England XV player ratings: Cadan Murley ‘pushes his case’ for Springboks Test as Noah Caluori ‘not out of place’
England players celebrating a try v France XV
Following England XV’s 35-19 defeat to France XV at Stade de la Rabine in Vannes, here is how we scored Steve Borthwick’s men.
England XV player ratings v France XV
15 Marcus Smith: A couple of errors, but didn’t let it affect him too much to have an overall positive impact on proceedings. Notably looked to inject himself into counter-attack play, and bagged himself a try in the process. Also ended the game as England’s top carrier and metre-maker. 7
14 Noah Caluori: Did not look out of place at all at this level, which bodes well for his summer tour hopes. Directly involved in two scores in the first-half, and potentially unlucky not to get a try of his own in the second-half after it was chalked off for a knock-on too. Also looked to get involved wherever possible, which again is a very good sign looking towards July. 8
13 Max Ojomoh: Grew into the game as it went on, and ultimately got the reward for his efforts with a try at the death. This was a big game for him, considering the noise around his omission from the initial alignment camp back in May, but he showed why he was called into this group. 7
12 Seb Atkinson: His ability to step in as that extra playmaker was used to good effect early on and made a couple of carries to boot, but overall quite quiet. 5
11 Cadan Murley: Started in perfect fashion with a well-taken try inside the opening minute, and carried on from there. Made consistently positive impacts ball-in-hand and seemed to get good change out of the French defence in the process, and has really pushed his case for a start against the Springboks. 8
10 George Ford: Some really nice flashes in there, but he couldn’t quite explode away as much as he threatened. Potentially reminiscent of the rest of the team, if truth be told. 5
9 Harry Randall: Could almost copy and paste the above in here, really. Busy, but couldn’t quite kick on as much as he threatened to. 5
Back-row
8 Alex Dombrandt: A big display for the number eight, which will do his hopes of featuring in the summer tour some good. Topped the tackle charts for his side at the full-time whistle and got his hands on the ball wherever possible. 7
7 Tom Curry: Not a headline-grabber, but rolled his sleeves up and put in the hard graft in the tight. 6
6 Ted Hill: Did what was needed of him, in an industrious effort. A pretty solid return to the Test fold considering his absence. 6
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Tight five
5 George Martin: Will probably be sore tomorrow, after a bruising and industrious shift. Very pleasing to see him back in an England shirt after such a long absence. 6
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4 Charlie Ewels: Like many of his pack colleagues, he trucked hard in tough conditions and didn’t take a backwards step. 6
3 George Kloska: Understated but solid display from the tighthead. Scrummaged pretty well and looked to make a positive impact in the loose as well. 6
2 Theo Dan: Proper nuts and bolts stuff from the powerful Saracens hooker, who did his role well. 6
1 Asher Opoku-Fordjour: This feels like a big summer for the versatile prop, and this was a pretty decent start all told. Did his job in the scrum and got stuck in around the park. 6
Replacements: France just seemed to have all the momentum in the second-half, and the England bench were unable to wrestle it back. Didn’t do a lot wrong, to their credit, but just couldn’t stop the growing storm as Les Bleus ultimately ran away with it. Benhard Janse van Rensburg will be replaying that knock-on with the try-line at his mercy back a lot tonight, though. 5
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