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
kybone says...
carpelone- Not to be picky but the Queen is not Pippa Middleton's granny.
Posted 15:07 25th February 2013
kybone says...
Nastyned- Yea, i think if that was an isolated incident no-one would have brought much attention to it. It just seems that the incidents where we are put under pressure by an Ashton missed tackle are becoming a bit too frequent for this level of rugby. I didn't used to mind the odd defensive lapse due to the amount of tries he was scoring (i think he had 14 tries from his first 14 caps) but more recently his tries have been few and far between to the point where i wonder what he really adds to the team. He shouldn't be an automatic pick forever just because he scored a great solo try against Australia about 3 years ago. I don't know if anyone saw all the Prem highlights from this weekend, but Wade scored yet another brilliant try, Varndell played very well ( and really seems to have bulked up since his younger days), Thompstone played very well for leicester as did Strettle for Sarries, and the more i see of Marland Yarde the more i like what i see. I struggle to convince myself that, on current form, Ashton is better than any of those let alone all of them.
Posted 14:15 25th February 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
carpelone,
I imagine she had a few teenagers standing to attention mate!
Posted 13:57 25th February 2013
heart_of_oak says...
Sijona - a pathetic, pointless and purile post. You're another ten a penny England hater with nothing to say except the same old boring predictable 'chip on the shoulder' crap.
Posted 12:54 25th February 2013
new_j4a says...
@lacroix, who says " but honest england fans have to admit that at the very best they scored 11 points from very , very dubious decisions" Of course it must be 11 points must it not, because England won by 10, so 11 would convince one eyed losers that in fact they won. As a matter of interest, please list the 2 penalties that you dispute by minute, what the ref's decision was, what your decision would be and reference the relevant Law to back up your claim....and while you are at it discuss the concept of materiality as it applies to each of the PKs. Can you do this? Of course not, because you prefer to imagine rugby as you would like it to be, simple enough even for you to comprehend, rather than what it is: a rather complex game with many subtleties......far easier for you, like a small child, to cry out that the ref is cheating if the PK goes against France.....so easy... PK to France okay....to the opposition....must be biased, incompetent, "with history" etc etc.....and what history??? The RWC I suppose, which was in FACT an almost perfectly refereed game (in which the better team on the day narrowly lost...AS HAPPENS IN RUGBY).
Take some classes, learn the game, then come back with an educated opinion rather than the character smeers of a poor loser.
Posted 12:40 25th February 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
England need to tune their performance vs Italy. Our standards dropped on saturday, and it wasn't all down to impossible weather conditions like in Dublin.
It's really tempting to look ahead given the way the other five countries are just churning complete drivel, but round 1 was pretty good, so lets keep the faith, keep our fingers crossed for a bit or mild dry weather and a decent finish to the championship.
So far, the six nations is a triumph for defense over possitive play. You would be a fool to try to run the ball in some of the weather conditions we've been subjected to though. Something Ireland are probably thinking about today.
At least there will be no excuses under the roof in Cardiff. If that's a pile of cak then the northern hem have no excuses.
Posted 11:50 25th February 2013
carpelone says...
MoM. The singer of the England anthem.
Next time, I want to see Pippa Middleton singing God save Granny.
Posted 10:43 25th February 2013
new_j4a says...
@Rosbif, In my view we should have a mix of refs with no concern for "independence." The very idea of needing "independent" refs is a bit of an insult to the refs. BUT, but, it is not the refs who are the problem, but the public! the rugby watching public is not mature enough to deal with the idea of a French ref being perfectly capable of reffing a French International. Look at the whining ignorant whinging on here with an independent ref who is arguably in the top 3 refs in the world. Would these one eyed, partisan, totally ignorant, spoilt children be able to deal with a French ref or an English ref in charge of this game? I don't think so. BTW, I do not know of any top class refs in Argentina, but they are sure to start emerging now with S15 there.
@Toulousain I completely agree with you: Fofana was my man of the match (just for the sheer beauty of the try and the magnificent glimpse it gave us of what French rugby is) with Picamoles overall performance the best player on the field. However, in your "Villain of the Match" analysis, you may have forgotten the trip by the French player....at least a silver if not a gold (watch the Farrel on Parra "event".....not much in it and certainly no "elbow to the throat"....Parra was in more danger from his dive, i think)
Posted 10:07 25th February 2013
new_j4a says...
@lacroix, Not lonely at all. I am in agreement with the vast majority of people qualified to judge the refs performance and only in disagreement with a few child like ref whingers who cannot lose with grace. I reviewed the tape 4 or 5 times for every one of the jonthe"ref"'s claims. i am factually correct and correct in the suggested application of the Law. You call me dishonest, but, of course because you are ignorant, you fail to contradict points of fact or law. I did not say Craig Joubert had a flawless game. The only English try was suspect, but I haven't reviewed it yet. I suspect that it was an error by the ref, but we will see. It will certainly be discussed by qualified refs in public and the error admitted if it turns out to be so. In the meantime a few facts from you would be helpful....or are you really just an ignorant ref whinging poor loser.....the kind rugby does not need.
Posted 10:07 25th February 2013
new_j4a says...
