England vs France: Match Thread

[nathan]

First topic message reminder :

Couldn't see a match thread for this, so i created this one.

Getting nervous, haven't a clue who will win.

[mystiroakey]

errrr

the all blacks

[thebluesmancometh]

Ye Robshaws all but on the plane, and one of the first names IMHO, as is Cole. I'd also be looking heavily at Wood too (blindside only though)

[Josiah Maiestas]

Really wish Ashton wasn't English. Pathetic behaviour.

[ChequeredJersey]

Oh don't get me wrong they were far better for 50, but they were probably much worse last 20 too. I did only mean it as an overall performance.

England are the favourites for the slam, but Ireland were awfull in attack, Scotland dire in defence and France totally fell apart last 20.

I'm looking forward to seeing England play someone of any note (not that Italy or Wales could provide anything at present)

Like, say, New Zealand












(N.B. just kidding, I would like us to play New Zealand when both teams are fresh at a neutral venue, I am aware that the last win was probably helped by circumstances aside from the performance on the day)

[Morgannwg]

Chris who?

Robshaw? Or Ashton?

you tell me. They're both nobodies.

Robshaw's having a decent game. He's all over the field, making the tackles, making ground - what exactly do you want ??

Captain nobody man of the match - get that man a pint of bitter!!!

Next you'll be telling us it's Captain Nobody for the Lions.

[ChequeredJersey]

I have also done quite a lot of sport today and just had 4 pints and am surprisingly drunk

[thebluesmancometh]

OK I should clarify, a healthy team of note

[Guest]

Well done England. We all like to have a bit of banter and stick, but you got the job done against an improved France side. A bit of pressure too as favourites and the dreaded GS chain hanging round your necks.

Tomorrow's results will be interesting too, and it will all come down to the final game. Could be a GS or one of 4 winners.

[mystiroakey]

Oh don't get me wrong they were far better for 50, but they were probably much worse last 20 too. I did only mean it as an overall performance.

England are the favourites for the slam, but Ireland were awfull in attack, Scotland dire in defence and France totally fell apart last 20.

I'm looking forward to seeing England play someone of any note (not that Italy or Wales could provide anything at present)

Like, say, New Zealand

fixed

[ChequeredJersey]

Really wish Ashton wasn't English. Pathetic behaviour.

Yeah, didn't like the handbags at the end

[nathan]

Oh don't get me wrong they were far better for 50, but they were probably much worse last 20 too. I did only mean it as an overall performance.

England are the favourites for the slam, but Ireland were awfull in attack, Scotland dire in defence and France totally fell apart last 20.

I'm looking forward to seeing England play someone of any note (not that Italy or Wales could provide anything at present)

to be honest blue, i think you'll run out of time before that happens because there is always an excuse as to why an England win should be devalued...

[nobbled]

England - very lucky, but a very physical game, great work from the bench.
Lawes back to the bench I'm afraid. Tom Youngs was great off the bench.
Perhaps a lucky win, but a good win regardless against the toughest team so far.

[mystiroakey]

England - very lucky, but a very physical game, great work from the bench.
Lawes back to the bench I'm afraid. Tom Youngs was great off the bench.
Perhaps a lucky win, but a good win regardless against the toughest team so far.

nothing lucky about it at all..

[majesticimperialman]

England won the game in the second half. The first half belong to France in my opinion.

Why did the France make the subs when they did? Their was no need to take Trinduc off. None at all.

England could be playing Wales for the title decider.

But so far played 3 won 3.

[ChequeredJersey]

picamoles was the best player on the pitch by a mile. Surprised robshaw got it. He had a lot of carries but made v little yardage.

Game was won by Saint-Andres rubbish substitues. Why did he take off the best players?

Good contest from both teams. England to be denied GS by Wales? i think not...

He made the gainline each time and set up momentum elsewhere as Moore described it. Rugby's not all about the flash. Also, he did he job as a 7 on top of that and was vital at first receiver. Picamoles is meant to make loads of yardage, that seems to be th major role of an 8 in the modern game

[Barney McGrew did it]

Oh don't get me wrong they were far better for 50, but they were probably much worse last 20 too. I did only mean it as an overall performance.

England are the favourites for the slam, but Ireland were awfull in attack, Scotland dire in defence and France totally fell apart last 20.

I'm looking forward to seeing England play someone of any note (not that Italy or Wales could provide anything at present)

If only we could play the ABs again

[doctornickolas]

a few points.

Worst refereeing performance I have seen for a long time. After the first 15 minutes it was clear only 1 side were going to be allowed to win.

