"We haven't mentioned it" – Henry Slade: England will not address 2023 Six Nations France hammering ahead of Saturday
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The 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations continues to roll on at a meteoric pace, with England set for their first home match of the tournament this Saturday. After succumbing to a five point defeat against Ireland in Dublin, Steve Borthwick’s men host France at the Allianz Stadium, for the first time since a very infamous fixture from two years ago.
When Fabien Galthie led his France team to Twickenham back in the 2023 Six Nations, his side hit their revered top gear and handed England their heaviest home defeat in their 152 year history. Les Bleus racked up a staggering 53-10 battering of Borthwick’s team, in what was only the England head coach’s fourth match in charge, since taking over from Eddie Jones at the tail end of 2022.
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Fullback Thomas Ramos ignited France’s scoring before 60 seconds had elapsed, as Thibaud Flament, Charles Ollivon and Damien Penaud all grabbed braces at the home of English rugby. Ramos nailed six out of seven conversions and added two further penalties through the posts, as Galthie’s side built the highest ever away score at the stadium known as ‘HQ’. England’s consolatory try came from Freddie Steward, and Marcus Smith’s kicks did little to dent the score-line come the final whistle.
Despite the magnitude of the result from when France last came to TW2, England centre Henry Slade expressed how the side has not discussed the match ahead of Saturday’s Test. Slade echoed the thoughts of his head coach Steve Borthwick, in how it is a very different England team this time around, with the expectation of a far better outcome set for the second round of the 2025 Six Nations.
“We haven’t mentioned it, actually. It’s a very different squad, and it’s a very different team to who played that weekend. There’s not many boys, that played that game, I don’t think, well, not loads anyway. But yeah, we haven’t. That’s the first time I’ve thought about it actually, as you said it, but we’re just focused on next game all the time. I think if you dwell on things that have happened on the past, you miss what’s right in front of you. Or if you think too far ahead, you miss what’s right in front of you.
“So I think that the best thing we can do is be focused on day to day, just getting what we can out of each session, getting better and better all the time. And I look forward to a big challenge on the weekend, because France, come to Twickenham like I mentioned, it is a huge game. And if we’re worrying about what happened two years ago, eyes are going to be off the ball. So we’re all focused on what’s going to come in this one.”
The France back-line reads as a cherry picked crop of Toulouse and Bordeaux’s finest, with Slade all the more experienced in facing the Top 14 talents following recent Champions Cup meetings. Exeter Chiefs suffered heavy defeats to both Stade Toulousain (64-21) and Bordeaux-Begles (69-17) earlier this season, with Slade explaining what he learned from a defensive standpoint, in the tough encounters with the French league titans.
“Obviously, they've got some very talented and quick players, especially in the outside channels. We have to be aware of them trying to get people one-on-ones. They’re dangerous guys. So if they get space in the outside channels up against one defender, then it’s tough to stop him.
“We’re got to be making sure we’re working for each other and running for each other really hard so that we don’t get left one on one. We've got to make sure that in those situations we’re numbers up and we’re in the ascendancy because that’s part of what their game is, to get the ball in their dangerous guys' hands and do some magic. So we’ve got to try and nullify that by working really hard for each other off the ball and giving ourselves the best chance to stop them.”
The French midfield axis of Yoram Moefana and Pierre-Louis Barassi ran rampant on Wales in round one, as Les Bleus set the tone for their tournament with a shut-out 43-0 win. Even with regular centre Gael Fickou out for the tournament with an injury, France have immense squad depth in the midfield, and unleashed 21-year-old Section Paloise centre Emillien Gailleton for a try scoring cameo against Warren Gatland’s side.
The ‘jouer’ flair of the French back-line offers a different obstacle for England to prepare for, compared to the powerful line breakers of Ireland’s Bundee Aki and Garry Riungrose. Slade is well-versed in alternating his approach dependent of his opposite men, and gave an insight into how the squad are eyeing up this weekend’s attacking line.
“Really, you want to have absolute clarity in what you’re doing and get everyone on board with what we’re trying to do, and how we’re trying to do it. You also need to have an understanding of their strengths, and like you say, they are quite different to what Ireland’s strengths are.
“We’ve met, we’ve gone through that in meetings, and we’ve all got a clear plan of what we want to try and do, to try and stop that. Obviously stopping it is different kettle of fish to talking about it, but we definitely have addressed it and well, both sides of it, like I said, are very important.”
“You have got to move on quickly. Ireland away, France at home – first two games, two games as big as they come. We are obviously disappointed with the result at the weekend but there are plenty of positives and it is exciting week. You can't be resting on things that have happened we have got a big challenge at Twickenham and all eyes are on that, and it is exciting.”
Looking back on the past weekend, and all it took was a 10 minute lapse in intensity for England to find themselves chasing the game in Dublin. Steve Borthwick’s men started the game strong, with Cadan Murley’s ninth minute try on debut setting the tone for England to win the first half 10-5. However, three unanswered second half tries from Bundee Aki, Jamison Gibson-Park and Dan Sheehan took the match out of sight for England, despite two late tries as Tommy Freeman and Tom Curry crossed over.
