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Yes! Ben Foden scores for England
England took pole position in the Six Nations title race on Saturday with a 17-9 win over France in a high-paced encounter at Twickenham.
A Ben Foden try early in the second half proved to be the difference between two very evenly-matched sides in a clash high on intensity but littered by errors.
The result brings an end to France's Grand Slam defence and leaves England as the only unbeaten side in the championship.
It was all square after a hotly-contested first half that was somewhat tainted by a number of handling errors from both sides, who were looking to play positive rugby but struggled to come to grips with a slippery ball.
France enjoyed the ascendancy in terms of both territory and possession for much of the game but les Bleus will head home regretting a handful of missed opportunities.
England on the other hand confirmed their status as the northern hemisphere's leading nation as the home pack matched their much-vaunted visitors in the tight exchanges and the back three once again looked dangerous whenever on the ball.
Toby Flood opened the scoring from the kicking tee early on but was answered almost immediately by Dimitri Yachvili.
The respective place kickers continued to trade penalties until the French scrum-half had a chance to put France ahead for the first time just before the break.
His attempt sailed just wide however to leave the sides locked at 9-9 as they headed for the changing rooms.
England took the lead again soon after the restart when Foden scored an excellent try. Tom Palmer had put England on the attack by charging down Yachvili and after sending the ball to one touchline, England brought it back to the other as Flood had three runners coming off his shoulder. Foden showed tremendous strength to muscle his way over, despite the attention of two French defenders, for the game's only try.
Jonny Wilkinson added three points within seconds of coming on for an injured Flood to move ahead of Dan Carter as the world's top Test points scorer and extend England's advantage at 17-9.
Yachvili hit the upright with penalty attempt and Aurélien Rougerie knocked on in the act over diving over the try-line to leave France frustrated but the status quo on the scoreboard.
England must now host Scotland before travelling to Dublin as they seek to repeat their Grand Slam of 2003.
Man of the match: Not too many stand out candidates here. Toby Flood was good but didn't last the distance after hurting his ankle. Rougerie was a class act but that knock-on when France desperately needed a try ruined his team's night. We'll back up the official choice and go for Tom Palmer who hit rucks hard all night and was key in setting up England's try.
Moment of the match: There can be only one: Foden's try was the match-clincher.
Villain of the match: A cheeky one here. Steve Thompson matched Brian Moore's record for caps at hooker for England, but his jersey was way to small for the size of his stomach!
The scorers:
For England:
Try: Foden
Pens: Flood 3, Wilkinson
For France:
Pens: Yachvili 3
The teams:
England:15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:16 Steve Thompson, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Hendre Fourie, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Matt Banahan.
France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Alexis Palisson.
Venue: Twickenham, London
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Comments
Cass402 says...
@JeanLucJoinel,
which game were you watching fella?????There were 2 sides slowing the ball down and the French seemed to be the most adept. They did'nt strike me as a side who wanted to cut loose. Where exactly did they seem the classier outfit..Chabal, Poitrenaud??
Posted 13:04 28th February 2011
pogmahon says...
@JeanLucJoinel What you could only find 1 Irishman to blame? That's unlike a good French racist like you.
Well done England good to see you making progress though I think there were at least 15 French players on your side this week.
Posted 08:56 28th February 2011
LIEWEHEXIE says...
@black47
At least they're all French!
Posted 07:19 28th February 2011
black47 says...
What a ridiculous but not surprising analysis by Jean Luc.. France have more ability and better players... blah blah. France played like the bunch of pansies they are. Chabal worse than useless constantly taking wrong option and getting isolated. Why wasn't Harinordiqay at 8? Why move him to accommodate the useless Chabal. Trin duc fell off the tackle on Foden for the try like a little girl. All the time invested in him has come to nothing. He's not international class. Bring back michalac or beauxis before it's too late.
The fact is when English beef puts it up to gallic flair they lose every time. The more you stay with them the more disinterested they become as the match goes on.
Posted 20:13 27th February 2011
richd says...
@ danatthecorner, papachinzo said after England beat Wales in Cardiff that he saw no reason why England should be favorites to win the championship. So after 3 rounds they are the only team unbeaten and should by definition be favorites. I think he`s just a little bitter. I dont think England would swap Flood with any other 10 in this comp.
Posted 13:16 27th February 2011
Danatthecorner says...
