Moore still stirred by memories of France

Former England hooker steps into breach once more with advice and stern warning for Clive Woodward's men

Brian Moore retired from international rugby in 1995, yet there remains no more powerful embodiment of the rivalry between England and France. Nobody ever got up le nez of the French quite like the pit bull from Halifax, and above his right eye he still has a scar to show for the animosity, courtesy of the 18-stone Daniel Dubrocca, who, in Moore's first game in Paris, made it his mission to see whether the England hooker's head shared the same properties as a trampoline.

"But I bear him no ill will," says Moore. "If I'd found him later in that game I would have done, but I never found him."

We are sitting at a handsome conference table in an office overlooking Southampton Row, in central London, where Moore works as a solicitor. From the neck down he looks like any other solicitor; dark suit, bright tie, regulation cuffs, polished shoes. But a pair of magnificent cauliflower ears rather distort the image, not to mention the scar. He looks as though he has cracked some tough cases in his time, probably with his teeth.

I ask l'avocat –- if he'll forgive me for using the French, which he probably won't – what he advocates for England against France at Twickenham? "It's a much-hyped match and it usually lives up to its billing," he says. "I'm not entirely certain why Clive Woodward is playing [Charlie] Hodgson in the centre. I'd hoped he might play against Italy, maybe, where he might have time and room. It's a bold gamble, although I'm not sure what the positives are.

"On the other hand, that's probably not where the match will be decided. It's more about who gets the game plan right, because in Paris last year England got it very badly wrong. Against the French you've got to have an intelligent mix, driving from the line-outs, and when the opportunity presents itself then moving the ball wide. You have to mix your points of attack. It's just as predictable to move the ball wide consistently, as it is not to do so."

Moore's intelligent thinking about rugby, and his unusual eloquence even for a game in which there are many eloquent former players, is put to good use by BBC Television, for whom he will again be providing analysis this afternoon. With me, his eloquence falters only when talking about the tight-head prop, Julian White, who seems to have got over his knee problems.

"I'm not sure how fit he is. It's an almost Lazar... Lazar... it's a remarkable bloody recovery."

Moore's ideal England back row, he adds, would have Lawrence Dallaglio at No 8, with Richard Hill as blind-side flanker and Lewis Moody, or perhaps Neil Back, on the open side. 'That's the best balanced back row, at least when Lawrence is playing at the height of his, actually extraordinary powers.'

He uses the word "extraordinary", too, when talking about Jason Robinson, and is in no doubt that, although Woodward is playing Robinson at full-back against France, the former rugby league player is more effectively deployed on the wing.

"Sides have worked out that they don't rush up to Jason Robinson when they kick to him. They make sure there is a proper line across the field, that he is effectively corralled, with three or four tacklers around him. That way his talents are not neutralised but they are circumscribed, but when he's on the wing they can't do that. He's more destructive there."

How relevant, I ask, is the Six Nations to England's prospects in the World Cup? "Very, I think. It will be a big psychological boost if they can get through games like France at home and Ireland away, carrying all before them. The prospect of England losing on Saturday is actually quite horrendous, because even though they will probably go on and beat everyone else, the press will go for them and the question will reassert itself: can they cope with the really big occasion?

"On the last four occasions when they have not won the Grand Slam, they have been beaten by a different team, which suggests it's not a particular team they have trouble with, it's the occasion. Otherwise I see no reason why they shouldn't win the World Cup. In 1991 we had a team that not only might have won the World Cup but probably should have, whereas in all the other World Cups England have been short in certain areas. That's not the case this time round. I have no doubt about their playing ability, only about their winning ability. Part of that doubt will be removed if they go through the Six Nations unbeaten."

Which brings us back to the French, the biggest threat to that happy prospect, and in particular the powerful French pack. Moore, even though transplanted from the front row to Southampton Row, remains in a better position than most of us to advise how the battle of the forwards might be won.

"If you consistently put them under pressure in scrum, you will have the physical edge at the end of game, in the last 20 minutes. It might take that long. But against the French it's particularly difficult to gain that advantage. Other teams, like New Zealand and Australia, came to the conclusion that the scrum is only a way of restarting the game. The French have never indulged in that. They were the first to have flankers and No 8s bind not around the shoulders or the waist, but through the legs and on to the shorts. That squares the shoulders up and gets everything in line.

"They were the first really, with the Argentinians, to have what they call the spine in line, so that everyone is driving absolutely straight, which increases the poundage.

"And the psychological impact of being in a scrum suddenly shunted backwards is huge. It creates friction. It doesn't matter why it's happened, forwards don't like it. It causes arguments, 'you're not binding, you're not pushing'. And when there's discord in the pack, it gives the opposing pack an edge and that runs through the whole team. It's a big practical and psychological fillip for the backs too.

"So there has to be absolute concentration, all the time, because if you let that slip it's not likely that the other lot will be having a rest.

