Thompson rues England slump

By Matt Majendie
BBC Sport in Paris

Report: France 24-21 England Dallaglio on the defensive

England hooker Steve Thompson believes Sir Clive Woodward's side only lived up to their world champions' tag for a solitary hour during the Six Nations.

Defeats to Ireland and France saw them finish a surprise third in the championship table.

And Thompson said: "We really only played an hour's worth of world-class rugby in this Six Nations.

"That was in the last 20 minutes against Wales and the second half against France. It just wasn't enough."

England came within a whisker of pulling off a stunning win over the French on Saturday, nearly overturning a 21-3 deficit in the second half.

"I'm not sure if that doesn't actually make it worse," said Thompson.

"We were so nearly there - that was the hardest thing of all. That full-time whistle came two minutes too soon."

I think we've really come forward since the World Cup Steve Thompson

The Northampton number two, who like many of England's World Cup winners produced mixed displays in the Six Nations, blamed the slip-ups on recent changes.

"We're going through a transitional period and new players have got to be given time to come through," he said.

"We've had some bad performances but are still coming extremely close to winning games in the process, which shows we're not that far off the mark.

"We were almost there."

Critics have accused England of taking backward strides since the World Cup, while their northern hemisphere rivals have closed the gap.

But Thompson said: "I think we've really come forward since the World Cup.

"But we're playing teams with nothing to lose against the world champions.

"We've admittedly make a lot of mistakes during that but it's how we build on it that counts."