Brute force: Manu Tuilagi
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England sidestepped their latest challenge on their way to a Grand Slam with a punishing 23-13 victory over France at Twickenham.
France were transformed from the sluggish side that were abysmal against Wales a fortnight ago - aggressive at the breakdown and benefiting from moving Wesley Fofana back into the centre after his ill-fated stint on the wing.
England were more clinical in the second-half and gained the lead thanks to a fortuitous try from Tuilagi, who enjoyed an excellent afternoon against his French counterpart Mathieu Bastareaud.
A brutally physical clash worth of its affectionate title, saw frequent crunching tackles whilst the scrum was a contest initially dominated by France, before England gained parity as the match progressed.
It was far from the greatest performance under Stuart Lancaster, but a crucial result that leaves England with Italy and Wales in their path on the way to a first Grand Slam since 2003.
Farrell opened the scoring for England after just two minutes following an infringement from Thierry Dusautoir at the breakdown.
France were unable to exploit a three-man overlap on the outside when Bastareaud knocked on, but with advantage being played Morgan Parra opened his account with a penalty from 39 metres out.
The visitors grabbed the initiative in the scrum to force England into conceding two consecutive penalties, with France benefiting from a smoother surface than the pot-holed Stade de France from a fortnight ago against Wales.
Both sides struggled to convert large periods of possession in attack - conceding penalties when faced by a physical backlash from the opposition at the breakdown.
An attacking line-out created the base for a promising English attack after Manu Tuilagi burst through the midfield, only for Farrell's chip across for Chris Ashton to go too deep. Farrell converted England's penalty advantage however to make the score 6-3 after 27 minutes.
Fofana then broke through several English tackles down the left flank to score the game's opening try, Ashton's tap tackle unable to bring the Clermont centre down as he crossed in the left-hand corner, with Parra converting.
Farrell hit back with a penalty to cut the deficit to one point with five minutes left before half-time, before Parra attempted to respond with a penalty of his own at the end of the half from long-range which fell wide to the left.
France showed no let-up in the scrum at the beginning of the second half, forcing the penalty, but Parra was unable to convert.
A punishing maul from England then handed Farrell the chance to regain the lead, with the Saracen again successful to move England 12-10 ahead.
England then furthered their lead thanks to Tuilagi, the Leicester centre snatching up a loose ball at the back of the French ruck to canter into the corner.
France struck back with a penalty immediately from the restart, substitute Frederic Michalak coming on to convert and leave the score at 17-13. More strict officiating at the breakdown from referee Craig Joubert handed England an opportunity to add more points, Farrell lining up a 48 metre attempt which fell low to the left.
A burst up the left from Picamoles had England scrambling, before Michalak failed to take a low pass having begun the passage of play with a perfect chip over the top of the English defence.
Another brilliant surge from Tuilagi left Bastareaud flat on his back in midfield, setting up a grubber kick for Toby Flood behind the French defence which was well fielded by Vincent Clerc.
England though were in the ascendency at the breakdown, with Michalak penalised to allow Toby Flood the easiest of opportunities to stretch the home side's lead. He made no mistake - sending England into a 20-13 lead with seven minutes remaining.
Another error at the breakdown handed Flood a further three points to give England a solid cushion heading into the closing minutes.
The home side's defence held despite a late French surge, confirming their victory on a bitterly cold night at Twickenham and condemning France to one of their worst starts to a Six Nations ever.
Man of the Match: Despite the presence of Tuilagi, Tom Wood was outstanding for England from the base of the scrum.
Moment of the Match: With a lucky break needed, Manu Tuilagi could scarcely believe his luck as he picked up a loose ball and scored England's first try.
Villain of the Match: Not the greatest of substitute appearances for Frederic Michalak, whose little errors gave up key points in the second half.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Tuilagi
Pens: Farrell 4, Flood 2
Yellow Card: Cole
For France:
Tries: Fofana
Cons: Parra
Pens: Parra, Michalak
The teams:
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Tom Wood, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Thomas Waldrom, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.
