Full-time: England 19-14 France
Right that’s that done. England did well to survive a battering up front in the last half hour and there were positives in the performances of the back three and both centres. Henry Slade in particular, you would think, with his versatility has played himself on to the, er, very much proverbial plane.
That’s all from me tonight folks. Thanks for reading, emailing, tweeting and all that. Bye!
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80 min Farrell clears but straight to Spedding, who gives it to Guitoune. They go through the phases now, carrying it up towards the 22, but then Haskell wins the turnover! Penalty England and that should be that!
79 min Kockotto spots a gap and goes halfway through, but then his offload doesn’t go to hand again. It goes into touch, but glanced off May on its way. France win the lineout on halfway and Kockott speeds past tired defenders inside the 22. He offloads and France recycle, but then Kockott loses it!
78 min This time it’s called short but France have stolen another lineout, this time thanks to Flanquart.
77 min Picamoles comes off the back of the scrum and France shift it left to give Tales a better angle to clear. Clear he does, to touch, on the France right, 12m inside his own half.
76 min Cown-Dickie throws it long and, in any case, not straight. On Sky, Stuart Barnes says that Farrell should have gone for goal and not put his young hooker under that kind of pressure. It’s difficult to disagree.
75 min Another scrum and another mess, but this time it’s vindication for Corbisiero as he earns his side a penalty. Farrell sticks it in the left-hand corner.
73 min England pinch the lineout on halfway and Care kicks over the top. Guitoune takes it and is scragged after not calling the mark, but Spedding charges out. France carry it another 20m upfield, but knock on again.
72 min France get a scrum on their own 22 and Corbisiero gets absolutely mullered. Down he goes and the penalty is awarded. It’s remarkable that England remain five points clear given the battering they’re taking up front at the moment.
71 min Care was in fact taken out off the ball after hacking ahead, but John Lacey ignores urges from his assistants to check for foul play as the ball was already in touch. Hmm, not sure about that call at all.
70 min France cough up possession in the tackle and Care kicks ahead. He does so well to chase the ball and, when Guitoune slides back, it squirts loose. Care kicks ahead and May chases it down to touch down first, but the TMO confirms that the French winger had managed to get it into touch.
69 min France win the lineout just outside the 22 and maul it forward. Guirado charges into the 22, but Haskell turns him! Cipriani kicks long and France run it back.
68 min Kockott kicks long but straight to May. He runs and gets stopped just inside French territory, then Clark goes off his feet and gives away the penalty. The Saints man started well, but probably hasn’t done anywhere near enough to make the squad.
67 min England go left and, when Farrell straightens, he’s nearly through a gap! France are alert though and not only shut the gap, but isolate Farrell and turn him over. They run it, shipping it left, but eventually get taken into touch just inside the England half.
66 min Slade off, Twelvetrees on. Which is like trading in your DVD of Terminator 2 for a DVD of Moulin Rouge. The latter has his fans, but is objectively crap.
65 min Farrell sends one up high and Slade chases it brilliantly to secure possession for England 15m inside the French half. It’s spread wide to Watson, then back left and Slade stabs it through. Spedding fields and sends it left to Guitoune, but then his pass to Lamerat goes forward inside the 22!
64 min England make their penultimate change as Corbisiero makes his return to international rugby in place of Mako Vunipola. The Saracens prop has been outstanding in the loose today.
“Crikey, England’s replacement hooker has a full-blown mullet!” notes Robin Hazlehurst. “Does he think it is 1983 or something? Is it a subtle statement of support for Jeremy Corbyn?”
63 min Kockott pushes it wide from wide-ish on the right.
Try! (Ouedraogo 61) England 19-14 France
Kockott and Tales replace the half-backs for France. “Time is off” says the ref to Guirado. The ref turns his back and Guirado throws it in. “What did I just say?” But the hooker won’t care a jot, because it’s taken at the front and Ouedraogo gets the easiest ride of his life over the line!
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60 min Cowan-Dickie has the worst hair of any rugby player I’ve ever seen. It looks like Pat Sharpe’s hair having a teenage grunge phase. France win a penalty at the scrum and Dulin finds the corner perfectly on the right.
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59 min Cowan-Dickie finds his man with his first throw in international rugby, then pounces to secure the loose ball. Sadly said ball was loose because Attwood had knocked on, but oh well.
