Faith was all the Twickenham crowd had before the Six Nations match against Ireland but a great win sent them home happy
The lay preacher was out working the Whitton Road before kick-off on Saturday afternoon, a battered megaphone in one hand and his tattered copy of the bible in the other. It has been a while since he has been seen around Twickenham, but he used to be a regular here on game days.
He must have come back to the old patch thinking that after that last half against Scotland at Murrayfield the England fans could use the good news. “We have faith, we have faith, we have faith,” he barked. “We have faith today.” The lads in the flat caps and wax jackets queueing at the pasty stall over the road did not look too convinced.