You heard it here first

Right, does anybody else think that England will beat France this weekend ? I honestly think that England have the right tools for this job. France will get next to no joy out the English defence and when things start to not go their way the crowd will get on their backs and the penalty count will rise and rise, then Farrel will slot them over from all over the place. I do not think there will be many try's scored but the boot of Farrel will prevail and England will walk away with a win. This is the only way I can see this game going to be honest, so I might even put a sneeky tenner on england by six or nine points.

England will either scrape a narrow win or get well and truely demolished. It all depends on how the ref enterprets the breakdown and whether or not Poitrenaud gets spooked early on by the England kick chase (if he does he'll drop everything).

I think France will win, but will find it hard going and be fairly battered and bruised at the end of it. Barritt and Tuilagi will smash their mid-field time and time again and our defence will again be good, but England still won't trouble the scorebook except via penalties. Then you add in France's superior scrum, lineout, back row etc etc and they will win, but England will keep it respectable and make them work for their fromage. France changing the half backs does give us more of a chance than I had originally hoped for.

Actually plenty of WUMMERS have been saying this for a while, so not really heard it here first.

I think England stand a chance, but do you really think that the last French performance was good enough at home, even so, do you think England couldve won that game? I don't think so and I only see France getting stronger.

I don't think England have anyone who can slow breakdown ball down like Ireland do and did, I don't think this English scrum will manage to hold it's own, and I really hope that Tuilagi, Ashton and Strettle don't get pillaged like I expect them too.

Hope I'm wrong guys, give em hell!!!

thebluesmancometh wrote:Actually plenty of WUMMERS have been saying this for a while, so not really heard it here first.

I think England stand a chance, but do you really think that the last French performance was good enough at home, even so, do you think England couldve won that game? I don't think so and I only see France getting stronger.

I don't think England have anyone who can slow breakdown ball down like Ireland do and did, I don't think this English scrum will manage to hold it's own, and I really hope that Tuilagi, Ashton and Strettle don't get pillaged like I expect them too.

Hope I'm wrong guys, give em hell!!!

I think slowing down ball is actually something our backrow/pack is good at- we did it against you guys and you have a highly vaunted backrow

You are right Chequered!

You did a very good job against us, but I think thats partly to do with us not adapting to your gameplan, had we done we couldve strolled that game IMO, the French however are a different kettle of fish, right now they are wonderfull at the breakdown, and you have to say Duss Hari and Bonn have far more experience and Nous than Warbs, Lyd and Fala, Warbs can hold his own but the other 2 are not renowned for their breakdown skills!

Also Picamoles off the bench, a step up from Ryan Jones who did some damage you have to say.

I want England to go out there and inflict as much damage as possible, the Irish did us a favour and took away their Grand slam, I dont really mind if England win or not, but I'd appreciate it if they put a lot of dents in the French armour for us.

The french have more guile and subtlety behind than Wales and that IMO will help to unlock a good but predictable english defence.

I saw nothing from the French that worried me for this weekend's game apart from Forfana. He seems to be the only one who actually wanted to score tries IMO. The others just seemed to be going through the motions.

As per the OP I see a penalty-ridden game with Farrell booting them over from all over the shop.

I said it before, like Ireland, this is a big chance for England to beat France at home. That said, SL and the England team will have to get their tactics spot on and execute them flawlessly.

SL has gone for a largely defensive team so i expect a very low scoring hard fought contest.

hugehandoff wrote:I think France will win, but will find it hard going and be fairly battered and bruised at the end of it. Barritt and Tuilagi will smash their mid-field time and time again and our defence will again be good, but England still won't trouble the scorebook except via penalties. Then you add in France's superior scrum, lineout, back row etc etc and they will win, but England will keep it respectable and make them work for their fromage. France changing the half backs does give us more of a chance than I had originally hoped for.

Do you really think that the French have a superior scrum ? I don't think so, I actually think this is an area you will gain parity.

France look very average.

They looked far worse than very average before the RWC 1/4 final - This is France after all - from the ridiculous to the sublime in the same move - I think the french back row will be too powerful and I think gaps will start to appear and trys will come

When was the last time the French were "sublime" though?

They played well enough in the World Cup final but it wasn't a brilliant performance, or full of the gallic flair we hear about. They closed down NZ and almost ground out a win.

