Opening try: Manu Tuilagi
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England made it three away wins in the 2012 Six Nations when they weathered a France storm to run out 24-22 winners in Paris on Sunday.
The visitors outscored their hosts three tries to one in a thrilling encounter that went down to the wire as the French fought in vain to keep their 10-match unbeaten run at Stade de France intact.
It was a passionate performance from the English, who never relinquished their lead after centre Manu Tuilagi crossed for the opening try in the 13th minute of the match.
France's efforts in the first half had been disappointing, and the 14-9 deficit at the break was a good reflection of this, but also the superb work of the visitors.
England came out with the same passion and vigour in the second 40 as they had done in the previous half, bruising in the forwards and creative in the backs.
They were unrelenting up front, while France looked rudderless at times when they had the ball.
Their defence was outstanding and managed to hold France off on a weight of possession, until the French staged a dramatic fightback that was ultimately thwarted by their nemesis team.
England, mathematically at least, will head into the final weekend with a shot at the title - and Stuart Lancaster's bid to become the next full-time coach is building momentum. Wales, though, are now all but guaranteed the Six Nations title.
England's aggressive defence really rattled and disrupted France early on and the visitors took full advantage with two first-half tries.
Chris Ashton made a big hit on the halfway line and Owen Farrell and Lee Dickson combined to unleash Tuilagi who out-sprinted the cover to touch down in the corner.
Farrell converted with a terrific kick from the touchline and England doubled their lead five minutes later.
Number eight Ben Morgan thundered through the French defence before offloading to his namesake Foden and the England full-back scrambled to the line. Farrell added the simple conversion.
France kept in the game with three first-half penalties, Lionel Beauxis landing two and Julien Dupuy slotting one.
Farrell landed a penalty early in the second half as England survived a period with Charlie Sharples in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock on. On his return, though, Beauxis and replacement Morgan Parra cut England's lead.
However, the decisive moment came when Tom Croft was given space to hit full stride before cutting through the French line and rounding the cover.
Farrell's tough conversion was crucial as France rallied once again.
Finally France crossed the tryline to make it a tension-filled last five minutes as Wesley Fofana went over in the corner for his fourth try in as many matches after being fed by Parra, who then converted from the touchline.
The French went roaring back into the English half spearheaded by Aurélien Rougerie but replacement Francois Trinh-Duc's effort at a drop-goal fell short and England held on.
Man of the match: England's victory truly was a group effort, and a team gong is richly deserved. However, it's hard not to single out some outstanding performances - namely from Dan Cole, Geoff Parling and Owen Farrell. But in the end we thought Ben Morgan gave as good as he got with a tough and uncompromising effort at number eight for England.
Moment of the match: Take your pick! There were many, but England's third try did it for us as Tom Croft sent Aurélien Rougerie the wrong way and broke one tackle to touch down. Brilliant.
Villain of the match: There was a yellow card for Charlie Sharples, but we really don't think there was hardly any malice involved.
The scorers:
For France:
Try: Fofana
Con: Parra
Pens: Beauxis 3 , Dupuy, Parra
For England:
Tries: Tuilagi, Foden, Croft
Cons: Farell 3
Pen: Farrell 2
France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yohann Maestri, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 William Servat, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Francois Trinh-Duc, 22 Maxime Mermoz.
England : 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Charlie Sharples, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Charlie Hodgson, 22 Mike Brown.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
By Dave Morris
Comments
Saint_Andre91 says...
@APV1: Webber is not a professional flank, but he made up for it by not being bound to his prop... couldn't do more to prevent Fofana from scoring!
And MB is out of favor with PSA because he is out of shape, doesn't play for Toulon (or is on the bench) and doesn't seem to have the attitude to work on his shortcomings. Looks like he's quite happy with eating burgers and getting paid big money for that.
Posted 14:15 12th March 2012
chinstan says...
Fantastic game though wasn't far off a heart attack by the end! Great improvement by Eng and can't wait for next weekend!
