6N 2017: England v France, 4 February

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ENGLAND v FRANCE
4 February 2017
KO: 16:50
Twickenham, London 

Live on ITV, FR2, RTE, DMAX, BBC (H)

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Touch judges: Glen Jackson (New Zealand) & Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
TMO: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

A. Head to Head

102 Played 102
56 Won 39
7 Drawn 7
39 Lost 56
1623 Points 1290

B. Recent Form 

19 March 2016
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
21 – 31 to England

22 August 2015
Stade de France, Saint-Denis
25 – 20 to France

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

C. Teams

ENGLAND 

15-Mike Brown; 14-Jonny May, 13-Jonathan Joseph, 12-Owen Farrell, 11-Elliot Daly; 10-George Ford, 9-Ben Youngs; 1-Joe Marler, 2-Dylan Hartley (captain), 3-Dan Cole, 4-Joe Launchbury, 5-Courtney Lawes, 6-Maro Itoje, 7-Tom Wood, 8-Nathan Hughes

Replacements: 16-Jamie George, 17-Matt Mullan, 18-Kyle Sinckler 19-Teimana Harrison, 20-James Haskell, 21-Danny Care, 22-Ben Te'o, 23-Jack Nowell

FRANCE

15-Scott Spedding; 14-Noa Nakaitaci, 13-Remi Lamerat, 12-Gael Fickou, 11-Virimi Vakatawa; 10-Camille Lopez, 9-Baptiste Serin; 1-Cyril Baille, 2-Guilhem Guirado (captain), 3-Uini Atonio, 4-Sebastien Vahaamahina, 5-Yoann Maestri, 6-Damien Chouly, 7-Kevin Gourdon, 8-Louis Picamoles

Replacements: 16-Clement Maynadier, 17-Rabah Slimani, 18-Xavier Chiocci, 19-Arthur Iturria, 20-Loann Goujon, 21-Maxime Machenaud, 22-Jean Marc Doussain, 23-Yoann Huget

mid_gen wrote:Brown's having a typically solid game, some good cover tackling.

Hope DC comes on soon Youngs is well off form

Horse Poopie, forwards aren't doing enough to secure quick ball

hardly a penalty, ref is ruining this game

How was that not a penalty to France for England hanging on?

Could have led to an England try.

Hartley just can't help himself can he? Only time England pack looks like it has some bite to it is in the handbags.

TMO was bizarre there. He thought the ref should play on but decided to stop play and tell him why he should play on. Which confused the ref.

and where is the TMO for that high tackle on Nakatawa?

Handling errors killing England here.

France are done, they look exhausted.

Knee-jerk conclusion after 56 minutes: Itoje doesn't work especially well at six in this set-up.

GET IN THERE

How feican good is Picamoles? Simply the stand out player on the pitch.

This will be a strange weekend if France win. Italy tomorrow? 

id strongly suggest getting laws off, itoje to lock and haskell on asap

Haskell has to come on straight away surely?!

We are so missing billy

eirebilly wrote:How feican good is Picamoles? Simply the stand out player on the pitch.

with spedding a close 2nd

Great try

Gwlad wrote:

eirebilly wrote:How feican good is Picamoles? Simply the stand out player on the pitch.

with spedding a close 2nd

Not wrong there brother, both have been brilliant and at the heart of everything good for France.

wtf England, haven't seen anything like this under Eddie.

Pleasure to have Picamoles at the Gardens. He really is class.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That was all Haskell, winning the collision and sucking in on the gainline.

Odds on for a draw?

Shame if France lose as they have been the better side at least for the first 50 minutes, but the English bench has made all the difference, and winning while playing this poorly will keep them honest. Draw is on but i think France may have blown themselves out

Poor box kick from care, that's where his game suffers

Gwlad wrote:Shame if France lose as they have been the better side at least for the first 50 minutes, but the English bench has made all the difference, and winning while playing this poorly will keep them honest. Draw is on but i think France may have blown themselves out

Always going to be the case when they utilise fatties

Fair feics to England, they have really weathered the storm and are proving to be the best team in the NH.

One of the worst missed kicks to touch I have ever seen.

Phew............

We didn't deserve that win.



Danny Care = quick ball........and we score.

phew what a relief that game is over. I know a win is a win, but in all honesty England was very lucky to win that game.

France by far the better team.

BUT, well done England on the win and on breaking the English record for the most wins in a row.

Any reason we didn't kick that last penalty? Wouldn't have changed bonus points but don't see any reason not to add to your tournament total.

Difficult match to watch. Can't work out what we were trying to do with Hughes.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:One of the worst missed kicks to touch I have ever seen.

Quins vs Saints for me.