@ Papachinzo & JeanLucJoinel
Whatever helps you sleep at night lads, although I feel I am duty bound to say you are talking utter rubbish.
It was a good game I thought, though perhaps the second half didn't meet the heights of the first. England played badly in the first half offensively, not helped by a pair of lumbering fools in the centres. However, in the 20 minute period where England had a try disallowed and scored their own try, it was the half-backs that came to the forefront of everything good that they did.
To those writing us off, writing off the half-backs and saying we're overrated, you are dramatically missing the point. No-one is saying England are the finished article. It was another step on the journey to the world cup, another learning process that they have come through.
Last year England lost a tight game that they were leading in New Zealand to the Maori, and here they came through unscathed with the W. In back to back weeks, a young pack missing Croft, Lawes, Moody and for the most part Sheridan, has gone toe-to-toe with Italy and France and found a way to negate the disadvantage at the scrum whilst turning both sides over in the loose. My money says this is far more valuable than whopping teams by 30 points only to get to the world cup and find that you are not battle hardened enough.
I'd be far more worried if Stephen Donald was my back-up fly-half, if he was an absolute liability in any kind of defensive situation like Quade Cooper, or if he couldn't run a bath like Morné Steyn.
Posted 09:26 27th February 2011
gauca says...
Fra must now look towards the WC and with a still decent number of games need to go back to the drawing board, fra need faster delivery from the scrum half, neither parra or yachvilli give this.
We need better bench options for impact than the likes of thion, guirado and chabal, and changes in the back division as poitrenaud and jauzion are not at their previous best and traille I feel is too one dimensional.
Elsewhere in the top14 Fra have the players to sort out these weak points but I very much doubt ML will change anything now even though he has got just about enough time to do it.
Posted 08:06 27th February 2011
froggy73 says...
England were the far better team and deserved the win. France have a stereotyped game that doesn't scare any of the top nations. One last thing: wtf was this referee doing ???
Posted 07:48 27th February 2011
fgrenaud says...
One more point: although the referee was equally poor for both teams, I could not understand how he could penalise the French scrum so much. That was ridiculous. The problem I have with this is whether or not refs are told to be hard on the French scrum because it is so dominant. In the game, I do not believe the French scrum was much superior to the England one, but in the last two games we get penalised a lot. A message from the IRB that too good is not good for the game?
Posted 06:52 27th February 2011
fgrenaud says...
That was a good game. A well deserved victory for England but for the first time in a long time I loved the determination of the French side. Although late in the 4-year cycle, Lievremont has a decent team but for, in my opinion, three players: Chabal should stay as a replacement if anywhere in the team (#8 should be Imanol, flanker should be Bonnaire and on the bench his playing partner from Clermont); Huget has been tried and is maybe the future but not up to scratch for the World Cup (he should be replaced by Malzieu); Poitrenaud is still disappointing and should stay on the bench at best (#15 belongs to Medard and despite what many think, Traille is a good alternative). The rest of the team is set. They have 6 games before the WC game against NZ.
Posted 06:49 27th February 2011
wazsere says...
I think its a mistake to over analyze quality in these type of games in particular comparisons with SH tams are flawed on so many levels, the main error in trying to compare is this was a game that was about one thing - winning on the day, and that's all that mattered. If these 2 sides meet at RWC the game and maybe the outcome will be different but either way, both sides are skilled in playing for the win on the day concerned (which they've both done reasonably well at recent RWC's) .... so comments like quality from 9-15 blah, blah, blah are, in the context of this one game, irrelevant and have been preceded by similar statements in 2007 & 2003 - but the one "quality" statistic that tells, is the ability to win when you have to: and come the big game in the world cup and both Australia and New Zealand have monkeys jumping all over their backs on that point of quality ...!
This result I think means more for France than England; they haven't got their selections right nor their combinations and I doubt they'll have enough time now to be true contenders come RWC; for England, its way too early to tell but they have got selection/combination right in many areas and this result will feed their self-belief and confidence no-end.
Posted 06:43 27th February 2011
tafiwi says...
A good match-up and the first half was entertaining. I thought the French forwards did well against the much-vaunted English heavies. Neither back line looked likely to make a break - great tackling from both sides though. The injury-prone will not make it through the RWC - sorry Mr. Sheridan.
Posted 02:22 27th February 2011
nabberuk says...
"papachinzo says...
France were awful... But so we're England to be fair. The question, Is Flood good enough was answered, no he isn't..."
What a load of BS!
