Brute force: Manu Tuilagi
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England sidestepped their latest challenge on their way to a Grand Slam with a punishing 23-13 victory over France at Twickenham.
France were transformed from the sluggish side that were abysmal against Wales a fortnight ago - aggressive at the breakdown and benefiting from moving Wesley Fofana back into the centre after his ill-fated stint on the wing.
England were more clinical in the second-half and gained the lead thanks to a fortuitous try from Tuilagi, who enjoyed an excellent afternoon against his French counterpart Mathieu Bastareaud.
A brutally physical clash worth of its affectionate title, saw frequent crunching tackles whilst the scrum was a contest initially dominated by France, before England gained parity as the match progressed.
It was far from the greatest performance under Stuart Lancaster, but a crucial result that leaves England with Italy and Wales in their path on the way to a first Grand Slam since 2003.
Farrell opened the scoring for England after just two minutes following an infringement from Thierry Dusautoir at the breakdown.
France were unable to exploit a three-man overlap on the outside when Bastareaud knocked on, but with advantage being played Morgan Parra opened his account with a penalty from 39 metres out.
The visitors grabbed the initiative in the scrum to force England into conceding two consecutive penalties, with France benefiting from a smoother surface than the pot-holed Stade de France from a fortnight ago against Wales.
Both sides struggled to convert large periods of possession in attack - conceding penalties when faced by a physical backlash from the opposition at the breakdown.
An attacking line-out created the base for a promising English attack after Manu Tuilagi burst through the midfield, only for Farrell's chip across for Chris Ashton to go too deep. Farrell converted England's penalty advantage however to make the score 6-3 after 27 minutes.
Fofana then broke through several English tackles down the left flank to score the game's opening try, Ashton's tap tackle unable to bring the Clermont centre down as he crossed in the left-hand corner, with Parra converting.
Farrell hit back with a penalty to cut the deficit to one point with five minutes left before half-time, before Parra attempted to respond with a penalty of his own at the end of the half from long-range which fell wide to the left.
France showed no let-up in the scrum at the beginning of the second half, forcing the penalty, but Parra was unable to convert.
A punishing maul from England then handed Farrell the chance to regain the lead, with the Saracen again successful to move England 12-10 ahead.
England then furthered their lead thanks to Tuilagi, the Leicester centre snatching up a loose ball at the back of the French ruck to canter into the corner.
France struck back with a penalty immediately from the restart, substitute Frederic Michalak coming on to convert and leave the score at 17-13. More strict officiating at the breakdown from referee Craig Joubert handed England an opportunity to add more points, Farrell lining up a 48 metre attempt which fell low to the left.
A burst up the left from Picamoles had England scrambling, before Michalak failed to take a low pass having begun the passage of play with a perfect chip over the top of the English defence.
Another brilliant surge from Tuilagi left Bastareaud flat on his back in midfield, setting up a grubber kick for Toby Flood behind the French defence which was well fielded by Vincent Clerc.
England though were in the ascendency at the breakdown, with Michalak penalised to allow Toby Flood the easiest of opportunities to stretch the home side's lead. He made no mistake - sending England into a 20-13 lead with seven minutes remaining.
Another error at the breakdown handed Flood a further three points to give England a solid cushion heading into the closing minutes.
The home side's defence held despite a late French surge, confirming their victory on a bitterly cold night at Twickenham and condemning France to one of their worst starts to a Six Nations ever.
Man of the Match: Despite the presence of Tuilagi, Tom Wood was outstanding for England from the base of the scrum.
Moment of the Match: With a lucky break needed, Manu Tuilagi could scarcely believe his luck as he picked up a loose ball and scored England's first try.
Villain of the Match: Not the greatest of substitute appearances for Frederic Michalak, whose little errors gave up key points in the second half.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Tuilagi
Pens: Farrell 4, Flood 2
Yellow Card: Cole
For France:
Tries: Fofana
Cons: Parra
Pens: Parra, Michalak
The teams:
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Tom Wood, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Thomas Waldrom, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.
France: 15 Yoann Huget, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Benjamin Fall, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Christophe Samson, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Luc Ducalcon, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Antonie Claassen, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Frederic Michalak, 23 Florian Fritz.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: John Lacey (Ireland), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
by Ben Coles
@bencoles_
Comments
butl says...
tellitlikeitis - you seem to have popped up here to whinge about the England game again! I'm still waiting for your contribution on the Eng/Ireland game that you stayed very silent about!
You are a internet troll - get a hobby!
Posted 12:26 24th February 2013
jontheref says...
kybone,
Farrell was blocking Parra, looked, and swung the elbow into his throat.
If going to ground gets the attention of the TJ orref, then good on him.
Farrell fouled.
he also should have been penalised in the first couple of minutes, ball had gone, why was he pratting about pushing the full back, bawling in his face?
Joubert had the chance to set his stall out, that he would not tolerate crap, and he was wishy washy.
There may have been bad decisions against England, but as I said, England were lucky to have come up on the credit side from a poor set of officials.
The Vunipola incident, showed that the team of 3, could not communicate, a farce at this level.
