You need to experience at first hand the scary moments when the French rugby touchpaper is lit and attackers seem to come at you from all sides with bewildering speed. I remember this when England played France in 1992 in the gladiatorial Parc de Princes, French backs and forwards poured through imaginary gaps in the opening minutes and we just had to hang on, chasing tackles and buffeted by the intense noise of the crowd. We won a famous victory but it was most likely created by that early resilience and trust in each other.

So it was in Lyon and Pau last weekend, when our senior and U20 teams were being overwhelmed it seemed by sensational French back play and impossibly large forwards rampaging over the gain line. Both England teams had to stay in the game and somehow did through French profligacy and their own crucially timed close range tries before half time, then  going on to produce notable performances. Huge credit to both sides and much pride to take away – for our youngsters more than that, a Six Nations triumph against the odds when you consider how much senior club rugby their opponents have played versus our own youngsters. We need to create similar circumstances for our young talent or they will not progress and these kinds of results will be sporadic. I am involved in those discussions and they must succeed.

Much has been written about England’s back play as always, and I have been consistent in my assertions that without a consistent approach to attack play and selection we will never maintain a challenge to the top table of world rugby. Thankfully England now has a potent midfield for the first time in a decade or more, in fact back to when a young George Ford was helping to slice up every midfield defence in Europe through his passing and angles of run. It was all on show in Lyon as well as Twickenham the week before and brought out the best of Lawrence and Slade who should now continue with England for the foreseeable future. Who changed the George Ford view of the world? It wasn’t so long ago that he described the ball as a ticking time bomb and therefore needed to kick it away constantly. May he play with a smile on his face and especially in Japan for obvious reasons to show someone what was always possible. England supporters have been condemned to a diet of rugby gruel for too long.

In bidding farewell for different reasons to two of England’s midfield warriors, Farrell and Tuilagi, I cannot help but think that they were sacrificed on the altar of muddled thinking in our back play over many years. Various coaches have chopped and changed the line up with a very detrimental impact because they thought there were no alternatives to these two ultimate servants of English rugby – more another time. So many talented centres and wings have been picked and then discarded through that period.

I have always reserved my thoughts about Borthwick where some have rushed to judge. He is making good selections and starting to understand the value of confidence, belief and trust. These were the qualities Geoff Cooke imbued in his squad of the early 90’s and two successive grand slams resulted – should have been 3, but Scotland had a view on that!

The players have encouraged Borthwick to remove the handbrake and look at the results as well as their own enjoyment levels, which must be off the scale. His own management and assessment will now revert to a rugby board who actually know what they are doing, which should have been the case all along but changed for the worse some 20 years ago and has never been put right until now. The future is bright.

Let us pay tribute to Ireland whose successive honours while integrating new talent should not be underestimated. They will be a force in world rugby for years to come and this is where England’s aspirations must lie after two decades in the doldrums.

Lastly, the quality of player being brought through by Italy is striking, the clarity of their back play and pace of their forward support are now up with the best. They should have won 4 out of 5 and finished runners up. Complimenti agli Azzurri!

The Six Nations was turgid for the first couple of weeks and seemed to forget that in the year following a World Cup all anyone wants to see is excitement and ambition and a host of new players to step onto the stage. Eventually that came about in the form of some sumptuous Italian displays, an England revival and smatterings of the France that we know lurks not far beneath the surface. We underestimate the mourning of their early departure in their home World Cup – I do not know why given our experiences in 2015.

Meantime, Ireland remain the team to beat and the contest that everyone targets.