France v England, 22nd August

First topic message reminder :

 
FRANCE v ENGLAND
22 August 2015
KO: 20:00 BST (21:00 Local)
Stade de France, Paris

Sky Sports

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: John Lacey (Ireland) & Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

A. Head to Head

100 Played 100
38 Won 55
7 Drawn 7
55 Lost 38
1,244 Points 1,572

B. Recent Form

15 August 2015
Twickenham, London
19-14 to England

21 March 2015
Twickenham, London
55 – 35 to England

1 February 2014
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
26 – 24 to France

23 February 2013
Twickenham, London
23 – 13 to England

11 March 2012
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
22 – 24 to England


C. Teams

ENGLAND

15. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 37 caps)
14. Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 8 caps)
13. Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 11 caps)
12. Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints, 12 caps)
11. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 14 caps)
10. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 11 caps)
9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 47 caps)

1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 31 caps)
2. Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 22 caps)
3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 50 caps)
4. Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 22 caps)
5. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 38 caps)
6. James Haskell (Wasps, 59 caps)
7. Chris Robshaw (captain, Harlequins, 37 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 13 caps)

Replacements

16. Jamie George (Saracens, uncapped)
17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens,21 caps)
18. David Wilson (Bath Rugby, 42 caps)
19. Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby, 21 caps)
20. Nick Easter (Harlequins, 51 caps)
21. Danny Care (Harlequins, 51 caps)
22. Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks, 13 caps)
23. Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby, 21 caps)

FRANCE


Spedding; Huget, Bastareaud, Fofana, Nakaitaci; Michalak, Tillous-Borde; Arous, Guirado, Slimani, Pape, Maestri, Chouly, Le Roux, Picamoles.

Replacements: Kayser, Debaty, Atonio, Flanquart, Nyanga, Kockott, Tales, Fickou.

Need to get Burgess back in there...

That penalty against Cole - surely the ball had popped out and the ruck completed?

This is rubbish

That penalty against Cole - surely the ball had popped out and the ruck completed?

This is rubbish

thomh wrote:That penalty against Cole - surely the ball had popped out and the ruck completed?

This is rubbish

he did shout it was out but i presume Cole never retreated behind the line

If the English players want to convince Lancaster they deserve to go to the RWC, I suggest they start playing

Robshaw made a turnover there, shame the pen had already been conceded though!

A YC's coming and to be fair we deserve it.

Well that's Burrell out of the squad. Brains gone

Line out is not good for England, two throws both lost possesion

A chance to improve and they keep it simple. Then knock on...

Biltong wrote:If the English players want to convince Lancaster they deserve to go to the RWC, I suggest they start playing

trouble is at the moment we wont have any player going!

nathan wrote:

thomh wrote:That penalty against Cole - surely the ball had popped out and the ruck completed?

This is rubbish

he did shout it was out but i presume Cole never retreated behind the line

But he then gave the penalty for side entry - not offside.

We are very very rusty and i think its frustrating the players

Henry Slade looks happy on the bench in the crowd

will the french ever sort the pitch out, one day it will cause a serious injury

What an awful pitch

Burgess is the Burrell replacement w barritt injured

yappysnap wrote:Robshaw made a turnover there, shame the pen had already been conceded though!

Ha yeh. Best thing we've done so far.

Scrum penalty. Oh dear lord.

This French team is looking very handy. Great scrum there.

is this a going to be a slow death by penalties

Burrell making Twelvetrees look good!

Problem with this team is we have so many players returning from injury and it shows...

our number 7 Cole getting the turnover

England being taut a lesson here. Tom Youngs line out throwing is crap.

England better pull there socks up or this could be a hammering for them.

nathan wrote:is this a going to be a slow death by penalties

If there are any tries to be had I don't think we'll be cheering them!

Money on ford missing?

majesticimperialman wrote:England being taut a lesson here. Tom Youngs line out throwing is crap.

England better pull there socks up or this could be a hammering for them.

He's only had one dodgy throw to be fair to him, the other was just stolen

BamBam wrote:What an awful pitch

England have got a lot more to worry about than the state of the pitch tonight.

I think England win this. 2nd half subs to be the difference. People are trying too hard and going away silly pens. Won't happen all game...

maestegmafia wrote:

BamBam wrote:What an awful pitch

England have got a lot more to worry about than the state of the pitch tonight.

lol, there are 30 players and a ref that are probably worrying about the pitch

Tackles count difference has fifty points in it...

The French have made four tackles so far

maestegmafia wrote:Tackles count difference has fifty points in it...

The French have made four tackles so far

why do i detect you are loving this?

Reminiscent of the 2011 quarter final at the moment...

lol, lacey wants to look at it. what a surprise

thanks lacey for wasting 2 minutes of everyones time

nathan wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Tackles count difference has fifty points in it...

The French have made four tackles so far

why do i detect you are loving this?

If England are this bad at the World Cup I think Wales will make the knock out stages easily. In that respect I'm happy.

As a rugby fan, France look great but England are not really making a game of it. Their controlled game has gone. They all look like headless chickens out there.

France look like a reformed team.

How bad is our kicking from had...

maestegmafia wrote:

BamBam wrote:What an awful pitch

England have got a lot more to worry about than the state of the pitch tonight.

Yes, but not being part of the team, the squad or the coaching staff means I don't have much help for them, so I can comment on the pitch, the referee or the quality of the women in the crowd

maestegmafia wrote:

nathan wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Tackles count difference has fifty points in it...

The French have made four tackles so far

why do i detect you are loving this?

If England are this bad at the World Cup I think Wales will make the knock out stages easily. In that respect I'm happy.

As a rugby fan, France look great but England are not really making a game of it. Their controlled game has gone. They all look like headless chickens out there.

France look like a reformed team.

it's typical of france coming into a world cup

billy trying to force it

Ford is having a poor game so far

yappysnap wrote:Ford is having a poor game so far

i really just hope it's rustiness

Why are we so weak physically?

England look shattered.


Nearly half time now and England will get a serious ear bashing for sure...

France have been ok. We have shown zero composure. Best we find that out about players now than in 3 weeks...

considering how Poopie we were, im glad we are only 9 points behind

nathan wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Ford is having a poor game so far

i really just hope it's rustiness

I think its that, and last week Faz had Goode and Slade taking a lot of pressure off him. This week Fords on his own out there and you can see the strain. Brown, Burrell and Nowell aren't helping.

Hard to think of anything good about that first half for England. I suppose we could be further behind.

England clearly second best so far. Not looking any thing like a team that deserves to win. Toooooooo many penalties been given away by England.

They must play a lot better in the second half that is for sure.

England have taken an age to adapt to this ref. Hope Lancaster knocks some skulls together.

looking at the positive, at least this will give england the experience of being completely outplayed and needing to turn it around in the second half