Joubert appeared to have different criteria for penalising each team, the Fritz PK was totally wrong, as he was looking at Fritz all the time, yet did not register he had released, got up, gone back in, looked at him when Ashton did not release.
he could not have done any more to win the PK.
Anyway, builds England up for the rest of the 6N.
Posted 12:21 24th February 2013
kybone says...
choky- This 'English site' has contained many anti-english subjects in the past so lets not get into the 'PR are biased in favour of England' rubbish. Also, for anyone else who is struggling with the word conquer- it simply means to defeat an opponent in battle and doesn't specify that it has to be an easy victory by a massive margin. So for anyone who thinks that the word conquer should not be used to describe yesterday, it could actually be used to describe a victory by 1 point if you wanted to.
Posted 12:17 24th February 2013
pierredelot1 says...
After five minutes you could see this game was going to be fun. This was a French side with the right players in the right positions and they deserved their lead at half time. The try from Fofana was sheer class, he made them miss the tackles and his pace and strength did the rest. Its so good to see a centre break the line with skill not just bulk. Having said that Lancaster picked the right guys for the job at 12/13. But gradually England grafted away and got closer and then P StA thought it was Xmas and brought on his second string. From that point on they went backwards. Sure Parras kicking wasn't great but he should still be there for his overall game management, the French need to find another kicker, its certainly not Freddy who when the chips were down was shown up again. You can't play nine all year and suddenly switch to ten, especially when you were never a great ten in the first place. Trinh Duc must have been p/o. Picamoles had a great game as did all the French back row, but they had to make up for the lack of athleticism in their front five,which is where England began to wear them down. Clerc didn't put a foot wrong but spent the afternoon catching high balls, not a single pass, so hardly his game not Fall for that matter. Why is szarzewsky still sitting on the bench as the only thing going for him is his hairdresser, Keyser a far better player. England Wales could be fun i just hope that the games are as fully committed as this one. This England team are beginning to show that they can right their wrongs and play themselves back into a game, things are looking up.It was an all round pack effort that did it combined with an immense work rate from Robshaw and Wood. I thought Care actually made things go better than Youngs, but hard to compare as the French were going backwards all over the park. But one swallow doesn't make a summer.
Posted 12:13 24th February 2013
J_Hdk says...
@Mayhem you took the words out of my mouth. I could only add that michalak continues to demonstrate why he should not be in the matchday. Squad
Posted 11:48 24th February 2013
new_j4a says...
@les_bleus, I'd be interested to know whether you have had any ref'fing courses. If so, what level. If not, then why not consider it? I can share URLs for reffing sites where refs are very self critical. But I'd like to know the answer to the question above first.
Posted 11:42 24th February 2013
Nastyned says...
I was there and it was a gripping game to watch with the result only settled by England's last penalty. The criticism of Joubert on this website has now beyond paranoid, bashing the ref only hides the mistakes of your own team. I thought Joubert whistle happy with both sides being affected. Two of SL's changes, Lawes and Hartley didn't work but he used the bench well unlike PSA. Twickenham actually cheered when Michalak came on as T-D was playing so well! Not sure where the criticism of Ashton's tackling is coming from, the Fofana try was Lawes and Youngs fault, Ashton was covering the winger and did well to get back for the tap tackle.
Posted 11:40 24th February 2013
Gleek says...
@buti - Farrell is always mouthing off, regardless of the opposition. It is a thoroughly detestable side to his character. He was the same against Munster in the H-Cup. I remember Fuimaono-Sapolo (some what ironically) tweeting about Farrell's big mouth last year.
Posted 11:33 24th February 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Can't decide on this one. If that was a potential magic French game England have done well to survive with a victory. If it was an improving French side not yet where it is going to be then England are not looking like world beaters. A great examination of the England 15. We need Morgan and Croft back to join Wood and Robs' and hugely need Corbi. Morgans power behind the engineroom was noticably absent in the scrum. Can't see why Goode gets so much praise at 15. That can not be sorted by bench subs. Selection for Italy it's time now to bring in Wade and Foden to join Brown. And try 36 + Tuilagi. Well done France, away from home you looked the better team. England did well to keep scrapping and with a great bench gave luck a chance to work in their favor.
Posted 11:22 24th February 2013
kybone says...
Can i remind people to take this win in context. Yes France had lost their last two games before yesterday, but they were brilliant in November, and were the pre tournement favs. For anyone who thinks that yesterday proves that England aren't any good, we beat a very good team yesterday. No-one can deny that france would probably have been two from two going into yesterday if they had played like that in the first two games. I suppose its too much to expect people that seem to have an inbuilt hatred of anything English to give any credit at all, but then again we don't need to be vindicated by the England hating morons on here to feel good about our team.
Posted 10:53 24th February 2013
les_bleus says...
@Axax...