Brookes is having a head injury assessment, we’re told.
58 min Care sends it up high and France run it back through Spedding. It goes across and Lamerat tries to offload it out the back of the hand to Guitoune, but there’s no accuracy on the pass and it pops harmlessly into touch.
57 min France wheel the scrum illegally and England get the penalty, five metres out from their own line. That’ll be a nice relief for them. Farrell boots it 35m up the pitch, out on the right.
Atonio got his arm tangled with Burgess’s leg there. It was fortunate, but that’s good defensive positioning from Burgess, if we’re looking for positives. Luke Cowan-Dickie comes on for his debut in place of Webber, while David Wilson comes on for Brookes. Attwood is on for Parling too.
56 min France send the penalty to touch and win the lineout. They crash it up down the left via the 24st Atonio and Ouedrago down the left. Back inside it comes and Atonio again is involved. He dives for the line, but spills it forward in crossing!
Calum Clark is the man, a dangerous clearout. His arm slipped up around Nyanga’s neck as he was clearing him out of a ruck and that’s a yellow card for the Northampton man. It’s not malicious, but rather just poor play from Clark, who has previous in bad clearouts.
54 min Good crash ball from Parling to get up over the gainline 10m inside the France half, but then Farrell switches play and a pretty ordinary pass is dropped under no pressure by Wood. A rare error that, from the captain, who has played well tonight.
We’re just taking a moment to check for foul play, it seems. I didn’t see anything myself...
53 min Spedding sends a howitzer into touch down the left. Chiocci and Guirado replace Debaty and Szarzewski for France.
52 min My apologies, it was a France knock on so England have the scrum, from which Burgess crashes up over the gainline. It goes left via Vunipola and May jinks inside, but a couple of phases later they turn it over once again.
51 min England knock on in the tackle and some pushing and shoving ensues. How very football. The referee tells the two captains to keep their teams under control. “Was there something off the ball there?” asks Tom Wood suggestively. “No,” says the referee, emphatically. Mas is off for France; Atonio, I think on.
50 min A big roar as the two DCs enter. Cipriani is on for Goode and Care for Wigglesworth and England win a lineout on the French 22 out on the left. After a few phases, Farrell is dumped on his backside but does brilliantly to scoop up an offload, one-handed from the floor.
49 min France are looking for holes, prodding at the England forwards in the middle of the park. But then Lamerat enters a ruck at the side and England get a penalty.
48 min Burgess is back on.
Conversion (Farrell) England 19-9 France
From wide on the left, Farrell clips it through.
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Try! (May 46) England 17-9 France
The ball is recycled and Goode, at first receiver, spots May all on his own wide on the left. He chips across, France are all out of position and May catches & crosses with ease.
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45 min Loose, but England have it from the lineout. They go wide on the right and Watson steps inside, then a couple of moments later France have to be alert as lovely hands from Slade very neatly put Goode through a gap. But...
44 min Spedding finds touch at last, but Goode takes it quickly and May runs it up to within 30m of the France line. Kruis takes it up and England go short side to May; the Gloucester man is at the 22 and gives it inside to Webber, but he’s ushered into touch.
43 min Both sides could do with slowing down a touch as the ball goes loose again as England try and move it across the pitch. Some kick tennis follows.
42 min Whew, this is breathless. England clear and Nyanga, filling it at the back, runs it back. Some cute offloading sees them up to near the 22, but then they’re penalised for holding on on the floor. Farrell finds touch on the left just inside the French half.
41 min A great start for England, turning France over on the visitors’ own 22. Oh no never mind, they’ve lost it immediately. Dulin goes round the outside on the counter and gives it inside to Spedding. He makes ground down the inside left, but his offload goes straight to English hands...
Change at half-time: Ben Morgan is off, James Haskell on. I would assume he’ll slot straight in at eight.
Stats!
A look at the key influencers brings little surprises. Watson was electric & Picamoles has been close to his best. pic.twitter.com/aTdQt4EweK
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) August 15, 2015
Well I don’t know about you, but I enjoyed that. England made a blistering start thanks to two outstanding finishes by Watson and the two centres, widely assumed to be playing for one spot, have been excellent. They both blotted their copybook once – Slade with the early tackle and Burgess with the naive yellow card – but I’d suggest the Exeter man has edged it. Burgess has put in an eye-catching shift in defence though with those tackles.
