France v England - grand slam game

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ENGLAND TEAM TO PLAY FRANCE

15. Mike Brown (vice captain, Harlequins, 47 caps)
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 19 caps)
13. Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 20 caps)
12. Owen Farrell (vice captain, Saracens, 39 caps)
11. Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 14 caps)
10. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 21 caps)
9. Danny Care (Harlequins, 57 caps)

1. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 31 caps)
2. Dylan Hartley (captain, Northampton Saints, 70 caps)
3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 60 caps)
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 3 caps)
5. George Kruis (Saracens, 14 caps)
6. Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, 47 caps)
7. James Haskell (Wasps, 66 caps)
8. Billy Vunipola (vice captain, Saracens, 25 caps)

Replacements
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 2 cap)
17. Joe Marler (Harlequins 41 caps)
18. Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints 16 caps)
19. Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 31 caps)
20. Jack Clifford (Harlequins, 4 caps)
21. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 56 caps)
22. Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 26 caps)
23. Elliot Daly (Wasps, 2 cap)

GeordieFalcon wrote:Nowell learned though. He showed intelligence.

He was getting a hiding, but adapted and started to hit the Fijian early.
Top class winger. Just need to give him some ball like Watson seems to get

That's a good point. They tried to do what they did last time , they saw him as weak but he did adapt and it must have left gaps.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Not spectacular...hes tweaked what Lancaster had but we've done it.

Great stuff.

Lots to improve aswell!

He's done a bit more than that with a couple of very simple changes to the team, Farrell at 12 instead of Barritt gives us more go forward whilst Joseph has really stepped up his defence to compensate there. Nowell on the wing has been a big improvement on May while Kruis and Itoje look like the best second row partnership since 2003. He's only tinkered slightly but it's made a big big difference.

How many turnovers did England get in that game? It must have been well into double figures.

trebellbobaggins wrote:

Breadvan wrote:Our line out....superb.

And now we have LCD , as a Cornishman I am very sorry.

Could have fooled me!!

One thing nobody has mentioned is substitutions for the sake of it were not made. Jones learning from the last game which is good to see and something Lancaster was guilty of

nathan wrote:One thing nobody has mentioned is substitutions for the sake of it were not made. Jones learning from the last game which is good to see and something Lancaster was guilty of

Yep, I was getting nervous around 65 mins when I thought we might see a big switch at 10/12/13 and, fair play to Jones, he resisted and saw that the midfield defence was coping well.

I think Farrell needs a fair bit of credit with how he's settled in at 12. It probably isn't permanent, but he's just put his head down and done a job. Kudos.

A very good point Nathan, he took Mako off for Marler at half time when he was getting hammered in the scrum, brought Youngs on for more control and then didn't change anything until injury forced Hartley off.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Am I the only one frustrated by some of Owens's decisions? Pings Itoje early on for hands on the floot, but seemed to let France then get away with it all game? Certainly a lot of penalties against England for holding on could have gone the other way IMO...

no you're not - I thought the same thing

How many weeks will Watson get for the gouge?

bumble wrote:How many weeks will Watson get for the gouge?

Ah, here's the first snarky comment. To be fair, it took a while.

bumble wrote:How many weeks will Watson get for the gouge?

Classy....

Cyril wrote:

bumble wrote:How many weeks will Watson get for the gouge?

Ah, here's the first snarky comment. To be fair, it took a while.

How many weeks do you think he should get?

Congratulations to England by the way. Absolutely fully deserved Grand Slam.

England thoroughly deserved the win but and there were a few buts. The Cole try was a non try. Mako was about a foot infront of Dan Cole. Funnily enough in the run up to that try Browns Foot trip on Spedding was ignored. I though Nigel was very one sided in the first half and on a few occassions he gave a penalty to England which even Brian Moore was scratching his head over.

French will will always suffer when a British ref is in charge of their games...

bumble wrote:

Cyril wrote:

bumble wrote:How many weeks will Watson get for the gouge?

Ah, here's the first snarky comment. To be fair, it took a while.

How many weeks do you think he should get?

Congratulations to England by the way. Absolutely fully deserved Grand Slam.

Er, none.

Cyril wrote:

bumble wrote:

Cyril wrote:

bumble wrote:How many weeks will Watson get for the gouge?

Ah, here's the first snarky comment. To be fair, it took a while.

How many weeks do you think he should get?

Congratulations to England by the way. Absolutely fully deserved Grand Slam.

Er, none.

None? For this?

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:England thoroughly deserved the win but and there were a few buts. The Cole try was a non try. Mako was about a foot infront of Dan Cole. Funnily enough in the run up to that try Browns Foot trip on Spedding was ignored. I though Nigel was very one sided in the first half and on a few occassions he gave a penalty to England which even Brian Moore was scratching his head over.

French will will always suffer when a British ref is in charge of their games...