I am the first ctitique of PSA (on other sites) and he is to blame here too. But I am tired of investing a lot of time to see a ref decide the outcome of a game. These decisions are simply killing the game. I am not using this as a pretext like you say, but sweeping this fact under the carpet like all journalists here and on French sites have done does not allow for this sport to be credible. I am not sure what the outcome would have been with a fair ref, and France would probably have lost too (as I expected them to do nayhow), but now we will never know...is it fair for the people who invest time watching (and being passionate about) the game, to the people who pay lots of money to watch a game in the stadium, to have a ref decide the outcome of the game? Many posters from England have made good comments about the referreing here, in a fair way and all credit to them.
Joubert and his inept assistants decided England would win and we will not know which team, on the day, was the better one. I do not mind so much the France loss, I do mind about my sport going down the drain because of these repetitive incompent referreing acts (or non-acts). we have been both on the winning and losing side of them, but these trends in a ref deciding the outcome of a game have become the norm in our sport.
Posted 10:36 24th February 2013
Axax says...
@astrospange
100% agree, I did not like OF and CA behavior on the pitch. Arrogant and not fair play. I am not too surprised with CA to be honest - I have never really appreciated the man anyway. But I was not expecting anything like this from OF.
Posted 10:29 24th February 2013
Axax says...
@les_bleus
This was a 50/50 game, and as always in these games, a sum of small details made the difference.
Now I think it is not a good reason for not being fairplay. Tuilagi was very lucky on his try for a number of reasons, and so what? And despite Joubert, France still had the opportunity to win, but they simply did not take their chance. End of story. So please don't take this as a pretext to hide the weaknesses of this French side too.
Posted 10:18 24th February 2013
kybone says...
jontheref-'Farrell clocks parra in the throat with hsi elbow' 'well if he had not been fouled, Parra would not have gone down.'- I've only seen one replay of the incident but there looked minimal contact to me. As for Parra's reaction, he went down like a sack of spuds. For a minute i thought i'd accidentally turned over to the Arsenal v Aston Villa game. Im not vinicating the cheap shots that we sometimes see in the game, but the last thing we want is for the football style feigning of injury to come into our game.
For eveyone going on about bias and even corruption aiding England victory yesterday, take another look at the trip on Farrell- yes not a try scoring opportunity but certainly a yellow, also the swinging arm in a ruck shortly after, not sure by whom. Yes Vunipola should have seen yellow and the try shouldn't have stood, but other than that bad decisions went both ways.
tellitlikeitis- It just destroys you everytime England win a game doesn't it! Ha. Love it.
Posted 10:12 24th February 2013
astrospange says...
OF and CA need to be reined in. What they showed would be best seen on a soccer pitch not a rugby field! Replacements brought solidity to the serum and more fire at the breakdown.
Posted 10:08 24th February 2013
Jediboy says...
Dafydd29 - I remember that name. You were commenting on an England win a few weeks ago, sticking the knife in and criticising a good England team. Yet you didn't comment on the Wales game. How strange??
And he you are again on commenting on England's win in a bitter manner. And again I notice that you havent commented on the Welsh game. (pardon me for assuming you are welsh but the name suggests you are).
That's twice you've had a dig at England and not commented on a Welsh win.
How sad your pathetic little existence must be when you'd rather make slag off England than congratulate Wales.
Posted 10:01 24th February 2013
cheeky says...
As usual some great and some controversial comments. Wonder if Planet Rugby has ever considered adding a "Like/Dislike" button. Certainly add another dimension!
Posted 09:44 24th February 2013
Mayhem says...
@les bleus,
Agreed, a very poorly titled article on the game. I think a more appropriate title would be Joubert and PSA conspire to lose! Well done England, look forward to playing you in Cardiff, but why aren't we talking about fofanas try more. surely the moment of the match, not an opportunistic try from an offside position? Fofana reminds us why we watch rugby. Joubert reminds me why sometimes I don't.
Posted 09:21 24th February 2013
Waz4before says...
It's astonishing that Lancaster has created a team with so much maturity in such a short time surrendering something like 4+ years in average age and only half of the French caps in total; I read the negative moments here and agree with many (Lawes not a back row, Ashton's place now in question) and the England coaching team have plenty of work to do, but in context just over a year on Lancaster has managed to navigate England on to a fin foundation
Italy should not be underestimated in 2 weeks but they should be beaten, Wales in Cardiff will be the next big test - so far in the big tests = failed against Australia and the Boks, passed with flying colours against the kiwis, Ireland and now France. Wales I fear will prove a step too far but this young England team but they will come through stronger.
As for all the criticism of the ref; get over yourselves guys ...
Posted 09:00 24th February 2013
choky says...
what an arrogant title frm the site ? england conquer the french ? and punishing defeat ? - very very arrogant / extremeley chauvinistic and at the end sad attitude frm this english site
that was a very close game with england lucky to get away with a try which should have been cancelled - also joubert showed once more that either he hates the french or that he is referee who will always refer in favour of the home team
difference with final nz -france is that while without joubert no doubt france would have won the final (even if not justified over whole tournament) yday probably england would still have won but with a much narrower margin (again pathetic coaching frm psa)
my comments should have been much softer but really this pathetic and arrogant title and wordings frm the site made me react strongly
Posted 08:59 24th February 2013