Shambolic showing in record Le Crunch loss : PlanetRugby

It was a forgettable night in English rugby as Steve Borthwick’s side fell to an embarrassing 53-10 defeat to France at Twickenham. Here is how we rated England in the Six Nations loss.

Best of the worst

15 Freddie Steward: He was beaten in the air once when the ball was allowed to bounce in the 22. That blunder was one of the few mishaps in his game. Steward was solid as ever under the high ball, strong with ball in hand, and he took his chance to rampage through Thomas Ramos and score well. Was left with far too much to do on defence. 5

14 Max Malins: He was caught out by Antoine Dupont for a 50:22, which led to Thibaud Flament’s first try. He almost replicated his score against Scotland but spilt the ball forward from Marcus Smith’s cross-kick off before the hour mark. 3

13 Henry Slade: A forgettable evening for the centre who mistimed his press which opened up the space for France’s opening try, and he chased back with little intent to rectify his mistake. Flament steamrolled through him and Lewis Ludlam to score Les Bleus’ second. Slade was sloppy with ball in hand and didn’t make use of his boot, either. 2

12 Ollie Lawrence: Bettered and bullied by Jonathan Danty. Lawrence still had bright moments carrying the ball into the French defence but was simply outplayed. 4

11 Anthony Watson: His class came through in flashes throughout the game, but his teammates didn’t help him out. Watson was isolated several times on defence and had precious few attacking opportunities. 3

Smith sinks

10 Marcus Smith: Outplayed, couldn’t get the attack ticking over. The effort was there in so many instances, but it just wasn’t his night. Given the chance to swim with Owen Farrell on the bench but Smith just sunk. 3

9 Jack van Poortvliet: He was taken off just six minutes after half-time, and Borthwick would not have been blamed for doing it before then. The French pack put him under immense pressure, but he also made a few daft decisions on attack and made silly errors. 3

8 Alex Dombrandt: He had some success with his carries but not enough to steer his team into the game. Dombrandt made his tackles for most of the game until asked to defend on the wing. In the end, he was part of the pack that was well and truly on the back foot. 3

7 Jack Willis: His impact was nullified by the accuracy and brilliance of the French pack. He had no success at the breakdown, conceded a turnover and penalty and was replaced before the hour mark. 3

6 Lewis Ludlam: Like many of his fellow forwards, Ludlam was busy with little success. He conceded three penalties and failed to get on the front foot with ball in hand. Charles Ollivon took him out of the game from a scrum, and the Frenchman’s old-school antics resulted in a try for himself. 3

Tight five fail

5 Ollie Chessum: England were bossed at the breakdown, an area that Chessum usually shines. The young lock was a sound option at lineout time, but that was just about as far as…