"People don't understand the physical dynamics of scrummaging. It seems to be an amorphous mass of large people, but there's a huge physical effort going on.

"A lot of nonsense is talked about the mystique of the front row, but it is true that it's a battle not only unique to this game, but unique within the game. Every time you go down, there's a physical confrontation.

"In an odd way it's one of the blessings. Full-backs or wingers might not have a battle with their opposite number, but in the front row you know you will. If you're a competitor and like that sort of thing, you're guaranteed it."

Moore, whose England career spanned eight years and 64 internationals, was perhaps the ultimate competitor, and never enjoyed the ferocity of competition more than against the French. He played against them 10 times, on all but two occasions emerging triumphant.

"They were great games," he recalls. "You knew it would be an absolute war up front, and there was always a great atmosphere. Sometimes it was unpleasant, sometimes joyous, but there was always an edge, especially at the old Parc des Princes. And I do consider the historic rivalry between England and France to be a factor in that."

He was, he says, hugely stirred on the short coach journey from the Petersham Hotel to Twickenham in 1991, when a speech from Kenneth Branagh's version of Henry V was played over the loudspeaker.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead! In peace there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility:

But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage; Then lend the eye a terrible aspect.

A tad over the top for a pep talk before an encounter in a sports arena, you might think, but Moore thinks not. Indeed, as Henry, or rather Ken, delivered those words, he does not mind admitting that a tear or two plopped onto his ruddy cheeks. "It was one of [Will] Carling's ideas, and it maybe went over some people's heads, but I thought it was fantastically moving. It captured a whole mood, and looking back I can remember where I was sitting in the coach, I can remember everything. You know how certain songs and things help you recreate a memory that is not just factual, it actually evokes tastes and smells, it's like that.'

His memories of journeys to Parc des Princes are almost as vivid.

"In England when we had outriders, it just meant we were two cars further back in the traffic. In France we used to leave Versailles, and set off down the autoroute or whatever, at about 80 kilometres an hour, and we didn't stop that pace until we got to the ground. The [French riot police] CRS, with an utter disregard for French citizens' liberty, used to kick cars and bang on the roofs with batons if they didn't get out of the way." A huge chuckle. "Normally the forwards would sit at the back of the coach, but on those occasions we'd be at the front. It was much more exciting."

And, of course, the CRS tactics would continue, more or less, on the field of play. Moore was left in considerable pain when Dubrocca stamped on him back in 1987.

"But I tried to pretend it didn't hurt. When I watch soccer, and see them rolling round clutching their faces when they've been hit on the knee, it makes me want to cry. I just can't imagine the psychology. If someone gives you his best shot, and you look up at him and smile, then he thinks: 'Jesus Christ, I've just hit this bloke as hard as I can and he just smiled at me, what the hell do I do now'?''

Of all the England v France fixtures he played in, the most remarkable, he adds, was the 1991 World Cup quarter-final (France 10 England 19).

"The intensity of that game was not matched in any other. That cocktail of circumstances made it a quite unique atmosphere. Anybody who was there – and from talking to people there must have been about 200,000 of them – says that it was a match like no other. And I would always rather play in a game like that than another game when we were playing well and running the ball around, and well on top. The point about competition is surely to be intense."

He won't be disappointed this afternoon, I fancy.

Six Nations Grandstand starts on BBC2 today at 1pm, and on BBC1 at 2.20pm

Brian Moore the life and times

Born: January 1962, Birmingham.

1987: Makes England debut as Hooker against Scotland in April. Becomes major force in the England pack, earning the nickname "Pitbull".

1989: Makes Lions debut while on tour in Australia. Pivotal role in 2-1 series win causing his opposite number, Tom Lawton, to quit the game soon after.

1990: Leaves Nottingham to join Harlequins.

1991: Member of England's Grand Slam-winning side. Helps England to World Cup final, only to lose 12-6 to Australia. Memorable for his part in bruising quarter-final against France. Ends the year on a high by becoming Rugby World's Player of the Year.

1992: Remains an integral part of the pack as England claim another Grand Slam. Helps Harlequins to Pilkington Cup final, losing to Bath.

1993: Embarks on his last Lions tour of New Zealand. Wins sixth and final cap.

1995: Continues to drive on English pack as they win Grand Slam, Triple Crown and Calcutta Cup with victory over Scotland in the final game. Announces international retirement after defeat by France in World Cup third/fourth play-off. Becomes England's most capped forward (now surpassed by Jason Leonard) with 64 caps. Announces retirement from club rugby the day before he helps Harlequins beat Gloucester to avoid relegation from First Division.

1996: Returns to club rugby with Richmond before retiring at the end of the season to become a TV pundit. Later turns his attentions to his career as a solicitor. Also director of a mobile phone business and a manicurist, just in case you thought he was really hard.

He says: "I thought I was a bit of a softie on the pitch."

They say: "...the kind you get from a DIY shop and hammer in yourself." Paul Rendall, former team-mate, on the state of Moore's teeth.