France vs England - Match Thread

[LondonTiger]

First topic message reminder :

Sunday 2nd February 15:00 - France (a)
BBC Sport

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant 1: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant 2: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)


Recent Form

France:
20th October 2019: Wales - Lost 19-20
6th Ocober 2019: Tonga - Won 23-21
2nd October 2019: USA - Won 33-9
21st September 2019: Argentina - Won 23-21
30th August 2019: Italy - Won 47-19


England
2nd November 2019: South Africa - Lost 12-32
26th October 2019: New Zealand: Won 19:7
19th October 2019: Australia - won 40-16
5th October 2019: Argentina - Won 39-10
26th September 2019: USA - Won 45-7


Head to Head

Matches Played - 90
Wins - England 49, France 34
Draws - 7
Tries - England 165, France 143



Teams

France:


Bouthier; Thomas, Vakatawa, Fickou, Penaud; Ntamack, Dupont; Baille, Marchand, Haouas, Le Roux, Willemse, Cros, Ollivon (c), Alldritt

Reps: Mauvaka, Poirot, Bamba, Palu, Woki, Serin, Jalibert, Rattez


England


Furbank; May, Tuilagi, Farrell (capt), Daly; Ford, B Youngs; Marler, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Ewels, Lawes, Underhill, Curry.

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Stuart, Kruis, Ludlam, Heinz, Devoto, Joseph

[Duty281]

Good try for France. That’ll be the game and they’ll be strong favourites for the title now.

Owens needs to take a tougher line on those antics. Both sides lost control.

[Dirtydave]

Again, on first instinct I thought a Frenchman flew in there to cause the disruption...

No replay!

I am seriously concerned come world cup time

[majesticimperialman]

The way this game is going, England.Scotland, Italy for the wooden spoon

[RDW]

I cant work out Englands tactics..it looks like people who've never met...not helped by Youngs habitual stopping to have a think at the back of the ruck

Welcome to the forum

[miltonkeynesengland]

Go May

[No 7&1/2]

May is just class ain't he.

[Heaf]

From what I could see the French 8 did something to an England player on the ground ...

[Duty281]

First time May gets a bit of space, he does that.

[RDW]

I know France have a long history of self destructions but this would surely rank as the worst if they somehow lost this.

[formerly known as Sam]

Ah well game over. Youngs again being terrible.

Some people will blame him irrelevant of what her actually does.

He's played pretty well and is no where close to the worst performer for England. Farrell has looked like a Championship player so will be ready for next season. Joseph impotent. Furbank out of his depth and that's just the backs.

[Dirtydave]

What a try from May...

A piece of magic amongst a dross performance, similar to some Shane Williams moments!

Is that the catalyst? Or is it too little too late? 3 score game

[No 7&1/2]

But seriously youngs has been terrible.

[miltonkeynesengland]

How is Youngs still on the park?? And more importantly..why??

[Heaf]

At least not nilled ...

[No 7&1/2]

Bar the slight snipe to pass to may.

[formerly known as Sam]

But seriously youngs has been terrible.

I know disgraceful that he picks and draws three defenders on the blindside leaving May one on one for the chip, chase and score. Absolutely terrible.

[quinsforever]

Ah well game over. Youngs again being terrible.

Some people will blame him irrelevant of what her actually does.

He's played pretty well and is no where close to the worst performer for England. Farrell has looked like a Championship player so will be ready for next season. Joseph impotent. Furbank out of his depth and that's just the backs.

unfortunately, everything starts with the slow and erratic distribution from youngs.

[Dirtydave]

How anyone can defend Youngs is beyond me!!

[No 7&1/2]

Sam hes been really bad. I assume you're a tigers fan?

[miltonkeynesengland]

To be fair it was a good snipe...but it does not make up for the previous minutes

[No 7&1/2]

Scrum looks great. Youngs bringing back his crisp world cup passing straight to the ball boy.

[TightHEAD]

Netball pass into touch from Young's. Wtf?

[Gooseberry]

Feel like I mention this annually but I have a welsh grandparent

[majesticimperialman]

Ben Young as to go, he is well past his sell by date.

[formerly known as Sam]

Ah well game over. Youngs again being terrible.

Some people will blame him irrelevant of what her actually does.

He's played pretty well and is no where close to the worst performer for England. Farrell has looked like a Championship player so will be ready for next season. Joseph impotent. Furbank out of his depth and that's just the backs.

unfortunately, everything starts with the slow and erratic distribution from youngs.

