PA sport

France can be infuriating, all powerful – masterful rugby, or woefully short of ideas and lacking in temperament. It took England all of six minutes to discover which team had turned up.

To say the French selectors had got it wrong would be an understatement, packing their forwards full of weight and sheer power, only to find that England had put out a team of runners with ball in hand.
Right from the off, England looked hungry, hitting hard in the tackle and releasing quick ball (who’d have thought it!) – growing in confidence as the tournament goes on, Ricki Flutey picked up the quick ball, with one glance spotted Chabal in front of him and burst through the French line, releasing Cueto for a try inside five minutes.

England were disciplined (for once) at the break down, but more impressively, started turning the French in the tackle, producing turnover ball. Add to this an uncanny nack of stripping the ball away in the tackle, France were finding it very hard to keep any possession at all.
Where Tait failed to execute a training ground “overlap” against Ireland, the England backs made no mistake this time. Straight from a line out, Flood and Cueto combined to burst through the French line again and set up Flutey for a simple try.

England were making the French look hapless in front of more than 80,000 fans and millions on television, no doubt cheering at their tv sets.

Flutey again was the instigator for the next try, ripping the ball from Chabal in the tackle, England piled forward into the French 22.
Shaw was halted just short of the line and the ball found the impressive Armitage to go over for the score.
England were now attacking in waves, the whole team were hungry for the ball and even when the French got the ball, it wasn’t long before England turned it over.

The superb Harry Ellis, chipped forward into the French 22 causing yet more panic for the defence, Toby Flood was unlucky as he followed up catching the ball and stumbling twice with the line at his mercy (injuring his shoulder in the process) England immeadiately recycled and the ball was soon out wide for Joe Worsley to go over unchallenged.
Half time already? England 29-0 France.

There was no way England could come out for the second half and carry on where they left off, but they did!
Ellis stripped Jauzion of the ball with a brilliant tackle and released Armitage, who powered through the French lines and away down field like a train, setting up Flutey, who managed to scramble over the try line and ground the ball, for his second try of the game.
Armitage and Flutey were everywhere, tackling, popping up on opposite wings as an extra man, over lapping, catching everything.
They both grew in confidence the longer the game went on and were fast becoming unstoppable.

England didn’t just break the game line, they smashed it down and left it 40-50 yards behind them.

As England made some changes, they lost their flow a little and the forwards stepped upto the mark superbly. As France began to exert some pressure at long last, their forwards bulldozed over for a try, then their backs ran in another try soon after, unchallenged as England adjusted their defence, after being warned for encroaching at the breakdown.

Now the England pack came into their own, in one passage of play just inside England’s half, the French recycled the ball nine times and made about 5 yards, as the England pack pushed them sideways and held them up without giving away any penalties.
England’s back row were now starting to organise themselves again, once again making big inroads after breaking through the French line.

As the game came to an end, England played an extra fourminutes pushing forward in waves for a final try, but the French held out.
Final score: England 34-10 France.

A fantastic performance from England (regardless of my bias) which has done both Ireland and Wales a big favour for next weeks final round of matches, with France out of the running for the six nations title, it’s a straight fight between them at the millenium stadium.

Wales win grand slam

The french team are unpredictable, which team will turn up?
Will we see the fast flowing french game at its best?
Or will we see the spluttering french team that sat back against Scotland two weeks ago and came close to collapsing?

The bigger worry has to be wether or not the ref will be from the southern hemisphere… as against England at the millenium stadium two weeks ago, the refs seem to have different interpretations of the rules and apply them differently to the northern hemisphere refs.

How exactly do the french fans manage to smuggle in the traditional cockerill?