Back in a few.
Half-time: England 12-9 France
40 min The scrum takes a full 105 seconds before they even engage. The referee has a word, blows for time back on, and the players just stand about a bit. This is pretty shameless from both sides. 2 min 15 secs after the scrum is awarded, they engage. It goes back to Farrell and he boots it out.
38 min France win the lineout but knock on 30m out. England get it out to Farrell, who clears directly into touch after the pass took it back into the 22. Fortunately for him, we go back for the knock on.
37 min From the lineout, Trinh-Duc tries a cross-field kick for Guitoune, but May does well to tap back to Goode. England’s forwards swarm in as he delays going into contact and Wigglesworth completes a professional job with a clearance to touch 40m upfield.
36 min France take the penalty quickly. Parra runs at Burgess, the former league man grabs his shirt and that’s a deserved yellow card for Burgess. Parra clears to touch midway inside the England half.
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35 min Now France kick and England run, with Goode stepping cautiously and half making a break. It goes right, via Farrell and Burgess, back inside then out again. Wigglesworth is penalised for holding on out wide though.
34 min The penalty is cleared long to touch, but England steal it and clear well. France gather, just outside their 22. They probably would have wanted to make more ground than that, I’d reckon.
33 min Slade lets his enthusiasm get the better of him as he takes Parra out in the air from the restart. In fairness, the Exeter man apologises immediately, but he’s lucky that there’s no more than a penalty there given how often we see them given for exactly that.
Penalty (Parra 32) England 12-9 France
Parra knocks it over from 20m, right in front. France are creeping back into this.
31 min So England have a scrum on their own 2, dead centre. It’s steady for an absolute age, but the touch judge signals that Brookes has a knee on the floor. He’s right too; penalty France.
30 min Picamoles makes a huge break through the middle as he goes through a gap badly left by Vunipola and shrugs off the attention of his opposite man Morgan. He offloads to his right, but it’s not great and the ball bobbles forward.
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29 min England’s lineout has been OK but doesn’t look quite such a certain strength as it did in the Six Nations. I guess that was the biggest benefit that Hartley brought – his solidity in the set piece is clearly missing.
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28 min Farrell sends up a Garryowen that Spedding takes well. France go down the short side, shifting it left, but Burgess and Watson combine well to shovel Dulin out before he can make any kind of significant ground.
27 min Fickou is off as Dulin returns from the blood bin.
Penalty (Parra 26) England 12-6 France
From around 41 metres out and 15 in from the left, Morgan Parra makes this whole kicking lark look rather easy.
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25 min Penalty to France at the scrum as Mako Vunipola pops up.
24 min Burgess goes in hard on Dumoulin and knocks the ball from his grasp. There was, I guess, a perfunctory attempt to wrap the arms around but it was on the edge, that. It goes forward off an England hand as they try to counter.
23 min Spedding and Goode exchange kicks before the former catches the latter. England do well to retain possession though and spread it left, but, when it comes back inside, Kieran Brookes drops it going into contact.
22 min England’s scrum is much better there, sending France backwards. Parra opts for the box kick over the top, but there’s too much weight on it and Goode can claim that easy as you like.
21 min France get possession from the restart return. They try to spread it wide and there’s so nearly an interception for Watson, over on the left, but he spills it forward about 15m inside his own half.
Try! (Watson 18) England 12-3 France
Slade goes to fly-half and gets it, via Farrell and Burgess, to May who has come off his wing. He makes a burst at pace and flings it out the back of the hand to Watson on the wing. He has space and far, far too much pace for Spedding to get close to him. A great finish and a great start for England. Farrell misses from out wide.
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17 min Dulin off with a blood injury, Gael Fickou on in his place.
16 min From the lineout, Burgess hits it up over the gainline. The ball pops loose but the centre does well to regather. A few phases later Slade sends a lovely looping pass out to May, but it’s then knocked on by Kruis inside the 22.
Slade has made a great start: his vision and final pass out the back of the hand for Watson’s try were quite brilliant.
