Le Winner Tales It All - England vs France

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The Guardian throws up some interesting points of discussion that have been touched upon already elsewhere. The positives first are that there will be 2000 fans in the stadium at the weekend:plenty of room to spread out but an important step back to normality. It also allows england the chance on some revenge for the 6 nations defeat and to lift some silverware. Despite overall feeling we've missed the chance to create depth in some key areas I think Jones has used these games pretty well. Genge has had some good performances, itoje and Launchbury have to me shown they can work effectively together, Willis and Earl have mins on the pitch, Lawrence looks set for a good career. Hell even if I dont think it's worked Joseph has proved he can cover wing (played there previously for england I know) though hopefully only for emergencies and we know conclusively Furbank isnt good enough.

That leads onto the negative. The balance between club and country has led France to agree to only play players 3 times over the course of these matches. It leave the final now a bit of an imbalance as France for some reason prioritised games over england meaning guys like Dupont and Vakatawa are unavailable. Perhaps they figured may as well let the media hype of 'France are back' reign on rather than risk a massacre at Twickenham. Its shame for the fans (and Amazon the poor multi billion company) but I'm looking forward to it anyway. There will still be fireworks from them I'm sure and in guys like Woki they certainly have quality. That guy could be box office, loads of potential with a slight question on his fitness to perform for 80 mins for me.

I suspect that Jones will go for a very strong team again but while his favourite phrase will be we've picked the strongest 23 it clearly leaves room for tinkering. I have a slight feeling that this may be the match he throws Malins a start.

Expecting a great game tbh. England have stuttered so far but easily been on top throughout their matches. Surely this is the game targeted from the off? Allez les rosbifs.

Do people like Englands current tactics?

Collapse2005 wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Brilliant. Deserved to win overall but great come back. Well done. Go on and win it.

Really? England have been average enough too.

England have blown a lot of chances but pretty sure they have dominated territory and chances.

Collapse2005 wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Brilliant. Deserved to win overall but great come back. Well done. Go on and win it.

Really? England have been average enough too.

Did you see France in the 2and half?

Drop goal time?

GeordieFalcon wrote:Do people like Englands current tactics?

No

Shh, respect the kicker boys

Reffed out of it, that should have been a penalty for France.

No one wants to win this

Dear me.

England dont deserve to win this at all, very poor performance.

England have played abysmally. Those two errors from Farrell and Vunipola sum it up perfectly. Basics.

Well place kicking has clearly cost us. Should have easily won and you've got to question the captain being the kicker as well.

England moved Billy to blindside and Curry to 8, to counter the France backs. Never seen that before from them with Billy and Curry on the pitch.

This isn’t a game where a team wins. It’s a game where someone is going to lose

Macalou is some player.

Awful by the ref. Taken in the air surely.

Anyone else want to fight over this comb with me?

Eddie looks nice today.

Why didnt Ford kick that last pen?

Ref never shouts 'use it' at the French

Mindless play.

Penalty-shootout? Good grief.

Needs a flash of brilliance. France have the advantage surely in the kick off. Not sure this goes with experience give none have them will have done this before.

Big gift for England there

tigertattie wrote:Big gift for England there

The missed knock ons from Faz and Billy in the build up to the final try as well as that from Macalou. If boot were on the other foot I'd be pretty miffed.

Has Tom Curry got the Ireland shirt on ..

king_carlos wrote:

tigertattie wrote:Big gift for England there

The missed knock ons from Faz and Billy in the build up to the final try as well as that from Macalou. If boot were on the other foot I'd be pretty miffed.

Agreed, France reffed out of it today.

Well done to England but not that impressive really especially as they played their big games at home.

Never in doubt! Woo-hoo!

Well that was hard work but well done England.

So England scrape a win thanks to some beneficial refereeing decisions. Against the French third team, at home, with a near-full strength line-up.

Play like that against the real France at the Six Nations and England will be demolished.

Jones needs to sort it out with a tactical adjustment that allows quality backs like May and Watson chances to influence the game.