France: 15 Yoann Huget, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Benjamin Fall, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Christophe Samson, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Luc Ducalcon, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Antonie Claassen, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Frederic Michalak, 23 Florian Fritz.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: John Lacey (Ireland), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
by Ben Coles
@bencoles_
Comments
Headhunter99 says...
Thought it was a real match and didn't breathe easy until the 79th minute. France turned up to play and gave this England side a reminder (if they need it) that they still have a long way to go. Lots of pointing at the ref in these posts, I'm no Joubert fan and felt he did miss an awful lot but if your the offending side you take any thing that goes your way.
PSA's use of the bench was strange and the lack of cohesion at 10 is really worrying but with 10 of the top 14 French clubs playing imports at fly - half I'd be interested in any suggestions how to overcome this. I still felt the French side were not quite as fit as England in the last 20 and would again be interested in any comments on this.
Finally to any of the anti English brigade, do you really believe that provided we beat Italy we think we only have to turn up in Cardiff to ensure a Grand Slam ? Just because apart from the last 2 results Wales have been poor why do you all keep carping on about pathetic bur arrogant England.
Posted 08:37 24th February 2013
les_bleus says...
I might be off topic, but I was wondering if there was somewhere on the internet a site that analyses the game of rugby by focusing on the role of the ref. Do not get me wrong, although Joubert did all he could to give the game to England (the "Conquerers" LOL), I am only slightly bitter as I think we now have a good French team back IF PSA stops screwing it again (he is already talking of having Fofana back on the wing if needed - what an idiot!).
However, regardless of the team we support (France having been on the good side of poor referreing too), I was wondering if there is a place where these issues are discussed and that could influence the inept policies put in place by the IRB on referreing and ref performance. I am surprised by the fact that one cannot criticise a ref after the game (PSA said he was not allowed to comment - why?), and even so-called journalists never make this the main subject of their analyses (i.e. the "Conquerors" here).
The sport of rugby has suffered for a while of inconsistent referreing and this is becoming increasingly the case. The international legitimacy of the sport is therefore in danger, and it will continue to be followed only by a minority of passionates (like all of us here) and that's it. There is a need for the possibility to criticise refs without being hammered by the IRB or natioanl Federations, for a transparent assessment of each refs after each game, for a forum where the so called leaders of our sport tell us what is happening on that front. If such forum exists, I'd be grateful if you could point me to it.
Posted 08:34 24th February 2013
new_j4a says...
@tellitlikeitis, You sound like @sincero. How is Leinster doing?
Posted 08:29 24th February 2013
les_bleus says...
Can someone tell me why the second fofana try was not validated? There was no forward pass, at least as far as I can see. So 1 disallowed try (for France), one validated invalid try (for England), plus totally biased referreing at the breakdown - isn't that a bit too much for such an important game?
PR given the above, the title for your article is ridiculous.
Posted 07:48 24th February 2013
new_j4a says...
@alsaati not sure how qualified you are to judge the ref....you appear to be intellectually challenged by the simple task of posting your rather dubious opinion. (Is some anthropologist doing an experiment with a laptop in the primate enclosure at the Paris zoo?....eventually we'll see some sense?)
Posted 07:41 24th February 2013
butl says...
what got under Farrells skin in the first half?
He was mouthing off to everyone!
Posted 07:22 24th February 2013
porridge_time says...
Firstly excellent victory by England, cannot see Italy causing too much problems as they appear to have gone backwards since the opening game against France.
England in my opinion will be heading to Cardiff in good shape trying to secure there first Grand Slam for a while.
France did threaten and it could so easily have been a different result, but the host of changes made by them took the wind out of their sails... as did the Tuilagi try.. somewhat lucky, but hey that rugby for you.
Lancaster and his opponents will certainly have picked up on a couple things though... Lawes is not a back row player as he looked lost and Farrell looked to have a short fuse and a bit niggly. I'm sure the Welsh will look to work on that.
Posted 07:15 24th February 2013
Axax says...
Well done England! A solid team which makes few mistakes. They have mental strength and that made the difference. It is the sign of maturity and I think England is on its way to be an amazing contender for the WC2015.