@foxrock who says..."That Craig Joubert is still allowed to ref international rugby after his disgraceful performance in the RWC Final - where he was the ABs best performer - speaks volumes about the IRB."
Actually all it speaks volumes about is your (lack of) knowledge of the Laws of Rugby. Learn the Laws. Take a ref qualification. Prat!
Posted 09:31 25th February 2013
carpelone says...
Overall, a good game, with some good rugby by Fofana, Huget, Parra and Tuilagi.
About Manu, I am not sure that he will be still a center come 2015. He is getting sturdier and sturdier, I won't be surprised if he will contend a front row spot.
Discipline and wrong subs costed France the game.
Joubert showed how he can ref in the first half, then he made sure that the home team wins.
Overall, England were deserving winners.
Posted 09:27 25th February 2013
Propmelsey says...
Englabd were a bit below par in this game ... It reminded me of the game against new zealand last autumn .... below par .. but still enough to see off the opposition .. hope Lancaster stays with and unchanged team for the game against Italy ..... It's very important to keep this squad playing together right up until the end of the tournament ..... there's plenty of time to try out new options during the summer tour when the 1st XV wityh be playing in the mickey mouse lions thing ..... x
Posted 08:52 25th February 2013
ABlack says...
England will win the 6N handsdown, the other 5 teams are abysmal. How did France beat Aussie in November? must have been a fluke.
Unless Gatland stacks the Lions with english players the Lions havnt got a chance in Australia in June
Posted 02:47 25th February 2013
foxrock says...
That Craig Joubert is still allowed to ref international rugby after his disgraceful performance in the RWC Final - where he was the ABs best performer - speaks volumes about the IRB.
Predictably Joubert was again a home town ref - though on this occasion, unlike the RWC Final, the home town side did deserve victory.
Posted 00:15 25th February 2013
Nastyned says...
Kybone, great to get a reasoned response which seems to be increasingly unusual on this forum! My reasoning is that England look to be defending in to out so that Ashton's man was the winger, Lawes's job was to nail the inside man, CA realised at the last second that CL had missed his man so had to turn inwards. Youngs job as sweeper was to nail anyone who got through the first line. I'm a big fan of CL and thought he would do well at 6 but it wasn't to be on this occasion. Anyway I'm sure that SL knows what went wrong so will fix it.
Posted 23:36 24th February 2013
lacroix says...
new j4a- interesting analysis. you clearly are signed up to the craig joubert defence fund.
you must feel lonely LOL
of course england deserved to win, but its more than a little pitiful to be reduced to dishonesty to defend a referee who even the most one sided supporters admit had yet another miserable outing.
Posted 22:57 24th February 2013
ben7 says...
THE AMOUNT OF SOUR GRAPES ON THIS PAGE IS HILARIOUS HAHAHAHA!!
Posted 22:57 24th February 2013
lacroix says...
of course joubert was execrable. he is a very poor ref, plenty of history, and yesterday he was dreadful.
its normal for supporters of a winning team in these circumstances to attempt to question the refs failings when they played such an unfortunate part in the way the match unfolded. i'm not saying france deserved to win- PSA's strategy and execution of subs deserved to lose before the players on the pitch had any say- but honest england fans have to admit that at the very best they scored 11 points from very , very dubious decisions. and thats always a bitter pill. it undermines the pleasure of a win- just read some of the english vitriol to prove the point.
france were better . still very poor when you think of what these players can and have achieved .
very interesting how easily they rattled england even while playing in a disjointed way. and yes, england were really genuinely rattled....they'll need to watch the tape with more objective distance than some of their rather embarrassing apologist fans on this site have managed!! plus ca change, eh..
i still think this england team have immense potential-they're beginning to gel...or they were til yesterday. but they have all the parts and a doggedness of old...hey, with some more lucky breaks like tuilagi's 'try' they could win the world cup :)
i also think that the current set up in france have squandered the best resources in an unforgiveable way.
Posted 22:35 24th February 2013
Rosbif says...
@new_j4a. Hi man. Good to see you getting stuck in as ever!! Another ref-related question for you if I may.... Do you know if there are any international-standard Argentine or Italian refs that are allowed to do test matches?
Just a thought, but people in France are now talking openly about the FFR asking that all test matches versus Anglo-Saxon nations be refereed by fellow Latins!!
Then I wonder how the famed English "discipline", "patience", "pragmatism" etc that was on show yesterday would actually play out. How quickly would they be shrugging their shoulders, looking at the coaching staff in the stands, waiving their arms about, frustrated at not being able to "manage" the ref during game, doubting their technique at the breakdown, hesitating in the tackle area, getting the timing wrong in the scrums, etc etc...????.... Games are won and lost on very small margins after all.... And it's mostly what happens in the mind that makes the difference at the highest level....
It'll never happen of course. But I would pay good money to see it!
...Meanwhile, I'll concentrate on picking a nice red to cheer me up - and give you a few more recommendations when my research is done :-)
Posted 22:15 24th February 2013
Jediboy says...
What kybone said. A few times.
(Well said Kybone)!
Posted 21:50 24th February 2013