@Liam2me where do you get 7 from? At best there are 5 and 3 of those have lived here for over 12 years (2 have an English parent). Maths and research clearly not you strong point, back in your box!
Posted 13:32 12th March 2012
Frank81 says...
To be fair to Webber, he tackled his man. Robshaw got to his, it's just that Sharples was dragged off his wing. You can't give Fofana any space!
@A APV1 - I think MB is still suffering from the fallout from his recent off field problems. He is a talent though. I think it's an advantage being shorter in that position, he has a lower centre of gravity and is harder to tackle, a la BOD or Tuilagi.
Posted 12:57 12th March 2012
Dingbat32 says...
Villain of the week - The French coaching team!
Poor selections at 9,10,13,15 in these players are either not in form, past it, or not the best in these positions. In particular, if you take goal kicking into account Yachvilli and Parra are the best scrum halfs playing at the moment. So why pick Dupuy?
Also, the drift style defence is not looking good. France did a rush defence on one England attack and nearly got 2 interceptions on the one move. Their pace and aggression suits rush defence and St A needs to realise this now.
If Nick Mallett is not taken by England, then St A might be out of a job unless he improves on this.
Posted 12:51 12th March 2012
APV1 says...
@ lawynd - I completely agree with regards to Webber. 8 preferably, or openside if not. But on the blindside? With Fofana hovering? Big error that almost cost us more than just a try. Fair play to Webber, he tackled well. Just the wrong man! Phew!
@ Potato_Smuggler - I'm not sure that MB would have any more impact than AR. AR's stats - 1.93m, 104kg; MB's - 1.83m, 112 kg; and MT's - 1.85m, 110 kg. So AR is actually taller than MT by a few inches and not giving away much in bulk. MB is about the same height and weight, so it really would be clash of the Titans. Why is MB so out of favour with PSA?
Posted 12:10 12th March 2012
jehosophat says...
I'm not normally given to slagging off referees, but Rolland, in any game involving France, is just a joke.
I thought yesterday was a pretty clean game from the two sides that (without looking at the stats) seem to be giving away the fewest penalties in the 6N, but Rolland spend half the match giving England threatening "final warnings" for absolutely nothing, it just was not that sort of game.
Three obvious examples: When the French front row stood up, the scrum was reset, when England did it - penalty!
Then the knock-ons - Fofana just brushed the ball with an outstretched finger tip while soaring into the air like a bird. Rolland only gave it at all after some time - probably a touch judge intervention. Sharples snatched at a ball that was much closer to him - if more streetwise he could have attempted to use both hands. Worst yellow card I've seen in ages.
Then the shove. Rougerie's hit was borderline late, he could easily have avoided the contact after the catch. Rolland came steaming into the frame with his whistle blowing almost before the English players touched him - I assumed an England penalty, but no, the tiniest bit of squaring up (and it was not as if Rougerie was not playing his part) and penalty France. Then later an England player (Foden?) was shoved hard in the back right in front of Rolland - not following any sort of late hit. Nothing. It was all a joke! Without consistency, referees can have no credibility at all.
Anyway, of the rugby that Rolland occasionally let occur, plenty for England still to do. Hartley and Ashton are quiet, and I'm not sure about the balance of second or back rows. Robshaw hasn't done much and I would prefer a scrappier more dedicated openside. Sharples was all at sea defensively and didn't take to international pace like Parling seems to have. Plenty of tweaking to go but great job Lancaster so far.
Posted 11:59 12th March 2012
Frank81 says...
@ liam2me - I suppose it depends on your definition of non-English players. If you base it on not born in England, then it's 5 (Tuilagi, Barrett, Botha, Hartley & Corbisiero). Not sure who the other two are you mention? To be fair though, Corbisiero has an English mother and has lived here for 18 years and Tuilagi has lived here since he was 12! Show me a team that doesn't have a few players qualifying under residency though!
Very pleased with the result for England, I think the French aren't far away from clicking though. A Bastareaud/Fofana partnership in the centres would be one hell of a combination!
