England’s Chessum takes positives from Ireland loss

Men’s Six Nations: England v France

Date: Saturday, 8 February Kick-off: 16: 45 GMT Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham

England forward Ollie Chessum says his side can take solace from their performance despite a 27-22 defeat in their Six Nations opener against Ireland on Saturday.

A seventh defeat in England’s past nine matches came despite the visitors leading by five points at the interval.

“We just didn’t stick to our guns really in that second half”, said Chessum.

“Against Ireland, in their home, they are going to do some damage.

” There are always positives to take from things. Some of the numbers from our attack are really positive – something like 11 line breaks.

England conceded 22 unanswered points in as many minutes after the interval, but late tries from Tom Curry and Tommy Freeman repaired some of damage and earned a losing bonus point for finishing within seven points of Ireland.

“People are going to laugh, but the positive is that we came away with a bonus point”, added Chessum.

England may be without wing Cadan Murley for the meeting with the 2022 Grand Slam winners on Saturday.

The 25-year-old, who scored a try on his debut in Dublin before struggling under the high ball in the second half, missed training on Monday with a foot injury which required a scan.

Tom Roebuck or Ollie Sleightholme would be the likeliest to step in if he is unavailable to face France, who opened their campaign with a 43-0 thrashing of Wales.

“That is the scary thing for those watching – they have managed to put 40 points on a team when you don’t really think they have reached second gear”, added Chessum.

“They come to live in the opposition 30 metres, they have a big pack of forwards who can go to work at the set-piece and, the obvious one, they have Antoine Dupont and whoever is going to sit in the driving seat at 10 for them this weekend.