1 year ago
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52 mins. The England forwards go hard at the France pack in the scrum. Dupont dawdles a bit getting the ball out and the ref awards the penalty for Les Bleus’ front row popping up.
But, it’s wasted as touch is missed on the kick then Willis later neck-rolls Danty.
49 mins. France looked a little tired in defence there and Galthie has spun the sub wheel to address this; Romain Taofifenua and Sipili Falatea are on for Paul Willemse and Dorian Aldegheri
TRY! England 10 - 27 France (Freddie Steward)
48 mins. Standard carries by England move them up to the French 22 where Mitchell simply pops to Steward to have a run; and run he does, through Ramos and over the line.
Smith converts.
46 mins. Alex Mitchell and Owen Farrell have come on for Jack Van Poortvliet and Henry Slade. That should leave Smith at 10
45 mins. The scrum completes with England trying a similar move to that which led to a try vs Wales via the inside pop to Malins. However, Shaun Edwards’s defence doesn’t fall for it and the door is closed, but not without giving away an offside penalty.
A cross-kick from the next possession head towards Malins – now back on his wing - who just can’t hold it before grounding it. TMO correctly rules no try, much to the home crowd’s chagrin.
42 mins. France have the first period of possession, probing and testing the English fringe ruck defence; a test the home side pass, forcing Ntamack into a grubber in behind. Steward grabs it and absolutely leathers it miles into touch on the French 22. The visitors then make a mess of the lineout to given England a scrum.
SECOND HALF!
Ntamack floats the ball deep and England have forty minutes to attempt to not wake up with night terrors later.
Welcome to the quaint but oppressive town called Reality, population England Rugby.
In truth, this has been about the same performance the home side have put in every week so far, but they have not faced anything like this; a France team with all their big players hitting furious form at once.
Half time! England 3-27 France
PEEEEP! That’s that for the half, and let’s face it, the result.
TRY! England 3 - 27 France (Charles Ollivon)
40 mins. The French pack shove their counterparts back and then Alldritt breaks down the blind side to find Ollivon who runs to the line to drive the ball and England’s humiliation into the turf.
Ramos adds two.
38 mins. England’s 8th penalty of the half is for Malins gripping Ramos around the head in a tackle. The French fullback sends his side up to the home 10m line with his clearing boot.
PENALTY! England 3 - 20 France (Thomas Ramos)
35 mins. A horrible restart drill from England leaves Dombrandt isolated and a huge French counter-ruck wins a penalty. Ramos boots it over and immediately England are back where they were with the score gap.
PENALTY! England 3 - 17 France (Marcus Smith)
33 mins. From the scrum, England finally get some quicker ball from the breakdown, but the French defence covers the phases well. It slows up a bit and Danty is over-zealous at the breakdown, giving away a penalty that lets England off the hook as they had run out of ideas a little bit.
Smith calls for the tee this time and curves it between the posts.
29 mins. Lots of handling errors coming to the fore as the rain comes down, the latest from France at a lineout, assisted by Itoje ripping Cros to the ground as he landed with the ball.
TRY! England 0 - 17 France (Thibault Flament)
26 mins. England are disorganised in backfield and Dupont, eyes like a stocky hawk, spots this and blooters a left footed 50:22 from the base of the ruck to give his side a lineout deep in England territory. From the lineout, it takes two phases for Flament to force over through two tacklers.
Ramos adds two, and it will be a miracle if England pull this back from here.
23 mins. Dupont, looking busier than at any point in the tournament, gets France moving in the England 22, but the grubber from Ntamack is fielded by Smith on the line and Steward boots a beauty of clearing kick 60 metres.
21 mins. Genge spurns the points and tells Smith to go for the corrner. The forwards win it, but can’t get an organised drive going and the ball hits the turf before a couple fo carries later Ollivon snaffles the ball. The visitors clear away the danger.
England looking a little rattled here as the rain starts honking it down.
18 mins. A few minutes of kicking back and forth is won by England, with Ramos eventually slicing one to touch. Good patient stuff from England there. The lineout is won by the home side and on a penalty advantage they have a few phases but can’t do much.
14 mins. Smith has a short dart into the France 22 and the fast recycle finds Malins who nudges the ball with his toe into touch near the goal-line. The French pack do a sound job with the lineout and the ball is cleared.
12 mins. Marchand goes over the top of the lineout to Fickou, but the contact skills are poor from France and the ball is back in England hands around halfway. They start to work phases but the ball is spilled in contact by the home side, this time.
