Six Nations - Impressive England crush France

Eurosport - Mon, 16 Mar 10:40:00 2009

England got their Six Nations campaign back on track by scoring five tries in a 34-10 demolition of France at Twickenham.

Delon Armitage - England - 0

Martin Johnson's under-fire side produced a superb first-half display to lead 29-0 at the break, and although France improved after the interval there was never any doubt about the outcome.

Riki Flutey provided more evidence of his international credentials by grabbing a brace of tries, while Mark Cueto, Delon Armitage (pictured) and Joe Worsley also crossed to give England their second win of the championship.

The result moves England into third spot in the table and while the title lies beyond them they prevented France from having say on the destination of the Six Nations trophy, which will now be decided when Ireland travel to Wales next Saturday.

Wales need to beat Ireland by 13 points to retain the title. A narrower Irish defeat would give Ireland their first championship since 1985 and an Ireland win would secure their first Grand Slam since 1948.

France scored both their tries in the second half through Dimitri Szarzewski and Julien Malzieu but, after soaking up several periods of pressure, it was England who finished the stronger as they went in search of a sixth touch down.

After the indiscipline and lack of composure in defeats to Wales and Ireland, England mostly kept on the right side of referee Stuart Dickinson in a first half that saw them blow France away.

Credit must go to England's captain Steve Borthwick. The lock was not only competitive in the loose and reliable at the lineout, but also much more vocal in his leadership after a difficult build up in which he and Johnson came under fire in the press.

A decent kick-off by Toby Flood set the scene for the first half as England put France under immediate pressure.

Two minutes later Flutey got the better of a mismatch with Sebastien Chabal, broke through the France defence and fed Cueto who had a simple run in to the line.

Although Simon Shaw was guilty of conceding two penalties in the first 15 minutes, France were unable to make any inroads into England's water-tight defence, and in the 18th minute Flood kicked a penalty to put England 10-0 ahead after Imanol Harinordoquy had strayed offside.

Five minutes later England scored their second try from a set piece. Man-of-the-match Tom Croft won a lineout on the France 22m line, Cueto came in off his wing to create a hole in the France midfield before passing to Flutey for the first of his two tries.

Flood added his second conversion and England were 17-0 ahead before putting the game beyond France with two more tries just before half-time.

England's third came after Flutey had dispossessed Chabal in the middle of the pitch, Armitage saw the space behind the French line and kicked deep into their half.

Although Maxime Medard got to the ball first, he was caught in possession on his own try line by Cueto. Shaw went close as the England forwards tried to drive their way over and when the ball was recycled Armitage cantered over for a simple try.

There was still time for one more England score before the break. Shaw forced a turnover, Cueto kicked upfield and, after Croft and Flood failed to score with the try-line begging, good hands from the impressive Nick Easter and Borthwick worked the ball to Worsley who crashed over.

Any suggestions of England easing up after the interval were soon dismissed when France spilled the ball in midfield after an attacking lineout on the hosts' 22m line.

Andy Goode, on for the injured Flood, secured the loose ball and Armitage burst free down the left touchline before feeding inside to Flutey, who just managed to evade the tackle of wing Cedric Heymans.

With the game beyond France, it was no surprise England's performance dipped in the third quarter. Indiscipline crept back into their game as they conceded a series of penalties.

Replacement Damien Traille took a quick tap from a 55th minute England infringement and, after Ugo Monye had been penalised for intentionally knocking the ball on to prevent a certain try, Szarzewski burrowed his way over from a well-worked lineout drive.

France continued to attack and following further infringements from England Dickinson warned Borthwick that the next would result in a yellow card.

Eight minutes later France scored their second when they won a scrum deep in England's half and a simple miss-pass in midfield put Malzieu over in the corner to make it 34-10 with 15 minutes left on the clock.

England upped their performance in the final quarter and went close when a lovely inside pass from Easter to Armitage put the full-back clear, only for the French defence to haul him down just short with Croft up in support.

Although England were unable to increase their winning margin in the closing stages, there was more than enough evidence to suggest that they may just have turned a corner under Johnson.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport

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  1. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    According to a magazine, he was reported to have a­ profile on 'ric h k ss c om'. Is he dating­ there?

    From combi.nancy, on Mon 16 Mar 8:00AM

  2. Yep England played well (France didn't) and I­ reckon we'll beat the sweaty's next week. I­ always had faith in Jonno and am sure this is just the­ start of Englands come back.
    B U T....there is not one­ side that has played in this years 6 nations that can­ hold a candle to the southern hemisphere. We've all­ got a couple of years to get up to speed or the 2011 W­ C will stay down south. Oh yes and I almost forgot! The­ standard of refereeing has been possibly the worst I­ have ever seen. mixed messages, inequality of desicion­ making (as seen in Englands opening games!!) c'mon­ IRB sort these fellas out and stop changing the laws­ every season! It was a better game before you lot­ meddled in the laws anyway.

    From Steve, on Mon 16 Mar 7:45AM

  3. its not a matter of life and death in france to lose at­ anything. thats why so many people move there from­ england.

    From ALAN, on Mon 16 Mar 7:43AM

  4. rob n

    I thought a former teacher would know better­ than to post criticising people's spelling and­ punctuation;

    Question mark after 'can none of your­ respondents spell' and comma after­ 'godliness' Not to mention the lack of an­ apostrophe in 'contributors'

    Apart from that,­ I agree with you.