Secondly Cole was rubbish. He was taken to the cleaners in the first half scrums. Cole for Lions Tighthead? i don't think so. Having a poor scrummager like Hartley doesn't help alongside you mind.

[nobbled]

England - very lucky, but a very physical game, great work from the bench.
Lawes back to the bench I'm afraid. Tom Youngs was great off the bench.
Perhaps a lucky win, but a good win regardless against the toughest team so far.

nothing lucky about it at all..

Lucky the linesman didn't spot the offside for Manu's try, luck we Vanipolo not carded, lucky Trinh Dhuc and Para were taken off...
Plenty of luck! Takes a good side to be lucky and make it a win though!

[thebluesmancometh]

nathan theres no devaluement from me mate, a GS is impressive by the most devalued standards (2005/2008/2012 if you ask many on here)

England were the favourites for the tournament before, have been good enough to deserve to be top and are favourites now. Theyre getting the job done by hook or by crook, every GS has elements of luck and today England had some.

[formerly known as Sam]

Ashton rounds off his joke of a performance with a hissy fit... bravo my man, book your summer hols now, you will be free

Actually I thought he worked very hard chasing kicks and putting his body on the line. He kicked off because he was dragged from the field by his hair (oh the irony).

Manu going through Basteraud two or three times lay down a nice marker ahead of the HEC qtr in Toulon.

Lawes is not a six and was poor there, England need a big ball carrier in that backrow, too often Youngs and Care were looking for a forward to take the ball on.

Flood added a whole lot more in attack than Farrell and the Tom Youngs vs Hartley battle is on.

[welshy6]

have to say well done to England their subs made a positive impact compared to France's strange substitutions with the half backs and front row.

HOWEVER, I cant help but think that joubert did rather help England's victory, firstly the try which somehow he didn't see the albeit accidental offside despite being right next in front of the play. Then the numerous penalties for France not rolling away despite them being stuck (and sometimes held) in the bottom of the ruck, AND showing that they were unable to move, the most ridiculous one being fofana injured, being penalised for not rolling away.

Let me say again well done to England, their subs did make a huge difference and PSA made some ridiculous decisions. AND this is NOT me being a bias anti English Welshman.
This England team compared to previous teams are so much more grounded and apart from (Haskell, Lawes, Young and Ashton, who I really don't like..sorry) they all seem like genuinely nice and gracious lads.
I also think in Stuart Lancaster you have found a brilliant coach who is helping instil a spirit within the team where no one is bigger than the team and it is a honour to represent your country.

[thebluesmancometh]

doc

Thats what worries me about Joubert, when he's bad it always goes one way, unlike most who make mistakes for both teams!

Disagree about Cole though, anyone would struggle with Hartley next to him, especially against the french. Cole was excellent!

[Barney McGrew did it]

a few points.

Worst refereeing performance I have seen for a long time. After the first 15 minutes it was clear only 1 side were going to be allowed to win.
Secondly Cole was rubbish. He was taken to the cleaners in the first half scrums. Cole for Lions Tighthead? i don't think so. Having a poor scrummager like Hartley doesn't help alongside you mind.

Interesting extension of the welsh habit of blaming the ref.

[mystiroakey]

England - very lucky, but a very physical game, great work from the bench.
Lawes back to the bench I'm afraid. Tom Youngs was great off the bench.
Perhaps a lucky win, but a good win regardless against the toughest team so far.

nothing lucky about it at all..

Lucky the linesman didn't spot the offside for Manu's try, luck we Vanipolo not carded, lucky Trinh Dhuc and Para were taken off...
Plenty of luck! Takes a good side to be lucky and make it a win though!

not sure mate- england had total control second half and also complete dominance last 20- so its just one of those things .. no reason why we wouldnt have won anyway.. if it was a boxing match france would have been KO'd at 70 mins.

we could pick out loads of ifs the other way,, england ended stronger- that was the deciding factor..

[yappysnap]

Oh don't get me wrong they were far better for 50, but they were probably much worse last 20 too. I did only mean it as an overall performance.

England are the favourites for the slam, but Ireland were awfull in attack, Scotland dire in defence and France totally fell apart last 20.

I'm looking forward to seeing England play someone of any note (not that Italy or Wales could provide anything at present)

Have you been drinking or are you just here to WUM?

England looked shaky against a far better France team in the first half, we then tightened things up massively in the second half and played well enough to force the French coach to think (wrongly) that he needed to use his subs to win the game. England's subs then came on later and made a far far better impact.

A Few of Englands players had bad games Lawes,Hartley and Ashton in particular. Youngs had probably his worst gameso far and Cole for long periods was under the cosy. But its a 23 man game and we made the right changes.