Right MoM. Him or Jailbert

Well done. Well deserved. Surely lessons learned.

Bad luck Germs

England win...

But the future of French rugby is extremely healthy...

We showed some minerals there but we always make it difficult for ourselves. Don't feel like celebrating too much.

lostinwales wrote:Right MoM. Him or Jailbert

Dulin for me. I thought he was excellent.

Cyril wrote:Never in doubt! Woo-hoo!

I wouldnt celebrate a draw and a loss v France if I was you. They got the better of England in 2020.

Collapse2005 wrote:

king_carlos wrote:

tigertattie wrote:Big gift for England there

The missed knock ons from Faz and Billy in the build up to the final try as well as that from Macalou. If boot were on the other foot I'd be pretty miffed.

Agreed, France reffed out of it today.

Well done to England but not that impressive really especially as they played their big games at home.

Lol

Duty281 wrote:So England scrape a win thanks to some beneficial refereeing decisions. Against the French third team, at home, with a near-full strength line-up.

Play like that against the real France at the Six Nations and England will be demolished.

Jones needs to sort it out. Tactics that allow quality backs like May and Watson chances to influence the game.

Nope. France played with more freedom but did run out of energy. Very bright future. England attack still feels blunt but they are immensly strong everywhere else.

Had Farrell made his kicks this would not have been as close.

What a game to win. Well played England.

Very very hard luck France. You really turned the pressure on and played a cracking game.

Collapse2005 wrote:

Cyril wrote:Never in doubt! Woo-hoo!

I wouldnt celebrate a draw and a loss v France if I was you. They got the better of England in 2020.

Lol again.

If you seal off all game the referee will start to go against you.

GeordieFalcon wrote:England win...

But the future of French rugby is extremely healthy...

They’ve always had the ability to find good rugby from nowhere. Let’s not forget that they are always extremely competent at blowing it too.

Huge difference when Robson was brought on and that for once isnt purely a slightly on youngs who was average again but a return to 2016 when the bench made a real impact.

Collapse2005 wrote:

Cyril wrote:Never in doubt! Woo-hoo!

I wouldnt celebrate a draw and a loss v France if I was you. They got the better of England in 2020.

England won the two tournaments they were both involved in. That’s what counts.

That France team should be fairly happy. England not so much (!)

doctor_grey wrote:That France team should be fairly happy. England not so much (!)

France will take heart. England will take the trophy.

Scottrf wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:England win...

But the future of French rugby is extremely healthy...

They’ve always had the ability to find good rugby from nowhere. Let’s not forget that they are always extremely competent at blowing it too.

Under Edwards they will not be so up and diwn..they'll be drilled in defence.

Add in the talent...they'll be a,big one for the world cup

lostinwales wrote:

Duty281 wrote:So England scrape a win thanks to some beneficial refereeing decisions. Against the French third team, at home, with a near-full strength line-up.

Play like that against the real France at the Six Nations and England will be demolished.

Jones needs to sort it out. Tactics that allow quality backs like May and Watson chances to influence the game.

Nope. France played with more freedom but did run out of energy. Very bright future. England attack still feels blunt but they are immensly strong everywhere else.

Had Farrell made his kicks this would not have been as close.

England's attack is blunt because they choose to kick the majority of the time. Retro rugby. They have some fantastic attacking talents in the backs, but would prefer to play a safety-first game, even at home against the French thirds.

If Farrell had made his kicks, England would have still only won by a few points. Point is, Farrell shouldn't have been attempting so many 3-pointers, as England should have been imposing themselves on the opposition, given the experience and quality gap, with a more attacking game and going for the corner.

Scottrf wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:

Cyril wrote:Never in doubt! Woo-hoo!

I wouldnt celebrate a draw and a loss v France if I was you. They got the better of England in 2020.

England won the two tournaments they were both involved in. That’s what counts.

Could they have been any more boring though? They kicked the ball and fished for penalties and KOs all game long. Snore...