15 min In fact, England have rebuffed France all the way back to the 22. Webber makes a great tackle and Clark moves in to secure the turnover. Wood collects and gets it out to Slade, who sends a good raking kick down the left and into touch inside the 22. France secure that and clear easily enough, but England have possession in French territory now.
14 min England are under pressure again as Parling drops the kick-off and France come again. It’s shipped left and Dulin drops it, but backwards and France can recover. Maestri carries it up over the 22, but England are able to rebuff the red wave. Red. FFS.
Conversion (Farrell) England 7-3 France
Faz slots it from the touchline. Everyone is miserable after the PA plays Take That.
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Try! (Watson 11) England 5-3 France
Morgan has it at the back of the maul and peels off. England move it right to left then switch direction and Watson, from 10 metres, takes it standing still but uses his great acceleration to burst around Dulin and skin him on the outside!
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10 min France are looking to step and offload their way out of tight spots deep in their own territory, but end up holding on in the ruck and conceding a penalty. Farrell goes for touch, finding touch on the right 10 metres out.
9 min Oh this isn’t good. France make an Oberyn Martell of the England scrum and it’s Nyanga who comes away with it. Then a quick exchange of kicks.
8 min Some very cocky basketball-style offloading from France after they take Farrell’s restart. They rumble out of the 22, but the maul is held up and it’ll be an England scrum midway inside the French half.
Penalty (Parra 7) England 0-3 France
From dead on the 22, exactly 15m in, Parra slots it left-footed. No more than they deserved, that.
6 min They go right, but Dulin stabs his kick through too hard and it goes dead. Back we go for the penalty for offside. Parra will go for goal.
5 min This is all France as Picamoles, who has been very prominent so far, offloads again and sends Dumoulin through to within 10m. Still they come and England are stretched. Picamoles up to within a couple and France with the advantage...
4 min Wood takes it at the front, securely enough. The maul forms, four metres from the England line, but Wigglesworth clears up to Spedding. He comes forward though and good offloading sees France back up to the England 22. The visitors have started well.
3 min Mas, on halfway, barrels over the gainline and Trinh-Duc plays a very, very good chip over the top down the right. The ball tumbles perfectly into the corner and Rob Webber faces some early pressure now.
2 min France retain possession and Lamerat chips through. It’s hacked ahead by Guitoune into the in-goal area and he shows great pace to outgun Jonny May! Luckily for England, May stretches a hand out and taps it down to save his side.
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Peeep! Francoi Trinh-Duc, wearing – what unholy hell is this? – RED, kicks off. Parling takes it in the 22 and Wigglesworth clears to touch near halfway where Picamoles takes it quickly. Burgess gets in a big early hit, taking Szarzewski hard but around the shoulders.
Here we go then, just one minute late! John Lacey is the referee for England v France, round 100!
Anthems time. La Marsellaise, universally acknowledged to be the best anthem, is that anaemic tonight that I’m going to stick Time After Time on again.
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England are making their way on to the pitch. Kick off is due in three minutes, but we’ve got to have time for the fireworks and flamethrowers and the singing for this friendly match.
This is quite late to be doing back-to-back MBMs.
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As was the case in Dublin, there’s not much of a crowd in.
I know it's a friendly but I expected a few more people to be at the England game
— bengrier. (@ben_grier) August 15, 2015
Tickets were £43-£106, which would explain it. And which is outrageous for a summer evening warm up match.
Heh, made me laugh. The build-up has been a wee bit Burgess-centric.
RT “@SkySportsRugby: Sam Burgess confirmed as man of the match #ENGvFRA ”
— Graham Love (@GLove39) August 15, 2015
Or enough for you to listen to today’s musical interlude a bunch of times.
15 minutes to go. Just enough time for you to have a read of Rob Kitson on Owen Farrell.
England’s bid to scale rugby’s Everest begins in earnest on Saturday evening. Base camp has long since been established but the first warmup against France at Twickenham represents the next, slightly apprehensive step. For some players this is as high as they will get; for others the real push for the summit starts now.
If past Rugby World Cups have taught us anything it is to prepare for all eventualities. The 2003 tournament ended blissfully for England but not before they had to cope with the lengthy injury absence of Richard Hill, fitness alarms at scrum-half, Will Greenwood’s temporary return to the UK and much off-field stress. In 2007 the squad were hammered 36-0 by South Africa in the pool stages; four years ago they bowed out in the quarter-finals.