    From Donald D, on Mon 16 Mar 7:42AM

  5. Well done England and what a shameful game from France:­ no defense, no heart, nothing!

    England was better than­ their 2 narrow defeats suggested and I always thought­ that they would be a hard nut to break. But never would­ I have expected them to thrash France the way they did.

    From Marc L, on Mon 16 Mar 7:40AM

  6. So I was wrong, England played well and if they had­ done that throughout the championship they might well­ have been challenging for something next week. But, as­ well as England played didn't France play badly?­ They didn't seem uup for it and tackled like­ fairies in the first 20 mins. They have only had one­ good game and that was against Wales. They seem to be­ the spent force now that Scotland seem to be playing­ better. Should be good encounter next weekend in both­ the main games. Ireland for the championship, Wales for­ the triple crown (yes that can happen by Wales winning­ but by less than 13 points) and England for the­ Calcutta cup.

    From Steve J, on Mon 16 Mar 7:20AM

  7. To the Flying Scotsman
    Close that big mouth of yours ,­ go home and put your dress back on laddie !!!! or is­ that Lady.....

    From KAE J, on Mon 16 Mar 6:47AM

  8. they need jonny wilkinson back

    From UryZ, on Mon 16 Mar 6:00AM

  9. All this negativity is @#$%, England were so close to­ beating both Wales and Ireland with the referees under­ some misaprension on England being a dirty side, yet­ time and time againm the Welsh and Irish transgressed­ without any penalties being given against them, now­ they put a decent performance together and people are­ saying France must be rubbish, well you only play as­ well as the opposition or opponenets allow you to play­ and Englan controlled the game superbly, so get of­ their backs and start giving credit where its due, in 2­ years time this England team will be as good as anyone­ if not better, well done boys keep it up and make sure­ you beat the Scots next week.

    From wilsonian_1999, on Mon 16 Mar 3:05AM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    no 40 da marsh learn to spell scots you english­ t..t!!!!!! hope we hammer the english s..m next week!!!­ come on ye scots

    From the flying scotsman, on Mon 16 Mar 2:00AM

  11. I Don't think that any team has played a perfect­ 80mins in this 6 nations and think that we should give­ credit where it is due! I enjoyed the game, its always­ fantastic to beat a team like France and yes I agree it­ is true the French team did not play well but I believe­ that was partly due to the early pressure and spirit of­ an improving England team! Such a shame that so much­ negativity can be drawn from a fantastic win- it would­ be nice if so much effort was put in to supporting our­ country as slagging it off.. WELL DONE BOYS YOU MADE ME­ PROUD TODAY XXX

    From Clare, on Mon 16 Mar 12:48AM

  12. Rob n,
    i have counted nine­ grammatical/spelling/punctuation mistakes in your­ miserable attempt at grunting.
    No wonder people speak­ and write so badly when we have you teaching them.

    From ,...,, on Mon 16 Mar 12:39AM

  13. howw manys mustakes canz wse makes,can wheeze cu*nt­ them all

    From ,...,, on Mon 16 Mar 12:35AM

  14. weel done engalind,
    youze is off da bottom of da­ table.
    yacudof swore days win da world cuo,well deone­ johno,
    give em the wooden spoon.
    buncha pratts

    From ,...,, on Mon 16 Mar 12:34AM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    LOOK - When you play against a team who either give you­ the ball directly, or via knock-ons and­ feeble-turn-overs, then of course you're going to­ run up a decent score. But then the French *almost*­ got their shjt together in the 2nd half and proceeded­ to show the Engerland team up for what they are.
    OK -­ today, Engerland deserved to win, but really only­ because the French played about the worst game of the­ tourney so far. The poor sods didn't even get the­ bounce of the ball or Refs. 50-50 decisions. Before­ the English media start braying about winning next­ year's tournament (as if they aren't already)­ then you should all bear the above in mind AND GET­ REAL! :¬)

    From Big-D, on Sun 15 Mar 11:50PM

  16. Rob N message 56. I have counted 8 grammatical and/or­ spelling mistakes in your message.

    From Tarquinius S, on Sun 15 Mar 10:58PM

  17. COME ON U ENGLAND!!! THE FRENCH WERE @#$%E. FLEUTY AND­ ARMITAGE WERE FUKIN AMAZIN.

    From Adam P, on Sun 15 Mar 10:57PM

  18. Rob N - nicely put, but shouldn't­ 'contributors' have an inverted comma? I think­ you have in fact p*&Łed on your own fire on that­ one matey!!

    From busybee, on Sun 15 Mar 10:57PM

  19. Is it possible that everything always turns into a­ slanging match? It was a great and historic England­ performance against a bewilderingly absent French side.­ Cause for concern would be the poor scrums and a 15­ minute lapse of concentration allowing the French back­ in the game a little. I am glad England won obviously,­ but was disappointed that the French did not give us a­ better game. Right, it's over, it's not about­ World Cups, it's not about other teams and it's­ not about digs at other nations.

    From Tarquinius S, on Sun 15 Mar 10:44PM

  20. Relax ladoca, I was just making a comment on a rugby­ forum. Of course Ireland will never win a world cup, we­ have 3 pro clubs, and it's a minor sport.

    From markear1, on Sun 15 Mar 10:26PM
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