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

[RDW]

Dupont is brilliant

[miltonkeynesengland]

I agree..Heinz is 57 kinds of awful...still Yoings is not an international standard 9

[Heaf]

Clear obstruction after the kick ....

[formerly known as Sam]

Dupont is brilliant

Best scrum half in the NH. Incredible talent. If the French pack give him a platform he'll deconstruct defences every week.

[Geordie]

Well im sure Eddie will have learned from what ever experiment he was doing today.  

Play an actual 8
Play curry on the flank.
Lawes is class
We need a new scrum half
Genge brings real aggression and power
Ewells is awful
Etc etc
We need some heavy duty ball carriers

[formerly known as Sam]

I agree..Heinz is 57 kinds of awful...still Yoings is not an international standard 9

Well I think everyone agrees that Spencer should be starting but Eddie.

[RDW]

That should have stayed in the scrum.

If only there was a number 8 for England...!

[miltonkeynesengland]

Well done France

[Duty281]

That should have stayed in the scrum.

If only there was a number 8 for England...!

Been a very costly factor.

England have been hammered today. A couple of bits of May magic has made the score line halfway respectable.

[miltonkeynesengland]

Jones wanted brutality and Englands flaws have been brutally exposed...

[Rinsure]

Well im sure Eddie will have learned from what ever experiment he was doing today.  

Play an actual 8
Play curry on the flank.
Lawes is class
We need a new scrum half
Genge brings real aggression and power
Ewells is awful
Etc etc
We need some heavy duty ball carriers

This.

[RDW]

Was gonna say - surely go for 3 to guarantee the LBP

[Rinsure]

Dupont has really highlighted how poor our nines have been. We must have someone coming though.

[formerly known as Sam]

Well im sure Eddie will have learned from what ever experiment he was doing today.  

Play an actual 8
Play curry on the flank.
Lawes is class
We need a new scrum half
Genge brings real aggression and power
Ewells is awful
Etc etc
We need some heavy duty ball carriers

Lawes is class? Might make the bench if I was picking for next weekend.

Genge, George, Sinckler
Itoje, Kruis
Curry, Dombrandt, Underhill

George and Sinckler given a warning of their need to perform big next time out.

[Duty281]

That error from the French scrum half has gifted England a losing bonus point. Nice of him.

[No 7&1/2]

Its disappointing to lose any game but it's one after the first half I can bear. Losing bonus point from 17 down us good frankly. As above would be nice lining up with Dombrandt, spencer and or robson.

[Cyril]

A bit more composure and England could have won that pretty comfortably, even playing as badly as they did. Weird game.

[RDW]

From a Scotland PoV it's a shame EJ has made all these mistakes before he has the chance to correct them next weekend!

Personally I'd love to see Curry at 8 again and Furbank facing plenty high balls on a cold Edinburgh Saturday night

[NeilyBroon]

I did say i think france can win it. Got slammed down straight away. They may even get a GS! Them vs Wales is going to be a corker!

[majesticimperialman]

Lets be honest France deserve winner here. England really have to play a lot better in the remaining games.

[Heaf]

So ignoring the really poor performance from England the dodgy try made the difference ....

[Heaf]

Lots of thinking for Eddie

[Geordie]

Aahh england can have no complaints. France deserved it.

Eddie made some strange selections for this game and we also made errors.

Scotland could be in for a back lash next weekend.

[Collapse2005]

Credit to England for coming back and getting the BP. One man show though from May.

[formerly known as Sam]

Its disappointing to lose any game but it's one after the first half I can bear. Losing bonus point from 17 down us good frankly. As above would be nice lining up with Dombrandt, spencer and or robson.

Robson's form has not been good this season. Eddie didn't like his iffy tactical kicking game when he was in form there's little chance of him being picked until we see him return to his best form. If we wanted an attacking 9 in form we should be picking the other Gloucester 9.

[No 7&1/2]

Furbank under the high ball was pretty assured rdw wasnt he? One knock on against him given but on the replay it was off 12. He clearly needs a run of games now through the the ai s.

[Yoda]

So the consensus from the pundits for the 2nd try was the TMO got it wrong?

