England v France XV: Five takeaways as bench fires French to ‘unlikely’ win despite ‘pretty harsh’ red under World Rugby directive
France scrum-half Baptiste Jauneau and an inset of Hollie Davison issuing a yellow card.
Following France XV’s 26-24 victory over England XV at the Allianz Stadium, here’s our five takeaways from the game.
The top line
France’s bench fired to take them to the most unlikely of wins against England, as the huge presence of Romain Taofifénua crashed over to break the hosts’ hearts in a last-minute try.
It was a match of intense aerial and breakdown contest, one dominated by kick chase and ruck effort, and it’s safe to say that both Steve Borthwick and Fabien Galthie will have learned a lot about their squad depth, with most of it being positive.
England’s tries came from Tom Willis, Joe Carpenter, Alex Coles and Alex Dombrandt, with France replying through Gaëtan Barlot, Hugo Auradou, Paul Mallez and Taofifénua. A word for Antoine Hastoy who was brilliant off the tee, nailing a far right-hand side conversion from the Mallez try to give France a chance of victory.
The match also had plenty of controversy – as both Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Cameron Woki saw red for some clumsy technical work around the tackle and ruck area respectively.
But on balance, it was a fantastic summer romp, warming up the fringe players of both nations as they prepare to embark on their summer tours.
Nine lives
For connoisseurs of half-back play this match saw three thrilling exponents of their art strut their stuff.
It’s been a long time since Ben Spencer was allowed to run an England backline and both he and George Ford gave France hell with their aerial game. Perhaps we might have liked to have seen Spencer back his pace a little more often, but this was a game of high heat, high intensity and high energy, with the aerial battle a key and players doing their very best to conserve energy, and England did their best to get their key aerialists and carriers into the game, playing a lot more off nine with ball in hand than perhaps they usually do.
For France, Nolann le Garrec was named Player of the Match but it could have easily gone the way of his nine partner, Baptiste Jauneau, who got so much pace into the French close quarter carrying when he came on.
The ASM Clermont nine was accurate and fast around the fringes and he really elevated the percussion of the French carrying when he came on, creating a wonderful, controlled climax as he orchestrated the onslaught that saw the massive frame of Taofifénua thunder over from short range to take France to a last-gasp win.
But on balance, Le Garrec was wonderful value for his award. He fused the complete arts of the nine, and the French style nine at that, combining thundering 50/22s with some wonderfully timed snipes and breaks. It really was a day to admire the quality of the scrum-halves on view, but it was fitting that the Racing 92 man took both the personal and the team spoils.
Eight ballers
You might argue that the two most effective players for their respective teams were the pair of number eights, Tom Willis and Mickaël Guillard.
Willis is the abrasive one – the man who’s prepared to run through brick walls for his team. And that’s what he did all day, crashing and carrying with the anger of a man left out of the Lions team, a side that could have benefitted greatly from his crash and clatter in Dublin last night.
It was fitting the Saracen opened the scoring with a typically direct punch from short range; his restart work gave England momentum and exit exactly when it was needed and the big fella was England’s leading carrier, with 14 thundering charges for some 69m.
Guillard is the athletic one – the man that is always there or thereabouts; supreme in the ariel battle and a line-out banker. He caused havoc with his silky mobility and it was his charges through the England midfield that caused the hosts issues after issue. Guillard’s stats were remarkable; top tackler (16), most turnovers (2) second most carries post contact (6) and most lineout takes (5) in the match overall.
His defence and surety showed another dimension to a player that’s spent his Test career in the engine room and his performance will give Galthie another option in the deeply stocked French back-row.
Similar for Willis; he’ll be a pivotal part of England’s summer campaign, but there’s little doubt he’ll have one eye on his iPhone as surely he must be top of Andy Farrell’s list if and when the Lions lose a back-rower.
England’s hots and colds
What did we learn from England’s players today? Well, the spine of the team – hooker, eight, nine, ten and fifteen – all contributed to a man.
Ford was superb in setting up position, Carpenter claimed the tries at the back through persistence, physicality and intellect, whilst George gave us a showing that made many wish he was in Dublin running the Lions lineout last night.
At tighthead, there’s now no doubt whatsoever that Joe Heyes has turned from promise to fulfilment; the Tigers tighthead had a superb game in every aspect, showing great mobility giving us his very best Ellis Genge rhino impression, but more subtly, he did so much close quarter work around the ruck and swept up a lot of loose ball.
Alex Coles played his heart out; he’ll kick himself for two daft maul penalties but crashed over for a try himself. He was second to Tom Willis in the carries and stole a crucial line out, a great day out for the Saints lock. In fact, England’s post-contact metres clocked in at 267- a lot from Willis, Hill and Pepper, but Coles was a big part of that.
However, in the centres it was less impressive; Henry Slade was turned over four times as he yet again flopped with ball in hand, despite treating us to some pinpoint kicking from hand. Seb Atkinson missed a vital tackle in midfield, but held on well, despite him not realising he was himself over the try line and benevolently passing out to his teammates to score- a fine will surely be incoming from the post-match court session! Overall, there was a lack of outright pace in the England three quarters and you wonder if Borthwick might look to the likes of Adam Radwan or Oscar Beard to add gas during the Summer Tour.
Contentious reds
In this game we saw two 20-minute referral red cards given – but both had a degree of nuance in terms of if the right outcomes were achieved.
Given that a referee can award a straight full red card foul play, going through the protocols puts the officiating team’s call under scrutiny. Foul play was clear and obvious; the level of danger was high- as Feyi Waboso came in hard. So on that basis, you might believe a straight red was in order. But World Rugby have directed refs to only award the full card for thuggery and deliberate illegality.
In the case of Feyi-Waboso, his tackle was without question a timing and technique issue over and above deliberate thuggery, so on the letter of World Rugby’s directives and the laws, Hollie Davison and her team nailed that call spot on.
The second red saw Woki flopping into a ruck, with a late wrap onto England hooker Jamie George. A current Test referee confirmed to Planet Rugby that World Rugby have issued an edict to protect players from dangerous clear-outs, however, did this meet the threshold?
The question is all about wrap or tuck – the contact point was just before the attempted wrap, so this is a particularly close call. The decision is if Woki was in the process of wrapping and that’s the key here. The intent was probably there, and the danger level was at worst, medium, at best low. So you might conclude that the red in this instance was a tad on the harsh side.
Woki’s clearout was poorly timed, but just as he arrives so George lifts his head. You might therefore conclude that whilst the officials got one call right, the second red could be considered pretty harsh, after examining the facts and understanding the recent directives from World Rugby to their officiating teams.
