. As England’s dynamic open-side flanker in 2003, Back knows a thing or two about beating France in a World Cup semi-final, having given an outstanding performance in the Sydney rain four years ago. Now Leicester’s technical director and a rising star of the coaching world, he believes that the weak link in France’s armour lies in the shaky lineout throwing of Raphaël Ibañez, the France hooker, and Dimitri Szarzewski, his likely replacement in the second half.

“England will not dominate France in the scrum as they did Australia, so they need to look for another weakness and I think that could be the lineouts,” Back said yesterday. “The French have good jumpers in the lineout, but their hookers are not the best throwers. If England can get on top of the lineout, they will be able to kick for touch more, rather than kicking behind the dangerous French backs and allowing them to counter-attack. That could be the key on Saturday.”

If England are able to control the lineout as they did the scrum last week, Back believes, they can once again dominate at the breakdown, where they won nine turnovers against Australia. “England were much better at the breakdown last week, but that all came from their domination of the scrum,” Back said. “The breakdown becomes so much easier if your team is going forward.”

With the momentum generated by their scrum, England’s back-row trio were consistently advancing, while the Wallabies had to back-pedal. The requirement of the laws that a player must enter the ruck “through the gate” — behind the foot of the hindmost player, with imaginary gateposts drawn from the head and feet of the tackled player — means that a retreating side has to work doubly hard to compete at the breakdown.

“The best way to hit the breakdown is when you’re running forward into the ruck, rather than back to it,” Back said. “If you’re going back to it, you have to turn the corner as well to go through the gate. Then you are trying to generate power from a much slower starting point.”

The breakdown is a crucial part of any open-side flanker’s game, so this is an area of expertise for Back. “It’s not a case of just flying into the ruck full pelt, it’s important to arrive at the right time with your body height and angle absolutely right,” he said. “That usually means getting lower than the opposition, but that’s not easy because you have to stay on your feet. You then drive upwards with your shoulders to clear an opponent out of the ruck. It’s like an aeroplane taking off, starting low and driving upwards.”

Clearly, it is easier for a shorter man to enter the breakdown low. But, in picking Lewis Moody, who is 6ft 3in, at open-side, rather than the 5ft 11in Tom Rees, England have opted for three tall men in their back row, as Nick Easter is 6ft 4in and Martin Corry one inch taller. Although Rees is often seen as the natural successor to Back, who is 5ft 9in, England’s most-capped No 7 is happy to see Moody, his Leicester team-mate, wearing his old shirt.

“I think Lewis’s all-action style gives England a lift and he is the automatic choice at No 7,” Back said. “It’s not easy for a big man to hit a ruck low, but it’s easier if you’re on the front foot. Tom Rees is potentially the man for the future, but Lewis had the opportunity and he took it well. The back row came good against Australia, but for France I’d have picked Joe Worsley at No 8 rather than Nick Easter. That would give you more balance.”

He may not be involved this time, but Back is still living every moment of England’s World Cup matches. So much so that he was unable to sit through the closing stages against Australia. “I made about 50 tackles just watching that game,” he said. “I felt mentally drained and I had to leave after 72 minutes and go to the ground for the Leicester game because I couldn’t watch any more. I hope it’s not as tense on Saturday.”