"You have got to always take the positives out of a performance.” Slade said. “We did some things really well, the first half was brilliant, some of attack was really good. Defensively it was our first game since adapting what we were doing before so we have got to take some positives, we took a real step forward and did some great stuff. It is just in the second half, Ireland played really well, made it tough for us to get out of our half and get any sort of foothold in the game. Our discipline didn't enable us to do that as well.
"We are disappointed with the discipline, the penalty count did not help our ability to get out of our half and dictate what we wanted to do to Ireland. It felt for part of that second half, we were trapped in our territory, couldn't really get out and they did that well.”
“You’re always trying to avoid one-on-ones. This week is a big one for that because they have so many dangerous runners. We did probably end up with a few too many last weekend but I wouldn’t have said that that’s a consistent trait for those lads, to slip off tackles like that. You see them week in, week out making those tackles so I have every confidence that it was a one-off. We want to work as hard as we can for each other; back each other up.”
Looking ahead to the incoming match with France, and Slade cast his view across an area of great contention in the England back-line. Fin Smith is rumoured to be making his first Test start at fly half, with Marcus Smith moving to fullback, and Freddie Steward taking over on the wing for the injured Cadan Murley. Slade picked out the Northampton man’s strengths, and how he offers a different option at 10 than compared to Marcus Smith.
“He (Fin Smith) sees space really well. There's always going to be space on the field somewhere; you can't defend everything. I feel like he sees it really well. Obviously he's a slightly different 10 to Marcus. Marcus has got that X factor in terms of beating a man one on one and all that stuff but I think Fin is very measured. He speaks very well and, as I said, finds space very well. That's a big part of a no 10's role…moving the team around to where they need to be on the pitch. I think he's been really good at that.
“When people run at them they're still decent defenders. I've seen a few highlights clips of Fin hitting some big lads so hopefully he can do that at the weekend if he's involved.”
Slade then explained the benefits of having both Smith’s out on the pitch, with both Fin and Marcus named in the ‘leaked’ England squad to play France this weekend. However for the Exeter man, he does not expect to alter his own game dependent on whom he stands outside at second receiver.
“It does give you an extra ball player. When you talk about moving the ball to space, it’s always better to have three people trying to do that than two. I feel like whoever plays at 10 or 15 there's different strengths to each person. I don’t think I play too differently. I’m sure my mindset is always 'where's the space? How do I get it there?'
“When Marcus is there, he’s probably very similar, but my game doesn't really change too much. It probably just helps have an extra guy with the eyes, getting the ball there.”
The Harlequin has been getting to grips with juggling both the 10 and 15 England shirts, since Smith was first unleashed at fullback in the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Slade is one such player who is also used to playing across two positions, as the Chiefs man frequents the 10 spot for the Devon club, yet is seen as an outright centre in the eyes of the England coaches.
“I think so [it comes with experience]. I feel very comfortable switching between the two. I feel more comfortable going from 10 back to centre only because I have played so much centre for the last however many years. It was a bit of a change going from centre to 10 earlier this season but I feel like I’m used to it now. Either way, I feel comfortable and I’m sure Marcus does, too. Maybe some people [have had to work on it].”
Pivoting back to Fin Smith, and Slade has been impressed by the patience shown by the young halfback. With all six of his caps coming off the bench since his debut against Italy in the 2024 Six Nations, Smith has been biding his time and smashing out the training reps at the Girona and Bagshot training camps. Slade thought back to when he was first breaking into the England squad in 2015, and the patient resilience that a young player needs when making their mark on the Test match stage.
“I think it is the patience that's key really. He's been in the couch for a little while but he he has been capped obviously and got a few caps off the bench. But I think it can’t be frustrating early in your career, but the longer you’re in the camp, the longer you get comfortable with the environment, the more confident you get.
“I think now, at the minute, the way he speaks in meetings or speaks around the place, where he is on the pitch, I think he feels really confident. I think we’re very lucky we’ve got three 10s who are brilliant communicators and very confident what they’re they’re trying to do for the team.
“Like I said, it can be tough being a younger guy coming up through. But I think the ones that do the best are the ones that really embrace it and have the confidence to speak up and show what gets them selected in the first place.”
Should Fin Smith gain the valuable first England start this weekend, it would another layer of experience to Steve Borthwick’s squad, which has been a key discussion area in the early goings of the Six Nations. Borthwick expressed how his side’s overall cap count dwindled in comparison to the Ireland squad, with Slade excited at the prospect of the young players building to their own respective resumes.
“I think the squad about the minute, obviously it has some inexperienced players, but they’re very talented and very, very athletic and very good players. But I think we’ve also got some more experienced guys who have been there and done it and are able to sort of impart some wisdom and sort of experience from having been in situations that maybe the younger guys haven’t. I think, obviously, it helps to have more caps. But you get caps by playing.
“The boys who have, who have got 80, 90, caps were on five or 10 caps at one point. You learn, you definitely learn things along the way. But I think you’re helped by everyone as a collective to sort of help and pull each other through. The younger lads, like I said, we’ve got some unbelievably talented younger boys, it’s just about us trying to up-speed them as quick as possible, really.
“But I definitely don’t feel like the younger guys are a hindrance at all. I feel like they’re bring brilliant energy, very talented, willing to learn. The appetite for learning is brilliant, as is the whole squad to be honest, so it’s a really enjoyable place to be training and to be playing.”
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