Posted 00:36 27th February 2011
timmo says...
England worthy winners of a very world-cup like game in terms of intensity. Good physical contest and well done France for sticking in there but the second half was decisive especially in the forwards. Thought the scoreline flattered France through stupid England penalties and although the French should have scored a try, equally England butchered at least two clear chances by being overanxious, plus there was no reason not to award Tindall's score. England have certainly come a long way since the last time these two sides played proving they're onto something, whereas France have gone backwards. Well done Jonno!
Posted 23:01 26th February 2011
7nezking says...
this was an intense game and crazy at times although there was only one try. The scoreline could have been heavier for the french to swallow if tindall's and ashton's tries were awarded (some reffs would have awarded both of them, some only one, some none of the 2 like today).
I have to say, I have always liked Chabal for his strong runs but he just doesn't cut it as a starter. He has never really impressed when he starts and loses too many balls when tackled. He should either stay an impact player (although sometimes even when he comes on he doesn't make that much difference) or used as a lock, but then again with what we've seen of him in this tournament, I'm sure France has better forwards than him.
Huget was also below par, and he has been like that all tournament. Don't know why he is still playing.
Good on wilkinson for retaking his #1 spot although I think Carter will easily reclaim it.
Ben Youngs was really average.
Posted 22:39 26th February 2011
timmo says...
England worthy winners of a very world-cup like game in terms of intensity. Good physical contest and well done France for sticking in there but the second half was decisive especially in the forwards. Thought the scoreline flattered France through stupid England penalties and although the French should have scored a try, equally England butchered at least two clear chances by being overanxious, plus there was no reason not to award Tindall's score. England have certainly come a long way since the last time these two sides played proving they're onto something, whereas France have gone backwards. Well done Jonno!
Posted 22:08 26th February 2011
JeanLucJoinel says...
interesting game but not much surpise.
well done england...yes, the luck of the bounce and yes, traditional well drilled but uninspiringly stolid ability to slow down the oppositions ball, but still a win is a win.
france were dreadful for much of the game but still outclassed england in many respects. bizarre refereeing of the scrum helped england; easter should have been yellow carded at 18 mins, and a very odd pair of 'off side' decisions for a couple of england penalties....and johnsons pre match talks with officials about alleged 'early shove' seemed to play on clancy who was out of his depth and thence gave numerous free kicks against france when england cleverly paused at the engage. this sort of thing is beyond lievremont and co...so credit where credit is due-england are very professional . no one likes it but it works.
and of course france squandered at least four try scoring opportunities and were error strewn and you can't expect to win like that- even without dimitri missing kicks.
but their scrum showed up the lack of quality in englands 1-8. lack of quality, but extremely profocient ball slowing gamemanship.
flood was exposed - he really is so ludicrously over rated its actually hilarious- the sh teams might lose the world cup thru helpess bouts of giggles at flood ( and very often youngs) comically poor decision making and foppish 'tackling'. hartley predictably weak,ashton poor- he always is suspect defensively- hape and tindall their usual dreadful selves.
but still they win ....and you have to give them credit for it. on another night could have been 20-9 to france, who missed medard . but teams are often left saying that vs england...
whats clear is that with very few exceptions man for man france have more talent and ability on the field and bench, but are outclassed by the england coaching operation.
Posted 21:42 26th February 2011
rugbylover says...
..........Clancy is a ****** .................Does he know ANYTHING about throwing the ball into a line-out!? Shameful Mr Clancy.
But - what a match! Les Bleus were dignified in the face of biased incompetence (see above).
Could have gone either way...............................- despite Clancy.
Posted 21:39 26th February 2011
lawynd says...
@papachinzo - did you watch the same game the rest of us did? Flood was tidy the entire time he was on the field, kicked his goals and made good territorial/tactical decisions, and set up some dangerous breaks, including for the try that wasn't given (I'll give Mr Clancy the benefit of the doubt, nobody in the pub could say 100% either way whether it was forward or not from the angles we had). Whilst I feel Trinh-Duc is hamstrung by a couple of lethargic scrum-halves, even with ball on the gain-line he rarely looks like he'll break or set up a good attacking move.
Posted 21:13 26th February 2011
ChrisInCrete says...
Well done Jonny Wilkinson to get the record back. He maybe won't hold it long, but what a guy. Can you imagine anyone getting near him if he hadn't had all the injuries.
Posted 20:42 26th February 2011