By Mark Orlovac
BBC Sport at Twickenham |
England fans making their way home from Twickenham on a freezing cold Sunday night only had one question on their lips: 'How on earth did we lose?'
England outscored a limited France side two tries to nil and dominated possession and territory, but still slumped to their third straight Six Nations defeat.
 |  We are both very annoyed with how we kicked from the floor |
There was one crucial difference in the teams, however, that was as chilling as the biting wind that blew into Twickenham.
The hosts did not have their kicking boots on. France did.
England's Charlie Hodgson and Olly Barkley were the men charged with the goal-kicking duties but missed six penalties between them, with Hodgson also fluffing a late drop goal.
In the blue corner, scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili had no such problems, firing over six out of eight kicks - four in the second half - to keep France in a game they never really looked like winning.
But England kicking coach Dave Alred was quick to defend both Hodgson and Barkley, saying: "Both kickers worked very hard this week.
"Charlie couldn't have worked any harder. He missed one which was on the edge of the 'red zone,' struck two conversions right in front of the posts well, and hit another long one well.
"Olly had three shots from way out, I thought pretty speculative. When things go wrong, it's sometimes hard to pull it around."
The problem for Hodgson and Barkley is that they will always have the shadow of Jonny Wilkinson hanging over them.
| I love kicking, not just against England |
With his World Cup-winning drop goal still fresh in the mind, any failure by England's kickers will be harshly judged.
Barkley for instance, should be remembering this game as the match in which he claimed his first England try but instead it is those missed kicks which will stay in the memory.
"We are both very annoyed with how we kicked from the floor," he said.
"It was my call to go for the two long penalties. Charlie felt that it was more within my reach than his and I took it on.
"Had they gone over we would have had that comfort zone.
"But it is not going to affect my confidence at all. It is just one of those things."
Hodgson's kicking form for England has been erratic of late. In the autumn series, he missed five kicks against Canada and two against Australia, but landed eight from eight against South Africa.
But Barkley backed Hodgson to not let the misses affect him when England travel to Dublin in a fortnight.
"It goes without saying that Charlie is upset, as am I," added Barkley.
"Charlie and I will share those misses together. We work very well together in training and we spend a lot of time off the pitch together, so anything he feels I usually feel as well.
"He is not the kind of guy that will dwell on things; you can see that from the other games when he's missed."
Yachvili was clearly not affected by his omission from the France side against Scotland, destroying England for the second year in a row.
Last year in Paris he notched 19 points, 14 with the boot, as France beat England to clinch the Grand Slam.
"I love kicking, not just against England," he said.
"I was confident but it was set up by good work from the team. After they did their job I kicked quite well."
England fans would happily settle for that right now.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