[ChequeredJersey]

Stats so far (wil be amended) show for England Robshaw and Wood were both very good, a few other decent players (Goode, Brown, Manu, Cole gave away a million penalties) and Ashton and Lawes were utter Poopie (Lawes, missed 4 tackles at 6, Ashton missed 3 out of 7, neither good enough at this level). For France, Parra, Fofana and Picamoles stand out, Dus also good, Trin-Duc missed half his tackles and Clerc and Bastareud had poor games too

[thebluesmancometh]

we could pick out loads of ifs the other way,, england ended stronger- that was the deciding factor..

+1

The history book will state result, not the incidents that caused tham.

[ChequeredJersey]

a few points.

Worst refereeing performance I have seen for a long time. After the first 15 minutes it was clear only 1 side were going to be allowed to win.
Secondly Cole was rubbish. He was taken to the cleaners in the first half scrums. Cole for Lions Tighthead? i don't think so. Having a poor scrummager like Hartley doesn't help alongside you mind.

Interesting extension of the welsh habit of blaming the ref.

Lucky Jones didn't have to scrummage against Domingo, frankly

[ChequeredJersey]

Ashton rounds off his joke of a performance with a hissy fit... bravo my man, book your summer hols now, you will be free

Actually I thought he worked very hard chasing kicks and putting his body on the line. He kicked off because he was dragged from the field by his hair (oh the irony).

Manu going through Basteraud two or three times lay down a nice marker ahead of the HEC qtr in Toulon.

Lawes is not a six and was poor there, England need a big ball carrier in that backrow, too often Youngs and Care were looking for a forward to take the ball on.

Flood added a whole lot more in attack than Farrell and the Tom Youngs vs Hartley battle is on.

He still can't defend to save his or anyone else's life

[nobbled]

England - very lucky, but a very physical game, great work from the bench.
Lawes back to the bench I'm afraid. Tom Youngs was great off the bench.
Perhaps a lucky win, but a good win regardless against the toughest team so far.

nothing lucky about it at all..

Lucky the linesman didn't spot the offside for Manu's try, luck we Vanipolo not carded, lucky Trinh Dhuc and Para were taken off...
Plenty of luck! Takes a good side to be lucky and make it a win though!

not sure mate- england had total control second half and also complete dominance last 20- so its just one of those things .. no reason why we wouldnt have won anyway.. if it was a boxing match france would have been KO'd at 70 mins.

we could pick out loads of ifs the other way,, england ended stronger- that was the deciding factor..

Agreed!

[Morgannwg]

a few points.

Worst refereeing performance I have seen for a long time. After the first 15 minutes it was clear only 1 side were going to be allowed to win.
Secondly Cole was rubbish. He was taken to the cleaners in the first half scrums. Cole for Lions Tighthead? i don't think so. Having a poor scrummager like Hartley doesn't help alongside you mind.

Interesting extension of the welsh habit of blaming the ref.

Lucky Jones didn't have to scrummage against Domingo, frankly

But ever since Poite made a lottery of the game at Welford Rd all we've been hearing is how Cole dominated Jones.

So I guess with this today, along with Jones being so dominant in the Italy game and everything, this must really be a kick in the teeth for ya'll!

[thebluesmancometh]

Yappy

You call me WUm then agree with me! Slow down on thos woohoo's mate Although Michalak throwing air balls 10 yards in front of the defencive line has no bearing on Englands pressure.

PSA reverted to his old mistakes, and that proved the difference as the English bench improved their team and France subs killed theirs!

[ChequeredJersey]

a few points.

Worst refereeing performance I have seen for a long time. After the first 15 minutes it was clear only 1 side were going to be allowed to win.
Secondly Cole was rubbish. He was taken to the cleaners in the first half scrums. Cole for Lions Tighthead? i don't think so. Having a poor scrummager like Hartley doesn't help alongside you mind.

Interesting extension of the welsh habit of blaming the ref.

Lucky Jones didn't have to scrummage against Domingo, frankly

But ever since Poite made a lottery of the game at Welford Rd all we've been hearing is how Cole dominated Jones.

So I guess with this today, along with Jones being so dominant in the Italy game and everything, this must really be a kick in the teeth for ya'll!

Not really, I'm pretty indifferent, we'll see in 3 weeks time who the better TH on the day is, anything before that is conjecture and tedious

[thebluesmancometh]

CJ

At what point will Jones and Cole come head to head on an even footing to decide who's better in 3 weeks?

[Morgannwg]

Gethin is out to get Cole, once we dispatch of Scotland that is.

[ChequeredJersey]

CJ

At what point will Jones and Cole come head to head on an even footing to decide who's better in 3 weeks?

