6 Nations - England v France

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Details:

Date: Sunday 10th February 2019
Time: 15:00 GMT
Location: Twickenham Stadium
Media Coverage: ITV, BBC (highlights only), Radio 5Live


Officials

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant 1: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant 2: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)



Teams


England

15 Elliot Daly (Wasps, 26 caps), 14 Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks, 43 caps), 13 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 18 caps), 12 Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, 28 caps), 11 Jonny May (Leicester Tigers, 41 caps), 10 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 66 caps) (c), 9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 81 caps), 1 Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 52 caps), 2 Jamie George (Saracens, 33 caps), 3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 18 caps), 4 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 69 caps), 5 George Kruis (Saracens, 28 caps), 6 Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons, 9 caps), 7 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 6 caps), 8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 37 caps).

16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, 8 caps), 17 Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs, 4 caps), 18 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 82 caps), 19 Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 54 caps), 20 Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 19 caps), 21 Dan Robson (Wasps, uncapped), 22 George Ford (Leicester Tigers, 52 caps), 23 Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 30 caps).





France

15. Yoann Huget
14. Damian Penaud
13. Mathieu Bastareaud
12. Geoffrey Doumayrou
11. Gaël Fickou
10. Camille Lopez
9. Morgan Parra
1. Jefferson Poirot
2. Guilhem Guirado
3. Demba Bamba
4. Sébastien Vahaamahina
5. Félix Lambey
6. Yacouba Camara
7. Arthur Iturria
8. Louis Picamoles

Replacements
16. Pierre Bourgarit
17. Dany Priso
18. Dorian Aldegheri
19. Paul Willemse
20. Gregory Alldritt
21. Antoine Dupont
22. Romain Ntamack
23. Thomas Ramos

Always thought Sinckler would be better at scrum half.

Class step

Ashton has been really good I have to say.

Another sharp finish. French full-back nowhere to be seen.

It could all go horribly wrong, but if England keep up at the current rate it will be 50+ points

France seem to have no-one at home at the back ...

Is Slade starting to get it at this level? Is he making that 13 shirt his?

What a first half that was 4 tries to 1. more of the same please in the second half.

What a first half that was 4 tries to 1. more of the same please in the second half.

Who would have thought playing a winger at full back, two centres on the wings and a prop at outside centre wasn't a good idea?

Heaf wrote:France seem to have no-one at home at the back ...

They seem to be so scared of our power runners going through them that they are shoving everyone up and in, leaving so much space behind and wide.

Could easily be another 30 in the second half for England.

LondonTiger wrote:

Heaf wrote:France seem to have no-one at home at the back ...

They seem to be so scared of our power runners going through them that they are shoving everyone up and in, leaving so much space behind and wide.

I'd like to see France drop someone back to field our kicks. I'd be interested to see if this England side would be able to adapt on the fly and keep the ball in hand, and whether we could do damage playing in that way.

GeordieFalcon wrote:All the talk of Johnny...but that French winger who's just scored has impressed alot

Well he's actually a13. France are playing 2 centres on the wings.

miaow wrote:Could easily be another 30 in the second half for England.

I hope ...

Firstly, there’s no doubt that England are playing well. They are mixing up their play with direct power and crafty kicking

France are on another level of ridiculous this week. They can’t defend high balls, chips or grubbers.

I can see this ending with England on +50

Outstanding half of rugby. We just seem to keep making the right choices....when did we become an intelligent side???

I have been impressed with Ashton. He has always been great at spotting space and now he is playing in a team that is looking to do just that.

Wales have to beat England next and go on to take a Slam.... if they don’t, it will be an English Grand Slam this year. If it goes down to points, it’s England’s title...

... basically Wales have to get a Slam or its England’s title this year.

And the way Wales have played so far, even as a loyal Welshman I cant see us beating this English side

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Outstanding half of rugby. We just seem to keep making the right choices....when did we become an intelligent side???

And so often it is Farrell who is at the middle of it. Doesn't make sense...

Exiledinborders wrote:I have been impressed with Ashton. He has always been great at spotting space and now he is playing in a team that is looking to do just that.

What impresses me is how much work he is doing off the ball.

Huget really invisible now ...

tigertattie wrote:Firstly, there’s no doubt that England are playing well. They are mixing up their play with direct power and crafty kicking  

France are on another level of ridiculous this week. They can’t defend high balls, chips or grubbers.

I can see this ending with England on +50

Leaving Huget and the midget Parra at the back on their own against a barrage of contestable kicks is not a great tactical decision. The phase after a kick the French wings are staying in the line and with Parra and Huget caught up in the contest it leaves nobody home.

Jonny May's first half hattrick takes him to 22 England tries in 42 appearances. He had 10 at the end of 2017.

22 tries takes him into 7th ahead of Cueto and Ashton (both 20) and level with Lewsey on the England all time top try scorers list.

With 4 this tournament in the first 1.5 games and Italy still to come, May could overhaul Stockdale's 7 tries scored in last year's tournament as the moden record. The most scored in any tournament was 8 - last achieved in 1925.

Great, May in my fantasy team. As for England, well they look pretty good again. Should we be worried?

First chance missed by England

Manu's handling has been rubbish

I thought ashton should have caught that.

This would have been a good game for Elis Genge to come on.

Daft quick throw in

Bit of sloppiness creeping in now. But that's to be expected with such a big lead.

Nice hash on Currys head.

So Hughes and Billy in the back row.

Well done Nige for having the bottle to do that ...

Well France showed some flashes of brilliance there, offloads, etc; before they went and dropped it. Then of course there’s a potential penalty try, France are horrific.

I don't think that should have been a penalty try....

Let off for Ashton there haha

Terrible call by Owens. Not a penalty try and not a yellow.

Penalty try seems a bit harsh there. The ball was behind Ashton and he still had significant ground to make.

Definite penalty try, can’t tackle without the ball and he was clear a few metres in front of the try line. If you dont think he’s going to score then let him make the mistake. I think he might have messed it up but you can’t tackle before he has it.

Ashton may not have scored so stupid of the French player to give Nige the decision to make ...

Pen try is debatable. Had to be yellow either way though. Ashton has never scored against France apparently.

He had missed kicked it...ie he didnt kick it before hed been tackled.

No penalty try.

Great positional kicking by Farrell today.

Give Robson some game time, Eddie

Scottrf wrote:Definite penalty try, can’t tackle without the ball and he was clear a few metres in front of the try line. If you dont think he’s going to score then let him make the mistake.

Ashton went to kick the ball on, missed it, over ran the ball and then got tackled off the ball. Wasnt going to score, definitely not a penalty try. Terrible decision.

Penalty and yellow card for me. It's not probably that Ashton would have scored, or not certain enough for a penalty try in my mind. He may not have gathered it, he may have overran it.

But it's a penalty to deny a try scoring chance and deserved a yellow card.

I think that was a stupid retake my Johnny May. England cannot afford to get complacent just because they have a handy lead.

I wonder if Jones will look at trying a Ford-Farrell-Manu axis here or if he will take Farrell off and see how the side play without him.

Definitely a game to get Robson on either way. The reserve 9 position needs sorting for this side.

I don't think that Ashton would have scored, but the tackle without the ball means it is an easy decision

What a plank - why do that?