Posted 11:44 12th March 2012
Potato_Smuggler says...
France should have played Bastareau to take on Tuilagi. That would be some battle. My money's on Bastareau, he is a beast. Get him back in the France team. Imagine the damage he can do from the bench in the last 20.
Posted 11:16 12th March 2012
lawynd says...
What a great game. I'd agree with some of the other comments that if France had been able to play the way they did for the last twenty minutes throughout the game, they'd have won. But I think that shows how well England played, that they were able to ruffle the French feathers and prevent them playing with some very smart territory and great tackling - Chris Ashton's tackle that led to Tuilagi's try springs to mind. It wasn't a perfect performance by any stretch of the imagination and there's a lot to be worked on - for example, putting Webber at blindside for a defensive scrum on the 5m line was a rookie error, he should have been at 8 and that probably would have stopped Fofana scoring. But three well-worked tries and a good overall performance, as well as an entertaining game make me happy and might even quieten some of the doubters. Probably not JeanLucJoinel, though.
@Rosbif - I agree, there were two offsides in that last French drive but, given how horribly Rolland had refereed the rest of the game, I don't feel guilty for us getting the rub of the green there. How Sharples was worthy of a yellow card and not Fofana (who had to jump to deliberately stop the ball in flight!) I'll never understand, and the first French penalty for a bit of pushing after what was a borderline late hit by Rougerie was ridiculous; if you're going to give penalties for handbags then I expect at least eight or nine, per team, per game.
@liam2me - So that's what you took from a great game of rugby is it? You must lead a lonely life to have spent your time researching the players and their backgrounds instead of watching some great tries and excellent play by both teams, and after all that it turns out you can't even count, either! Poor blighter.
Posted 11:08 12th March 2012
Saint_Andre91 says...
The result tells more about French defence deficiencies than anything else. IMHO, France had the upper hand for the whole second half - barring one minute and a brilliant try from Croft - and were not outplayed in the fist - barring 10 minutes when they gave away two easy tries with soft / lack off tackling.
I don't think there was a formidable team in white and a miserable one in blue.
Had Trinh-Duc dropped-goal been scored, what would be the headlines?
Posted 10:58 12th March 2012
APV1 says...
Thank Goodness for that! We won. In Paris. Woo-hoo! Well done, England - great effort and a fantastic result.
Shame for France, as some of their players were immense and were let down by their team mates. But we won and history will show that.
And that was more than most of us could have hoped for. We all wanted to see attack and progress. And we got both in bucket-loads! 3 tries! 3!
I'm with Zlog - it was a rubbish decision. But in fairness to AR (which I'm not happy suggesting), we outplayed both him and the French team. And that's what you need to do if the ref is not seeing things and / or making daft decisions. We got away with a bit and the French did too. That's the game, I suppose.
Hartley and Ashton need to button it. It's the captain's job to discuss decisions with the ref and they call him, "Sir". And rightly so. He's in charge, so have some respect (regardless of whether you think he's made the right decision). It was good to see Dickson giving CA a shove and telling him to back-off. Cheeky little buggers, those scrum halves, but someone needs to sort out CA's and DH's gobbiness.
Harinordoquy was awesome, but I think Tom Croft deserved MOM.
@ Dafydd29 - the first team to win in Paris since 6N 2008? I'd call that conquering Paris. And it's a headline to catch your attention.
@ JeanLucJoinel - you're not English, so we don't expect you to get excited. But let us have our moment please. We're watching the development and emergence of a Team, which was on its arse after the RWC. This is what we've all been waiting for - fresh blood making a difference.
@ liam2me - don't be a berk. All the players qualify for one reason or another. Take your stones and go back to your glass house, sunshine.
Posted 10:36 12th March 2012
pierredelot1 says...