I really think this idea of the French "inconsistenty" and massive peaks and troughs is a little out-dated. They just seem like a "Top 4 in the 6 Nations" side now like Ireland, Wales and England.

First 20 minutes against you guys Milk - they blew you away - that was sublime to some extent

France look average in second gear, only England look average in first gear

Why does France seem to save their best rugby for NZ? Notably in the World Cup knockout stages?

They have shown patches of brilliance but they have generally failed to impress this 6N. And this even year is supposedly an easier draw for them. The Ireland rematch hindered preparations but France looked shellshocked after the Bowe double in the first half. And they were at home!

alive555 wrote:France look average in second gear, only England look average in first gear

As debatable as France are average.

I would argue that England look average in first gear, they look solid (not spectacular) to me. Their defensive approach may frustrate France into making mistakes. Irelands defense frustrated them in the first half on Sunday and look what happened...

Glad there's a lot of people on here that agree with me.

RubyGuby wrote:The french have more guile and subtlety behind than Wales and that IMO will help to unlock a good but predictable english defence.

I'm not sure I'd want us to have a good but unpredictable defence.

DaveM wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:The french have more guile and subtlety behind than Wales and that IMO will help to unlock a good but predictable english defence.

I'm not sure I'd want us to have a good but unpredictable defence.

If defences now have to be unpredictable in order to fool the attackers (maybe with dummy-running defenders?) then rugby is getting too complicated for me.

RubyGuby wrote:The french have more guile and subtlety behind than Wales and that IMO will help to unlock a good but predictable english defence.

Is the English defence anymore predictable than to that of what Ireland did last week? France did'nt show any of said guile when Ireland pressured them in the first half, in fact they looked shocked and lost for an idea. I would also argue that England are slightly better defensively than Ireland as well.

I am looking forward to a good weekend of rugby, a few drinks, and some good old banter down the club, then home to the wife and kids with more chinease food than I need and a bollocking on Sunday morning.

Yes, a really good festival of rugby to look forward to. I can't see an Italian win and Ireland should have enough (can Scotland turn performance into a result?)

If France play like they did last week then England might do well but the French have far more potential to turn it on. My euros would be on a home win. I also disagree that England are not good at slowing down ball - problem is it's usually their own.

England put up a brave confidence building performance against Wales. France were mediocre against Ireland.

France will want to make amends for last week and play with fire in their belly.

France 34-12 England

I think that it will be alot closer than that idris, i really can only see a few points between England and France.

LordDowlais wrote:Right, does anybody else think that England will beat France this weekend ? I honestly think that England have the right tools for this job. France will get next to no joy out the English defence and when things start to not go their way the crowd will get on their backs and the penalty count will rise and rise, then Farrel will slot them over from all over the place. I do not think there will be many try's scored but the boot of Farrel will prevail and England will walk away with a win. This is the only way I can see this game going to be honest, so I might even put a sneeky tenner on england by six or nine points.

Typical arrogant British

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:Right, does anybody else think that England will beat France this weekend ? I honestly think that England have the right tools for this job. France will get next to no joy out the English defence and when things start to not go their way the crowd will get on their backs and the penalty count will rise and rise, then Farrel will slot them over from all over the place. I do not think there will be many try's scored but the boot of Farrel will prevail and England will walk away with a win. This is the only way I can see this game going to be honest, so I might even put a sneeky tenner on england by six or nine points.

Typical arrogant British

Are you Irish or French today PSW? I swear i cant keep up with your nationality changes

eirebilly wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:Right, does anybody else think that England will beat France this weekend ? I honestly think that England have the right tools for this job. France will get next to no joy out the English defence and when things start to not go their way the crowd will get on their backs and the penalty count will rise and rise, then Farrel will slot them over from all over the place. I do not think there will be many try's scored but the boot of Farrel will prevail and England will walk away with a win. This is the only way I can see this game going to be honest, so I might even put a sneeky tenner on england by six or nine points.

Typical arrogant British

Are you Irish or French today PSW? I swear i cant keep up with your nationality changes

English, 1/8 Welsh, of French descent.

Allez les Frogs, always back the winning side Billy. If its OK for Geriant Jones to play for England and PNG whilst being Wlesh then its OK for hme to hate the Britlanders

It was really just a joke on the whole " typical arrogant England" line we get anytime anyone says that, Dowlais being Welsh n that.