But well done France as well, Defo much improved compared to what we saw against Italy and Wales. Were it not for this opportunist try by Tuilagi, maybe the outcome would have been different. Parra and Trinh Duc were ok, quick ball releases and more inspiration, I liked it. I also think it becomes clearer and clearer Michalak has to go. He is struggling to understand a dummy pass is to fake out opponents... not his team mates :D I was also disappointed with Clerc and Fall and Bastareaud (but for the latter it seems English players had a good strategy to shut him down). It is time to call in players like O'Connor, Médard, Dulin, Fickou and Buttin.
All in all a good game to watch, and I prefer a French loss like this. So not too much disappointed :) Good luck for England to get the Slam. And fingers crossed for France against Ireland and Scotland...
Posted 06:20 24th February 2013
tellitlikeitis says...
the game of rugby is now certifiably corrupt. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot. Craig Joubert is a farce, pure corrupt.
Posted 03:24 24th February 2013
Philly says...
Ben7. Nothing could ever be as worse as Barnes. Sorry for the bad English. I meant worse than Barnes..... Its late.....
Posted 23:55 23rd February 2013
Philly says...
Ben7. Nothing could ever be as worse as Barnes.
Posted 23:36 23rd February 2013
froggy73 says...
Great game to watch. The crunch as we like to see it. Well done England and while France's XV was imo slightly superior, France bench was outclassed and that made the difference; as well as some very bad decision from the referee.
Craig Joubert once more showed his incompetency. After having badly refered the WC final, he has been a disgrace today.
Posted 22:56 23rd February 2013
trelawney says...
First of all a question: When is Ashton going to learn how to tackle?
Secondly: Why do posters bring up comments on referees in games which were played 5 or more years ago? Do they have bitter memories about those games?
The only match that I think worthwhile remembering is that great match between the Barbarians & the All Blacks in the '70's.
Posted 22:52 23rd February 2013
collarbone says...
Agree ashton must go. Nothing in attack a girl in defence my gran could tackle better. Wood wasted at the base but morgan shoul be back. Courtney will come again. Wales will rolled over by the rose they were shocking against italy 3rds.
Posted 22:16 23rd February 2013
Dafydd29 says...
Typical PR - Fofana scored what will probably be THE try of the 6N but all you can say is that he "broke through several English tackles" - I think it was SIX - and you congratulate that idiot Ashton for not tackling him either. Pathetic commentary.
Posted 21:53 23rd February 2013
Waz4before says...
@ Jhamer25 - perhaps for once PR chose he right word:
Verb
Overcome and take control of (a place or people) by use of military force.
Successfully overcome (a problem or weakness).
All too much for your Anglo-phobia is it :-)
Posted 21:48 23rd February 2013
Dafydd29 says...
england did not win this game - France lost it. Why people like Hartley, Ashton, Lawes and Farrell are on the team is anybody's guess 5well apart from Hartley they are the token English players.
If farrell cannot learn to control himself - any other ref would have sent him off - he will be a 5 minute wonder - perhaps its his Pansy haircut?
Posted 21:46 23rd February 2013
Jhamer25 says...
like hell did the english conquerthe french.
The frnach were smashing them int he first 40 minutes and looked liked clear winners. But at the end england did deserve to win cause htey kept calm did what they had to do and the french looked careless and seemed like they couldn't care if they one.
England wanted it more and it proved. must admit though that the fench scrum was superior and dan cole had a bad day at the ofice.
Posted 21:14 23rd February 2013
Jhamer25 says...
like hell did the english conquerthe french.
The frnach were smashing them int he first 40 minutes and looked liked clear winners. But at the end england did deserve to win cause htey kept calm did what they had to do and the french looked careless and seemed like they couldn't care if they one.
England wanted it more and it proved. must admit though that the fench scrum was superior and dan cole had a bad day at the ofice.
Posted 21:13 23rd February 2013
ben7 says...
@Philly
Bryce Lawrence in the 2011 WC for Australia vs SA and Lawrence in the WC Final were worse than Barnes
Posted 21:06 23rd February 2013