Great to be proved wrong on a number of counts with this one. england showed attacking endevour and were rewarded. France on the other hand never deserved to win. Dupuy had a mare of a game and gave Beauxis nothing to play with. szarzewski got round the pitch a lot but as usual gave up points and the French didn't start to come back until Servat came onto the pitch, why oh why leave him on the bench so long. The new French defensive line (Brought from Biarritz who lie near the bottom of the Top 14) was a total disaster the players looked as if they had no clue as to what was going on. But as much as the French attitude was negative the English was positive. Strange that although France gave away at least as many penalties as England Mr Rolland insisted on lecturing the English at every opportunity. He was awful, the guy has off days and yesterday for sure was one of them, pedantic, off the pace and biased, he should never refferee England again. That plus the fact that I had to endure a recording rather than watch it live and only had the radio commentary with get back to Come Dancing Matt Dawson, he's lightweight and biased toward England and needs to be moved somewhere else. Why the BBC insist on having people like Dawson just because they were Internationals is beyond me, his analysis is poor, comments frivalous, no thank you. Croft had a monster as did Morgan. The Irish backs are going to have difficulty dealing with Barritt and Tuilagi and the clash with Ireland next week could be fun. Prediction none, but good refereeing would be nice.
Posted 10:28 12th March 2012
caramba13 says...
@black47: dead-on concerning JL Joinel
The French looked strangely disjointed for a team which had spent four whole weeks training together. But this was the necessary loss that PSA needed in order to make wholesale changes and re-build the team. The RWC vice-champions are no longer motivated... how could they be? They came within a point or two of ruling the world! A banal 6N game is hardly going to inspire them.
PSA will stay with the same squad for next week but then a whole new team will emerge during the summer. And they'll be hungry, fast and just as good as this young English team.
Posted 10:24 12th March 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
"Villain of the match: There was a yellow card for Charlie Sharples, but we really don't think there was hardly any malice involved."
Are you talking about Rolland or Sharples? I think there was plenty of mallice from Rolland. Something is rotten in Denmark. Rotten to the core. What's the point if you just can't get a fair shot at winning a rugby match?
Posted 10:16 12th March 2012
RugbyLocos says...
From a proud welsh supporter: Well played England - yes France weren't great but at the end of the day England blew them away in the first quarter with two great tries. It's not England's fault that France have decided that they don't need to play until the second half !!!. As for Alain (I'm not french at all) Rolland, there are so many insults that I want to throw at him that I can't be bothered to even start !!!
Posted 09:00 12th March 2012
Vonvon says...
@Zygote: Totally agree with you. Our pack is only composed of "veterans" and need to be renewed. Mas, Poux, Servat, Papé, Nallet, Bonnaire, Harinordoquy are all above 30. I think this is what PSA wants to do till 2015 but maybe the English "table-rase" is the way.
Rougerie should learn how to tackle and Malzieu to make a pass. I thought Poitrenaud was very solid.
Congrats to England for their deserved win. (always hurts to write that down :-) )
Posted 07:34 12th March 2012
kybone says...
Not to put too much of a downer on things, but i can't agree with what the match report says about England 'England came out with the same passion and vigour in the second 40 as they had done in the previous half'. Actually i thought we were off the pace completely for the first 20 odd minutes of the second half. We just seemed to be inviting France back into the game and its only because they were completely inept that they didn't take full advantage. Don't get me wrong all in all it was a very good performance and a fantastic result but i just hope people don't get too carried away with how good we were.
Posted 05:00 12th March 2012
stumpy says...
Think Lancaster has shown he deserves the job now. Mallet is great, but England have progressed under Lancaster, respect him, and the attitude he has provided the squad has been great. Hardly the finished article though! Could, and perhaps should have won by more considering how poor the French were.
Posted 01:02 12th March 2012
NHsaints says...
Well honestly it was a thriller and a great match, got to feel for France though, once they're on the front foot (and if they get a bit of consistency) then they'll be unstoppable...the ease with which they nearly won in the final minutes after 50-60 minutes of nothing was incredible. Well done anyway England (we'll be hoping the French live up to their billing and England keep improving so we might get to sneak the title)
Posted 22:47 11th March 2012
hewhoknows says...
Are france really so bad that england can beat them?
Posted 22:09 11th March 2012