I agree he was a foot in front, but I think he was also a couple feet to the left

Doubt it'll get cited as legitimate challenge for the ball.

nathan wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:England thoroughly deserved the win but and there were a few buts. The Cole try was a non try. Mako was about a foot infront of Dan Cole. Funnily enough in the run up to that try Browns Foot trip on Spedding was ignored. I though Nigel was very one sided in the first half and on a few occassions he gave a penalty to England which even Brian Moore was scratching his head over.

French will will always suffer when a British ref is in charge of their games...

I agree he was a foot in front, but I think he was also a couple feet to the left

Am sure some people will have their Set Squares out over this one but I think Nigel made a decision and didnt want to be seen to go back on it....poor form really.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Doubt it'll get cited as legitimate challenge for the ball.

Heat of the moment too I expect.

The Cole try is an odd one, I do think he was in front but also agree with Guscott that Guirado tackled the wrong man, at no point did he look at Cole.

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:

nathan wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:England thoroughly deserved the win but and there were a few buts. The Cole try was a non try. Mako was about a foot infront of Dan Cole. Funnily enough in the run up to that try Browns Foot trip on Spedding was ignored. I though Nigel was very one sided in the first half and on a few occassions he gave a penalty to England which even Brian Moore was scratching his head over.

French will will always suffer when a British ref is in charge of their games...

I agree he was a foot in front, but I think he was also a couple feet to the left

Am sure some people will have their Set Squares out over this one but I think Nigel made a decision and didnt want to be seen to go back on it....poor form really.

Of course you do, as with a few others on here you'll be running to devalue the grand slam.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:The Cole try is an odd one, I do think he was in front but also agree with Guscott that Guirado tackled the wrong man, at no point did he look at Cole.

Cos Mako was in the way.

bumble wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Doubt it'll get cited as legitimate challenge for the ball.

Heat of the moment too I expect.

And thats where stupid rulings come into it but no its a good challenge within the rules here!

Great we've got the WUMs on the thread now trying to pick apart any England success.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:The Cole try is an odd one, I do think he was in front but also agree with Guscott that Guirado tackled the wrong man, at no point did he look at Cole.

That was as illegal a latching as you can get and the try shouldn't have been awarded by the "best ref in the world".

Hmmm...not sure if its picking apart Englands success. They have been the best team of the tournament. It is a shame that there was some refereeing decisions that would not be deemed to be be fair. It is part and parcel of the game though and nobody will remember it next week.

Feck the wums. We won the SLAM

Well done England - the best side this 6N. Quite a turnaround from the RWC - nice one Eddie. And France turning up made it all the sweeter.

Well done Eng! Best team, playing best rugby. Was closer than expected, France playing better than usual, England at about 60% but still much stronger. Good luck going forward, hope we all go with u. Hopethe eng fans on here enjoy the celebrations!!

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:Hmmm...not sure if its picking apart Englands success. They have been the best team of the tournament. It is a shame that there was some refereeing decisions that would not be deemed to be be fair. It is part and parcel of the game though and nobody will remember it next week.

Interesting that you only pick out the ones that 'favoured' England though.

I'm not sure why I'm engaging with these drainers though

Grand Slam!

Not a vintage 6 nations, but England worthy winners. The fixtures were favourable this year for doing the Slam with the three weakest teams the away. England have progressed (along with Scotland). The other Nations have stagnated or gone backwards. Italy and France look a mess.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Not spectacular...hes tweaked what Lancaster had but we've done it.

Great stuff.

Lots to improve aswell!

He's done a bit more than that with a couple of very simple changes to the team, Farrell at 12 instead of Barritt gives us more go forward whilst Joseph has really stepped up his defence to compensate there. Nowell on the wing has been a big improvement on May while Kruis and Itoje look like the best second row partnership since 2003. He's only tinkered slightly but it's made a big big difference.

The performances haven't been massively different... just improved slowly and been solid

But we've won games we may have lost in the past

I gain confidence from when I see him in interviews...even though I know the odd time hes just talking rubbish to wind the media up. But If I gain confidence frm that can you imagin what he must do to the players. Its way more than Lancaster ever gave....

VinceWLB wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:The Cole try is an odd one, I do think he was in front but also agree with Guscott that Guirado tackled the wrong man, at no point did he look at Cole.

That was as illegal a latching as you can get and the try shouldn't have been awarded by the "best ref in the world".

Why?

trebellbobaggins wrote:

Breadvan wrote:Our line out....superb.

And now we have LCD , as a Cornishman I am very sorry.

Could have fooled me!!

No 7&1/2 wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:The Cole try is an odd one, I do think he was in front but also agree with Guscott that Guirado tackled the wrong man, at no point did he look at Cole.

That was as illegal a latching as you can get and the try shouldn't have been awarded by the "best ref in the world".

Why?

Player latching on in front of ball carrier.

VinceWLB wrote:How is that an England penalty? Vunipola scrummaging on his belly.

Sure Hersh will comment on that, seeing as he mentions Jenkins all the time.

Cyril wrote:

Geen sport voor watjes wrote:Hmmm...not sure if its picking apart Englands success. They have been the best team of the tournament. It is a shame that there was some refereeing decisions that would not be deemed to be be fair. It is part and parcel of the game though and nobody will remember it next week.