Hard to play quick when your forwards go backwards and knock the ball on when you go forwards. Of the starting pack none have played well enough to be guaranteed a start next weekend. After Sinckler's performance I wonder if we'll see Cole back.

That pass to touch was poor but probably a sign of frustration. Options haven't been there.

[Duty281]

Does Youngs want to be a basketball player now?

[Gooseberry]

How anyone can defend Youngs is beyond me!!

France seem to be doing a pretty good job of defending him

[Dirtydave]

How bad are the England 9 options to maintain a poor form 9...

There are very few 6N 9's I would replace with Youngs, including backups, and I have been a defender of his previously

[tigertattie]

Netball pass into touch from Young's. Wtf?

Was quite special.

[quinsforever]

Ah well game over. Youngs again being terrible.

Some people will blame him irrelevant of what her actually does.

He's played pretty well and is no where close to the worst performer for England. Farrell has looked like a Championship player so will be ready for next season. Joseph impotent. Furbank out of his depth and that's just the backs.

unfortunately, everything starts with the slow and erratic distribution from youngs.

Hard to play quick when your forwards go backwards and knock the ball on when you go forwards. Of the starting pack none have played well enough to be guaranteed a start next weekend. After Sinckler's performance I wonder if we'll see Cole back.

That pass to touch was poor but probably a sign of frustration. Options haven't been there.

are you related to ben youngs?

[blindsided]

France have been very good.
England have been very bad.
Paul O'Connell has been bloody excellent. He is by far the best pundit and brilliant to listen to!

[Guest]

How anyone can defend Youngs is beyond me!!

It's very hard to play well behind a beaten pack, which England are in the loose. He's not playing badly but he seems to be a scapeboat for many.

[tigertattie]

The question is:

Is this poor England performance and good France performance a result of Brexit?

[RDW]

I think this game has reinforced what literally everyone has been saying - Curry is not an international 8.

[miltonkeynesengland]

Fckk me May

[tigertattie]

Johnny May though

[No 7&1/2]

Get in line MK.

[Dirtydave]

Someone just mentioned Paul O Connell...

And I have to agree 100%! Very refreshing, very insightful!!!

[Duty281]

Amazing try.

[lostinwales]

That is what a 'world class' wing looks like

[lostinwales]

The question is:

Is this poor England performance and good France performance a result of Brexit?

No. Brexit may be a massive clusterfeck but not everything that goes wrong is due to it

[No 7&1/2]

Ludlam has made a big impact from the bench.

Are we allowed to call Dombrandt up if he wasnt initially included?

[Dirtydave]

England just upping the tempo...

Can they possibly do it?!?!

[formerly known as Sam]

Ah well game over. Youngs again being terrible.

Some people will blame him irrelevant of what her actually does.

He's played pretty well and is no where close to the worst performer for England. Farrell has looked like a Championship player so will be ready for next season. Joseph impotent. Furbank out of his depth and that's just the backs.

unfortunately, everything starts with the slow and erratic distribution from youngs.

Hard to play quick when your forwards go backwards and knock the ball on when you go forwards. Of the starting pack none have played well enough to be guaranteed a start next weekend. After Sinckler's performance I wonder if we'll see Cole back.

That pass to touch was poor but probably a sign of frustration. Options haven't been there.

are you related to ben youngs?

No I'm a Tigers fan who's used to watching him actually play badly. If you think he's slow today you could measure the timing of his pass by the change of ice age at Welford Road.

The only difference we've seen today is the changes to the pack. Putting on an actual backrow and reverting to the Saracens second row has been massive. A bit of Gengey aggression always helps too.

[lostinwales]

Is a very good French performance vs what seems a very lethargic England. We really miss the 'go to' grunt provided by Billy. Losing Tuilagi so early did not help at all.

And some days the bounce of the ball is against you

[Heaf]

The 7 points from the suspect try hasn't helped either ...

[No 7&1/2]

Both teams look knackered.

[formerly known as Sam]

Heinz slower service than Youngs (considerably so). Waiting for the disparaging remarks...

[Gooseberry]

Just wait till May gets his nose broken then you can all leave off Youngs and blame him for everything instead

[Gooseberry]

Ludlam has made a big impact from the bench.

Are we allowed to call Dombrandt up if he wasnt initially included?

During the game? No.
During the tournament...yes

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