Glorious nights lead to thumping hangovers, but few who saw England defeat France in the World Cup semi-final in Paris could have imagined Brian Ashton and co's would be so debilitating.

Memories of that unlikely triumph at the Stade de France last October, the high point of England's dizzying World Cup campaign, are fading fast, leaving sober fans to chew on a gristly cut of reality.

The reality being that all is not rosy with English rugby, as England's progress to the final of the World Cup allowed fans to pretend, and that Ashton is struggling to impart his vision, whatever that may be, to the players beneath him.

Against Wales at Twickenham, England melted like a blob of ice cream in the face of the visitors' fiery comeback, and against Italy in Rome, they looked witless and confused.

Indeed, it could be argued that England have more to lose against France on Saturday night than they did when the two sides last met four months ago.

Then, players and fans alike were just happy to be there having progressed further in the World Cup than almost anyone thought possible.

But another disjointed display against Marc Lièvremont's rejuvenated France and defeat by a wide margin would heighten the suspicion that Ashton might not be the right man for the job after all and that the right man, Shaun Edwards, is busy breathing new life into Wales.

France, meanwhile, are looking like France once again: free-flowing, instinctive and no longer the shackled beasts of Bernard Laporte's reign.

While England apparently still have a mighty head on them following their World Cup exploits, the youthful Lièvremont has wafted the smelling salts and slapped the French out of their post-World Cup fug.

It is rather symbolic that while Ashton chose to bin 22-year-old Mathew Tait, one of the few English backs capable of breaking the game-line during the World Cup, Lièvremont has thrown in 19-year-old scrum-half Morgan Parra and 21-year-old fly-half François Trinh-Duc.

Their first-half performance against Ireland two weekends ago was of a quality far and away above anything else seen so far in this year's Six Nations Championship, with the razor sharp back three of Cédric Heymans, Vincent Clerc and Aurélian Rougerie running riot.

England's three-quarters have looked like heavily-shod packhorses in comparison and Ashton's game-plan will no doubt be a simple one: hope to give France a shellacking up front and see if Jonny Wilkinson can boot his team to victory.

A retrograde solution - and for the purists a rather dispiriting one. But all thoughts of team development and experimentation should come second to hard-nosed pragmatism in Paris on Saturday.

Last October, Tom and I left the Stade de France following England's defeat of France contemplating a World Cup final against South Africa.

This time we could walk into a chilly Paris night contemplating a wooden spoon.

We travelled to Paris with springs in our step and nothing to lose. But buoyancy and optimism have given way to apprehension and negativity.

Another performance like that against Italy a fortnight ago and that spine-tingling night last October, when England left the hosts' World Cup hopes in ruins, will seem little more than a chimera.

Such is the capricious nature of sport, and, although Brian Ashton might disagree, it is this capriciousness that makes sport so great and which keeps us coming back for more.

Do you share my pessimism? Or do you think England's slump is temporary, that France's rise is illusory and that England can cause an upset at the Stade de France?

And more importantly, where will you all be boozing ahead of and after the match?

Tom and I will be back in Paris on Friday to gauge the mood of both sets of fans ahead of the match and will be providing updates throughout the weekend. So get involved – it's sure to be a crackerjack few days.