Interesting that you only pick out the ones that 'favoured' England though.

You are probably right in the overall scheme of things but the decisions that did go Englands way were at crucial times (i,e they directly led to a try or penalties). Nigel did seem to be pretty much on Englands side though for a good bit of the game.

VinceWLB wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:

VinceWLB wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:The Cole try is an odd one, I do think he was in front but also agree with Guscott that Guirado tackled the wrong man, at no point did he look at Cole.

That was as illegal a latching as you can get and the try shouldn't have been awarded by the "best ref in the world".

Why?

Player latching on in front of ball carrier.

Explain that sorry don't get your point.

Duty281 wrote:Strange game. England three tries and four points to the good, but it doesn't feel like they're winning.

Was crazy looking at the margin all the time, despite England's clear dominance try etc wise

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Not spectacular...hes tweaked what Lancaster had but we've done it.

Great stuff.

Lots to improve aswell!

He's done a bit more than that with a couple of very simple changes to the team, Farrell at 12 instead of Barritt gives us more go forward whilst Joseph has really stepped up his defence to compensate there. Nowell on the wing has been a big improvement on May while Kruis and Itoje look like the best second row partnership since 2003. He's only tinkered slightly but it's made a big big difference.

The performances haven't been massively different... just improved slowly and been solid

But we've won games we may have lost in the past

I gain confidence from when I see him in interviews...even though I know the odd time hes just talking rubbish to wind the media up. But If I gain confidence frm that can you imagin what he must do to the players. Its way more than Lancaster ever gave....

The breakdown has been a massive difference, in Itoje we now have a genuine breakdown specialist and Haskell has been given more licence to be a nuisance there.

I thought England got the rub of the green with the ref today, especially Dan Coles try which Owens lacked the bottle to reverse his own decision.

I dont the result of the game would have been any different. England were markedly better and more organised. Not sure I buy the French "turning up". Its a very poor France team. They showed some good skills throwing it around but scored no tries and defensively were a mess. Englnd looked like scoring everytime they got near Frances 22. Their lineout was a bad as I have seen in a Six Nations game and Farrell had an off day with the boot which would have made the scoreboard less flattering to France.

TightHEAD wrote:Feck the wums. We won the SLAM

Yes well done, congratulations to all the English fans, you've been the best team by a mile this year. the slam was well deserved.

Here's video of Cole's try (French commentary)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuoa3wVsNxg

Happy days and teams do make their own luck.

England deserved winners in France but France were the better team for a lot of the match, just, as already mentioned, toothless where it counts. Despite Brown's terrible passes England were not (It's worth mentioning that he was generally giving terrible passes after making brilliant breaks - when he stripped that ball from a french guy and then darted forward...

I can see why someone is going to pick on the Watson hands in french guy (Fickou ?) face thing but it was an even compete from the ball and no fingers went near eyes as such. No harm done and the French were not upset about it.

Kruis should have been MoM although Billy did get more and more influential as time went on and was a big reason why we came good at the end. There was probably a case to be made for Spedding also. Kruis has had a chance this year and taken it and run. Watson has also improved out of sight. Much more physical to add to the dancing feet and straight speed.

Great team spirit. They do work so hard for each other.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Hammersmith harrier wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Not spectacular...hes tweaked what Lancaster had but we've done it.

Great stuff.

Lots to improve aswell!

He's done a bit more than that with a couple of very simple changes to the team, Farrell at 12 instead of Barritt gives us more go forward whilst Joseph has really stepped up his defence to compensate there. Nowell on the wing has been a big improvement on May while Kruis and Itoje look like the best second row partnership since 2003. He's only tinkered slightly but it's made a big big difference.

The performances haven't been massively different... just improved slowly and been solid

But we've won games we may have lost in the past

I gain confidence from when I see him in interviews...even though I know the odd time hes just talking rubbish to wind the media up. But If I gain confidence frm that can you imagin what he must do to the players. Its way more than Lancaster ever gave....

The breakdown has been a massive difference, in Itoje we now have a genuine breakdown specialist and Haskell has been given more licence to be a nuisance there.

Yes but Lancaster didn't have Itoje (he was on his list from a few years back though)

I agree he didn't use Haskell or Robshaw correctly.

Its Lancasters squad, but you are completely right Jones is putting an Aussie tweak on Lancasters squad.

Well done England.

Looks like you're back in the running

Rugby Fan wrote:Here's video of Cole's try (French commentary)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuoa3wVsNxg

£130 right there!

England were good today, considering the fact that was probably the best French performance of the tournament. Happy for them, as they have been the best team and thus a slam is deserved. Could've done with a few more Farrell kicks for my Dream Team though.

Ah well, congrats to the guys on here and celebrate hard.

Rugby Fan wrote:Here's video of Cole's try (French commentary)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuoa3wVsNxg

On behalf of all us non French speakers - thanks for clarifying that