Good point I should have said better scrummaging unit as decided by whatever ref we have on the day, sorry

[thebluesmancometh]

hahaha

Well if Poite is there then it's a free for all, just like today.

Although Cole struggled at times The french front row is so small and technically good they are there to scrummage. Australia won't be the same sort of animal, and Cole was once againawesome in the loose, which is where he has the beating of Jones IMHO.

[majesticimperialman]

Tom Youngs vs Hartley battle is on.

I think Tom Youngs wins that battle. For me any way. Hartley shoul confine himself to the bench from now on.

[Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler]

a few points.

Worst refereeing performance I have seen for a long time. After the first 15 minutes it was clear only 1 side were going to be allowed to win.
Secondly Cole was rubbish. He was taken to the cleaners in the first half scrums. Cole for Lions Tighthead? i don't think so. Having a poor scrummager like Hartley doesn't help alongside you mind.

Interesting extension of the welsh habit of blaming the ref.

Lucky Jones didn't have to scrummage against Domingo, frankly

But ever since Poite made a lottery of the game at Welford Rd all we've been hearing is how Cole dominated Jones.

So I guess with this today, along with Jones being so dominant in the Italy game and everything, this must really be a kick in the teeth for ya'll!

Not really, I'm pretty indifferent, we'll see in 3 weeks time who the better TH on the day is, anything before that is conjecture and tedious

Scrum is the scrum, but if we are pre selecting Cian Healy on the basis he once scored a try then we can pre selected Cole on the basis he isnt fat and old and is capable of getting back on his feet after a tackle.

[BamBam]

Gethin is out to get Cole, once we dispatch of Scotland that is.

ah, the English arrogance so noted by old Telfer

[fa0019]

The French scrum is big and their second rows are giants, it was always going to be a tough day at the office come scrum time. other than the first 20 mins it wasn't that much of a problem.

Cole had a difficult time but I don't think it's all to him. With AUS you are not going to get that sort of contest and cole is far better in the loose then jones. Both should go but cole for me is the better suited player for AUS.

If it was the boks then it would tilt in jones favour.

[fa0019]

Gethin is out to get Cole, once we dispatch of Scotland that is.

ah, the English arrogance so noted by old Telfer

If Wales thinks they are going to easily get rid of us the I think they will up for a big surprise in the next round. They weren't exactly cruising all game and with Parisse in the side in would have made a big difference given he is their primary ball carrier, lineout option, attack platform and leader.

I fancy us to beat Ireland and think if Wales want to beat us at home they are going to have to up a couple of gears from the last match.

[Barney McGrew did it]

a few points.

Worst refereeing performance I have seen for a long time. After the first 15 minutes it was clear only 1 side were going to be allowed to win.
Secondly Cole was rubbish. He was taken to the cleaners in the first half scrums. Cole for Lions Tighthead? i don't think so. Having a poor scrummager like Hartley doesn't help alongside you mind.

Interesting extension of the welsh habit of blaming the ref.

Lucky Jones didn't have to scrummage against Domingo, frankly

But ever since Poite made a lottery of the game at Welford Rd all we've been hearing is how Cole dominated Jones.

So I guess with this today, along with Jones being so dominant in the Italy game and everything, this must really be a kick in the teeth for ya'll!

oh the delicious irony

[Cyril]

I've just had a quick scan through the match thread.

Blimey, you can tell England are doing ok when there's this level of hatred against them.

Another England win really is eating some folk up inside.

[Ozzy3213]

I just said the same on twittr cyril. You know we're on the right track from the amount of vitriol coming our way.

[Cyril]

Yeah, it's when nobody cares that you should be worried

[Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler]

Its mostly goats crossing bridges that need to be wary of Morgan

[ChequeredJersey]

From Nick Easter's Twitterfeed-

"From one No 8 to another. Picomoles u r something else with ball in hand pal!! Outstanding game. Subtle foot work with tree trunk thighs"

[lostinwales]

[quote="majesticimperialman"]Tom Youngs vs Hartley battle is on.

I think Tom Youngs wins that battle. For me any way. Hartley shoul confine himself to the bench from now on.[/quote

Thing is its a different game in the second half when things break up. I think Vunipola and Youngs are potentially better as impact subs as I dont know if they would have quite the same impact at the start of the game as they did when they came on. Its a difficult, but good problem to have.

That surge from Youngs just after he came on was quite something.

Defense from both teams was brutal and very fast. Was so impressed late on in the second half when France were trying to attack and the English line speed was so fast that the French just went backwards. Very evenly matched for so much of the game, France just a little bit better in the first half - but England hugely better by the end.

[mystiroakey]

hartey was also a good impact sub last game(or was it v scotlans) an all

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