Once again a tmo decision will be the talk of the match, that was a key moment in the game, terrible decision. Still if you're relying on a tmo decision just to draw you're in trouble. Scrum was good and May is world class other than that pretty poor. Does a decent French scrum half have an English grand parent? Youngs was sh1t and stopped all momentum. Eddy also needs to stop shooting his mouth off as well its getting beyond irritating.

[No 7&1/2]

I just want a better scrum half sam. If Dupont (or spencer) had played in white today I think it's a comfortable win. Jones isnt stupid and I'm convinced a new 9 and Dombrandt will be in the squad vs scotland.

[TightHEAD]

Such a poor performance from England.

Youngs has to go, better options available now is the time to play them.

Last two games he has passed the ball into touch.

[Geordie]

Therell definitely be an 8 in the next squad.

Hopefully Dombrandt but maybe Hughes.

[formerly known as Sam]

Furbank under the high ball was pretty assured rdw wasnt he? One knock on against him given but on the replay it was off 12. He clearly needs a run of games now through the the ai s.

Other than the one in the first half when he let the ball bounce rather than come forward and take the ball. Lost 15m and then through a poor kick have France the platform for the first try. In attack he looked well out of his depth. No point giving him a shot to then drop him immediately so he should stay in for next weekend.

The problems were almost all with the pack. If they sort that out then we will make great strides. Farrell looked clueless and possibly dropping him might focus his mind a little, those two dropped catches under no pressure in the first half were inexcusable.

[TightHEAD]

Therell definitely be an 8 in the next squad.

Hopefully Dombrandt but maybe Hughes.

What's worrying is that we all knew that before this game, so why didn't Eddie!

[No 7&1/2]

Given tuilagi all new midfield sam?

[Taylorman]

Aww had 26-14 for that one.

How’s that greatest team of all time coming along Eddie?

24-0 down and never really in it. Uncanny how sides that beat the ABs flop so consistently afterwards. It’s almost a sure thing that’s gonna be the case. Oh well, Wales to win from here.

[TightHEAD]

What a man sausage

[No 7&1/2]

I'd still back englabd to win it from here given the fixtures.

[Dirtydave]

No 7&1/2

Or Tomos Williams, Gareth Davies, Rhys Webb, Ali Price, violli, Connor Murray, Cooney...

[TightHEAD]

At least we will not moan about a doggy try for all time Taylorman

[formerly known as Sam]

Given tuilagi all new midfield sam?

If Eddie likes Devoto then a Ford/Devoto/Joseph midfield all played together at Bath so wouldn't be brand new. Not really the time for Dingwall and Marchant is sadly down in the SH. Now i like Sam James but Eddie seems not to for no reason I can discern so the former Bath trio would seem to fit. Farrell stewing on the bench with Thorley for impact.

[Geordie]

I think Ewells needs removed and replaced in the squad.

He was a waste of a player.

[formerly known as Sam]

I think Ewells needs removed and replaced in the squad.

He was a waste of a player.

Ditto Marler.

[Heuer27]

Does anyone think Cowan-Dickie might be in a bit of bother over the head shot whilst the French captain was scoring?
Looked a bit unnecessary at the time ,can see him getting cited.

[No 7&1/2]

Quite true dave.
Could be sam. I think we both know if the midfield is devoto and Joseph the fly half is farrell though.

[Dirtydave]

Question for everyone...

How much of an influence do we think Edwards had on France today?

As a Welsh man, obviously losing Sean was devastating, and watching the French pack 'hunt in packs' it's doubly worrying!!!

[No 7&1/2]

Heurer, nope.

[Taylorman]

What a man sausage

Thanks TH, needed a lift

Plenty of time to improve on that.

[TightHEAD]

France deserved to win but they are beatable.

[Gooseberry]

So ignoring the really poor performance from England the dodgy try made the difference ....

In a 7 point game...bear in mind we only lost the 2007 world cup by 9 points because a 5 pointer was correctly disallowed

[Rinsure]

I think Ewells needs removed and replaced in the squad.

He was a waste of a player.

Again, I agree GF. Launch would have been a good addition today.

[Taylorman]

Question for everyone...

How much of an influence do we think Edwards had on France today

Its not often France cross the water for help is it but you’d have to expect defence and risk reduction to be part of it, with perhaps a bit more structure. That could be ominous if it’s what France have been missing.

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