I know PSW, i just had to comment on it, it was too much of a gift to refuse

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:Right, does anybody else think that England will beat France this weekend ? I honestly think that England have the right tools for this job. France will get next to no joy out the English defence and when things start to not go their way the crowd will get on their backs and the penalty count will rise and rise, then Farrel will slot them over from all over the place. I do not think there will be many try's scored but the boot of Farrel will prevail and England will walk away with a win. This is the only way I can see this game going to be honest, so I might even put a sneeky tenner on england by six or nine points.

Typical arrogant British

Are you Irish or French today PSW? I swear i cant keep up with your nationality changes

English, 1/8 Welsh, of French descent.

Allez les Frogs, always back the winning side Billy. If its OK for Geriant Jones to play for England and PNG whilst being Wlesh then its OK for hme to hate the Britlanders

It was really just a joke on the whole " typical arrogant England" line we get anytime anyone says that, Dowlais being Welsh n that.

I don't think your arrogant Pete, I actually think England will win, thats all, nothing wrong with that is it ?

eirebilly wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:The french have more guile and subtlety behind than Wales and that IMO will help to unlock a good but predictable english defence.

Is the English defence anymore predictable than to that of what Ireland did last week? France did'nt show any of said guile when Ireland pressured them in the first half, in fact they looked shocked and lost for an idea. I would also argue that England are slightly better defensively than Ireland as well.

How very dare you to even question my worldly knowledge on here Billy, Dammit you should know better - Anyways, you have a point as the french haven't showed the guile and subtlety I allude to. I just think they were predictable against Ireland to some extent and I don't see that happening again, I think we will see more dynamism from them. England's defence is getting a lot of plaudits and against Wales they were good, no doubt, however against Scotland and Italy the defence was rather pourous and I'm not convinced that away from Twickenham they will be able to sustain the same level of performance.

I apologise greatly Ruby and you are right, how very dare i question your Rugby knowledge

I just think that England will cause the French alot of concern and if i ever thought that Ireland were unpredictable then i am at a loss of words to describe the French

I take it we have a few pints on this one then France to win by 10 plus for me with Fofana getting his 4th in a row

Thats hardly crushing England now Ruby... Come on man

I have France by less than 7 points

Look youd be bonkers to not have France as clear favourites. I see this in much the same way we talk about most Scotland games. Of course they have a chance but England will be relying on the opposition to have a bad day as much as themselves playing above the level they have done in previous recent games.
France are the better side with the better players. Not perfect and possible to rattle, but obvious favourites.

As usual it all depends on what France turns up. They might well be smarting after last week and actually pay attention and not drop off tackles in which case we're in trouble. Or they might sulk. I just don't know.

Underdogs again, but in with a definite chance.

Who said anything about "crushing" Billy - And just to refute your suggestion, we beat you boys by 2 points and are you telling me you weren't crushed after that

LordDowlais wrote:Right, does anybody else think that England will beat France this weekend ? I honestly think that England have the right tools for this job. France will get next to no joy out the English defence and when things start to not go their way the crowd will get on their backs and the penalty count will rise and rise, then Farrel will slot them over from all over the place. I do not think there will be many try's scored but the boot of Farrel will prevail and England will walk away with a win. This is the only way I can see this game going to be honest, so I might even put a sneeky tenner on england by six or nine points.

i have england in the predicter- france look bad, and what ever other people say (its all about what france turn up nonsense) , england have a shot, france havent put in a blinding performnace for a long time. France are favs- but i am not certain about them at all!

RubyGuby wrote:Who said anything about "crushing" Billy - And just to refute your suggestion, we beat you boys by 2 points and are you telling me you weren't crushed after that

You beat Ireland by two points because your guys have perfected the art of taking a perfectly good tackle, twisting yourslves into tip tackle positions and getting match winning penalties

OH DEAR!

(its all about what france turn up nonsense)

france havent put in a blinding performnace for a long time. France are favs- but i am not certain about them at all!

????

It was a joke bluesman

Cowshot wrote:

(its all about what france turn up nonsense)

france havent put in a blinding performnace for a long time. France are favs- but i am not certain about them at all!

????

????

Really billy? Really?

I was making plenty of them after the semi final, still hurts though!

????



Sorry, i didnt want to feel left out

Not half as much as it hurt Clerc

Man, way too much seriousness on this board now.

lol