9 mins. The first penalty of the match for England is despatched to touch on the France 22 by Smith. The lineout is untidy, but Van Poortvliet tidies it up to little avail as three phases later England infringe at the breakdown and Ramos can clear it.
PENALTY! England 0 - 10 France (Thomas Ramos)
5 mins. France have another attack with a pattern that is read very well by Slade to shut down the second phase runner. But Les Bleus are on fire and the ball is recycled quickly to Alldritt who gasses away from Sinckler and Willis before being stopped by Steward. There follows a deliberate knock-on by England, and Ramos calls for the tee to extend the lead.
TRY! England 0 - 7 France (Tomas Ramos)
2 mins. Steward has his first run and the ball is not looked after well at the breakdown, allowing Fickou to yoink it an feed Baille for a counter-attack, but the prop holds it when he should’ve passed, allowing England to regroup.
Not that it matter, as a few seconds later after a Van Poortvliet box kick, Ollivon carries pops to Flament, who finds Dumortier to feed Ramos who gallops into the corner.
Ramos gets up and booms the conversion over. GAME BLOODY ON!
KICK OFF!
Marcus Smith kicks one deep and the match is off and running.
“A huge match for me and my family!” writes Cathy Stirling. “I am French, my daughters have always supported France with me but their partners and my two grandsons support England. Luckily my English husband support France! After more than 30 years, having to watch the matches on English tv and listening to the commentaries I am now back in France watching on french tv!! Allez les bleus!”
A lot going on there, Cathy, you and your family enjoy it!
The teams are out into a wall of noise, with England led out by Ellis Genge for his debut cap as captain. Huge moment for him and the sport.
Pre match reading
Marcus Smith is being backed by his team-mate Anthony Watson to do play a blinder.
I want to hear from all of you, and you can do this by emither or on the dread Twitter
TEAMS
The Smith/Farrell news has been covered, and elsewhere all is the same for England except for the bench, where the injured Courtney Lawes is replaced by his Saints team-mate Dave Ribbans.
In addition to Danty’s return forcing Yoram Moefana the sidelines, France have the problem of two tight-head props being banned after Uini Atonio and Mohamad Houas’ recent head-jinks. Dorian Aldegheri will start with Sipili Falatea among the replacement. Anthony Jelonch is out of the rest of the tournament with injury, so Francois Cros starts at 6.
Melvyn Jaminet, on of the stars of last year’s Grand Slam, returns to the substitutes.
ENGLAND: Freddie Steward; Max Malins, Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence, Anthony Watson; Marcus Smith, Jack van Poortvliet; Ellis Genge (captain), Jamie George, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum, Lewis Ludlam, Jack Willis, Alex Dombrandt
Replacements: Jack Walker, Mako Vunipola, Dan Cole, David Ribbans, Ben Curry, Alex Mitchell, Owen Farrell, Henry Arundell
FRANCE: Thomas Ramos; Damian Penaud, Gael Fickou, Jonathan Danty, Ethan Dumortier; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont (c); Gregory Alldritt, Charles Ollivon, Francois Cros, Paul Willemse, Thibaud Flament, Dorian Aldegheri, Julien Marchand, Cyril Baille
Replacements: Peato Mauvaka, Reda Wardi, Sipili Falatea, Romain Taofifenua, Sekou Macalou, Maxime Lucu, Yoram Moefana, Melvyn Jaminet
Preamble
And so it’s finally happened. After nearly eight full years, Owen Farrell will not start an England game he is fit and available for, and moreover the majority of the (mostly casual) watching public have their yearned for replacement: Marcus Smith.
Leaving aside that there is a very daft compulsion in too many to malign Farrell, there is some merit in why Smith is preferred to him by Borthwick. England have played their brief moments at their best when the ball has been quick, and the approach of speed being more important than shape is manna for Marcus. England have also decided that Olly Lawrence is the way forward at 12, attempting to replicate dynamic of the Smith-Esterhuizen axis at Quins. Oh, and Nick Smith of Quins is England’s attack coach. See how this all starts to make sense. Of course, this is all contingent on the forwards delivering ball rapidly, which the France pack may have something to say about.
France have a key change of their own and it couldn’t be more different with Jonathan Danty back in the centre. Where England have gone for a lighter, flightier attacking keystone, Fabien Galthie has realised he needs a giant lad to run it up in the heart of his backline. Danty has not hugely convinced at this level before, but his absence has made him look approximately 347% better for this side. But, the central issue remains that the superstar half-backs of Dupont and Ntamack are simply not playing very well, and that could ultimately be their undoing here.
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