Slightly odd, in a way, that Wood is wearing six for England and Calum Clark six. They tend to go the other way around at club level. It’ll also be good to see how Ben Morgan is doing fitness wise, after missing the Six Nations with ligament damage. Fun fact: my housemate is also called Ben Morgan.
“They’ve been driven by data this summer,” says Will Greenwood. Uh-oh.
So again, what to expect? Well that 55-35 thriller* that closed out the Six Nations 2015 will probably have no bearing on this match. England will want to focus on defence as much as attack and so don’t expect them to go hurling the ball about under their own posts from the off. Expect a disciplined, fairly straightforward, set-piece oriented approach. Play well and professionally and they should beat France. As for France... well, I’m not expecting much other than for them to be disruptive and look to hit England on the counter.
*I assume it was a thriller. I was down to MBM that one and missed out because of horrible actual flu. In fact I ended up sleeping through the whole match.
So a question, for those of you of a neutral disposition. Does anyone feel sorry for this guy having to pay to get in?
Off to Twickenham as a fan. Mixed feelings. Good luck boys 💯🌹
— Dylan Hartley (@DylanHartley) August 15, 2015
*Alex Goode. Thanks, Dad.
Preamble
Evening folks. There are three ways, really, to look at this England side. The cynic would call this line-up a regression from the team that excited, but admittedly fell just short, in the Six Nations. Owen Farrell lacks the spark of George Ford at 10, Andy Goode is ponderous and slow at full-back, Jonny May offers little apart from pace and Richard Wigglesworth’s service will slow England down further.
The optimist though sees excitement out there. Calum Clark, who has been consistently outstanding for Northampton over the last couple of seasons, makes his debut as does the wonderful Henry Slade, playing in his Exeter position at 13. George Kruis is a dynamic lock who offers a contrast to his more solid partner Geoff Parling and we get to see the alternative leadership qualities of Tom Wood too.
The third way of looking at this match is that it’s all about Sam Burgess. My personal feeling is that he shouldn’t make the squad: there are too many better options at six and in any case, Stuart Lancaster seems insistent on playing him out of position at centre. He hasn’t impressed there hugely and it would be unfair on those who have – Slade, Joseph, Eastmond and even Brad Barritt have all performed far better this season – to pick him. Yes, he has that big name sparkle, but the feeling remains that he has been selected on rugby league reputation rather than anything he’s actually done. Nonetheless, we know who the headlines will be about tomorrow already.
Still, I might be wrong. He has a good opportunity to impress today against a largely second string France side. This lot haven’t won at Twickenham in half a decade and have been mediocre for so long – no top half Six Nations finishes under Philippe Saint-André’s tenure – that it has stopped being a cliché to call them mercurial and instead become passé to say that they no longer are. The side picked today are, however, a big strong bunch and they’re likely to give England a working over physically if little else. In other words, exactly what Stuart Lancaster would want.
Kick-off for this one is at 8pm BST. Here are your teams:
England: Alex Goode; Anthony Watson, Henry Slade, Sam Burgess, Jonny May; Owen Farrell, Richard Wigglesworth; Mako Vunipola, Rob Webber, Kieran Brookes, George Kruis, Geoff Parling, Tom Wood, Calum Clark, Ben Morgan
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Alex Corbisiero, David Wilson, Dave Attwood, James Haskell, Danny Care, Danny Cipriani, Billy Twelvetrees
France: S Spedding (Clermont Auvergne); S Guitoune (Bordeaux), R Lamerat (Castres), A Dumoulin (Racing Metro), B Dulin (Racing Metro); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne); V Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), D Szarzewski (Racing Metro, capt), N Mas (Montpellier), A Flanquart (Stade Français), Y Maestri (Toulouse), Y Nyanga (Racing Metro), F Ouedraogo (Montpellier), L Picamoles (Toulouse).
Replacements: G Guirado (Toulon), X Chiocci (Toulon), Uini Atonio (La Rochelle), S Vahaamahina (Clermont Auvergne), L Goujon (Bordeaux), R Kockott (Castres), R Talès (Racing 92), G Fickou (Toulouse).
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