I think we all knew that with England somewhat depleted up front and France finding some form under Noves that even with the poor performances of France in recent years this was going to be a tighter game, but i thought England were poor for 2/3 of the game and the big question is how can Hartley stay skipper when he is clearly not the better player? Bit like the Warburton Tipuric situation i think George is by far the better hooker and carries while Harltey is not showing enough. I dont think England will win the 6 Nations based on this performance but having survived i expect some radical changes. I'd be dropping Wood and Lawes for starters. Haskell should be starting as should Nowell.

Farrell 10, Teo 12, Care 9. Much more threatening against a physical side like France.

Ford and youngs had a shocker. Ford in particular.

mid_gen wrote:Farrell 10, Teo 12, Care 9. Much more threatening against a physical side like France.

Ford and youngs had a shocker. Ford in particular.

Was Ford playing?

TightHEAD wrote:Phew............

We didn't deserve that win.



Danny Care = quick ball........and we score.

Go forward ball made it easier for him, don't get confused. His box kicks were awful too.

Have to say though, this six nations is going to be close and not just England/Ireland

nathan wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Phew............

We didn't deserve that win.



Danny Care = quick ball........and we score.

Go forward ball made it easier for him, don't get confused. His box kicks were awful too.

Yes i agree, Care is marginally quicker at base but with a tiring opposition, it was chiefly Haskell and George that made the difference with some decent carrying by hughes and Mullan.

nathan wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Phew............

We didn't deserve that win.



Danny Care = quick ball........and we score.

Go forward ball made it easier for him, don't get confused. His box kicks were awful too.

Wilko, BOD and SCW saying the same, Care = quick ball hence why we had go forward. Ben Youngs is Sloooooooooooow.......

The ITV commentary team is poor.

Well done England

Care had one dodgy box kick but was better in every other respect. He can really open up an attack and having teo running good direct lines instead of Ford who might as well have not been on the pitch made a huge difference.

A bit disappointed Sinckler didn't get a decent chance when the forwards were tiring....but you know, a win is a win.

Hope the Youngs fawning is over.

I was hoping France would sneak it, so the tournament would be more interesting and neither England or Ireland could run away with it. Either way well done, one hurdle out the way for England.

TightHEAD wrote:

nathan wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Phew............

We didn't deserve that win.



Danny Care = quick ball........and we score.

Go forward ball made it easier for him, don't get confused. His box kicks were awful too.

Wilko, BOD and SCW saying the same, Care = quick ball hence why we had go forward. Ben Youngs is Sloooooooooooow.......

A scrum half gets quick ball when his pack are dominating the breakdown and giving him a solid base to work from. Again, Care may be marginally quicker at the base but it was the pack changes that made the difference and enabled him; England were dominated up front for 2/3 of the game but when the French pack lost that battle, Care exploited it.

Allty wrote:The ITV commentary team is poor.

For me, Flatman is good, and Dallaglio getting much better from a low base. Wilkinson in the box always talks astutely. Don't need Woodward but BOD was OK.

Youngs had the same quick ball but took longer to shift it.


B.Youngs thought process at the breakdown.......balls available.....look left.......look right........look at ball............breath in......breath out.....pick it up.....step one..........step two........pass.

D.Care thought process at the breakdown.......balls available......pick it up....look.....pass.

I hate any sport on ITV, gutted that some of the games are on there!

Rugby Fan wrote:

Allty wrote:The ITV commentary team is poor.

For me, Flatman is good, and Dallaglio getting much better from a low base. Wilkinson in the box always talks astutely. Don't need Woodward but BOD was OK.

I think they are much better than the BBC's

TightHEAD wrote:

nathan wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Phew............

We didn't deserve that win.



Danny Care = quick ball........and we score.

Go forward ball made it easier for him, don't get confused. His box kicks were awful too.

Wilko, BOD and SCW saying the same, Care = quick ball hence why we had go forward. Ben Youngs is Sloooooooooooow.......

They also said the subs were giving more go forward ball. So exactly as I said.

TightHEAD wrote:Youngs had the same quick ball but took longer to shift it.


B.Youngs thought process at the breakdown.......balls available.....look left.......look right........look at ball............breath in......breath out.....pick it up.....step one..........step two........pass.

D.Care thought process at the breakdown.......balls available......pick it up....look.....pass.

Nope, we all go through this each time he doesn't provide quick service. People seem to forget it isn't his job to clear rucks and provide clean ball.

He does need to up his game but Care providing quick ball certainly wasn't all down to him.

Care did at least look much better than he has for Quins. But i think that's largely because he came off the bench.

He was slow all game from the first minute to his last

Youngs is not the only slow one round here!