Super Saturday, Game 3: England v France

First topic message reminder :

  
ENGLAND v FRANCE
Saturday 21 March 2015
KO: 17:00
Twickenham Stadium

Referee: Steve Walsh (ARU)
AR1: John Lacey (IRFU)
AR2: Leighton Hodges (WRU)
TMO: Ben Skeen (NZR)

***********************

A. Teams

ENGLAND
 
15. Mike Brown (Harlequins, 36 caps)
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 8 caps)
13. Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 10 caps)
12. Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints, 11 caps)
11. Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 7 caps)
10. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 10 caps)
09. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 46 caps)

01. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 30 caps)
02. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 65 caps)
03. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 49 caps)
04. Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers, 22 caps)
05. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 37 caps)
06. James Haskell (Wasps, 57 caps)
07. Chris Robshaw (captain, Harlequins, 36 caps)
08. Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 16 caps)

16. Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 21 caps)
17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 19 caps)
18. Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons, 9 caps)
19. Nick Easter (Harlequins, 50 caps)
20. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 35 caps)
21. Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens, 20 caps)
22. Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks, 11 caps)
23. Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby, 19 caps)

FRANCE

15 Scott Spedding, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Sébastian Tillous-Borde, 8 Loann Goujon, 7 Bernard le Roux, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Vincent Debaty.

Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Rabah Slimani, 18 Uini Atonio, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Rémi Talès, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud.

B. Head to Head

85 Played 85

45 Wins 33

33 Losses 45

7 Draws 7

147 Tries 135

78 Conversions 77

151 Penalties 90

22 Drop Goals 33

1,218 Points 1,036

Duty281 wrote:Well done Ireland.

After they beat England, I'm glad it was them who won the title.

yeah, agree

At least we beat the Welsh!!

Wow, what a day of rugby!

Well done England. Great game, so close.

Thank you, France!

Thought Owens or France were going to rob us in the end - hard luck England that was some effort and would have been deserving champions...as would Wales. Never seen a day of rugby like it.

nathan wrote:man sausage up by owens, France clearly took it down

Can't complain England got a try for dropping the ball over the line.

Crazy game.

This 6N is too confusing. Much better when there's only one team in it. Two at most on the final day.

A thoroughly entertaining day. Well done to all teams but congrats to Ireland.

Ugh, I can hardly breathe. Feck, I've never been so tense watching a game. Even in 2009 and last year I wasn't that tense!

All three teams can feel a bit like winners. History books will have Ireland but they've all been fantastic and to be settled the way it has shows there's no "better" team as such

glamorganalun wrote:

nathan wrote:man sausage up by owens, France clearly took it down

Can't complain England got a try for dropping the ball over the line.

As did France.

glamorganalun wrote:

nathan wrote:man sausage up by owens, France clearly took it down

Can't complain England got a try for dropping the ball over the line.

Crazy game.

yeah very true

Never in doubt for Ireland was it :D:D

Gutted, stupid Haskell just stupid.

Never has a 20 point win felt so empty


Well played ireland, and at least Wales didnt win

I hope England find some sort of defensive nous before the World Cup starts!

New Zealand would run up three figures against that level of defending.

glamorganalun wrote:

nathan wrote:man sausage up by owens, France clearly took it down

Can't complain England got a try for dropping the ball over the line.

Crazy game.

as did france

Wow.....what a game.

I think we've peaked lads. Start to finish, that was the greatest day of rugby I've ever seen.

nathan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Well done Ireland.

After they beat England, I'm glad it was them who won the title.

yeah, agree

Funny last year I felt we deserved it, this year feels like we got out of jail. Was sure it was the slam or bust but given we don't win many 6N titles I'll take it!

Stuart Hogg...

Kockott is a hero for Ireland for kicking that into touch.

Duty281 wrote:I hope England find some sort of defensive nous before the World Cup starts!

New Zealand would run up three figures against that level of defending.

When teams look to score alot of tries it opens up the game. World cup games wont be like that

We need a new defence coach

England need to sort out the defence, no 12 and stop the handling error's and they will be a serious challenge for the world cup

England just scored 7 tries.

Against France.

who had conceded 2 tries all tournament.

lets not forget that.

Ireland deserved the title playing three away games.

An average of 73.66 points in today's Six Nations games!

quinsforever wrote:England just scored 7 tries.

Against France.

who had conceded 2 tries all tournament.

lets not forget that.

It's unbelievable really

glamorganalun wrote:Ireland deserved the title playing three away games.

BS. england played ireland and wales away. our home games were scotland, ireland and france.

england's performance against france was THE performance of the championships for me. ireland were worthy winners. but so also would have been England or Wales.

Bloody proud of the England effort.
Congratulations Ireland - best team - best coach.

Well played ireland. But still we added to the day.. Insane day of rugby. Never seen anything like it.
NH Rugby is the best it's been for ages,

quinsforever wrote:England just scored 7 tries.

Against France.

who had conceded 2 tries all tournament.

lets not forget that.

Very true. They conceded 46 points in 320 minutes, then 55 in 80 minutes versus the English.

Basketball rugby. No defence. Not like our S15.

Thought Madigan missed kick at the death would cost Ireland the title.

How do you even go about analysing a game like that?

Back to back wins for Ireland makes an absolute mockery of the Schmidt doubters and those that routinely question his selections.

I know Wales are England's cup final but still can't help feeling that if we had just performed a bit better second half then we could be lifting the 6N title with a grandslam now

Ireland definitely favourites for RWC now

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Basketball rugby. No defence. Not like our S15.

Ha ha ha so we get criticised for being boring then when we play like super 15 7's it's basketball.

Hardluck England, Lancaster is right, a performance of incredible heart, such as is rarely seen.

On winning on points difference with England/France at home? Borderline up there with the win in 09. Best feeling in the world.

A great game. never thought that England would score that many points against Fr4ance. Yes i know France have been woe full through out the tournament. but thyey had to come good at some point.

How England will regret those missed oppertunity's against Scotland.

You cannot play at this level not finish off those scoring chances that was missed against Scotland.

Again well played Ireland.

Someone send a courier to Twickers to get our trophy.

Just shows what can be done when teams have to score points, defensive rugby sucks

Steffan wrote:I know Wales are England's cup final but still can't help feeling that if we had just performed a bit better second half then we could be lifting the 6N title with a grandslam now

Wales? Ha ha ha

GunsGerms wrote:Back to back wins for Ireland makes an absolute mockery of the Schmidt doubters and those that routinely question his selections.

What a record for Joe Schmidt, that is unbelievable actually.

I feel like celebrating, but it was just so many fine, fine margins... this is the most inseparable championship in living memory between the top three sides. Really could have been any of the top three. Really very happy and relieved and slightly disbelieving it's us.

Well done to England, Well done to Wales- two excellent teams. Just relieved and happy for O'Connell and Schmidt and... just wow.

GunsGerms wrote:Someone send a courier to Twickers to get our trophy.

Bottom of the Thames already mate

Steffan wrote:I know Wales are England's cup final but still can't help feeling that if we had just performed a bit better second half then we could be lifting the 6N title with a grandslam now

Other way round my dear fellow.

And you could argue if for a lot of things. If Jack Nowell's try had been given versus Ireland, if Ireland had a better first half against Wales, if Wales turned up for the second half against England.

I don't think we lost the six nations today, i think we lost that against Scotland not finishing of the moves.

How do we go about fixing that? Is it just playing time with these combinations?

GeordieFalcon wrote:

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Basketball rugby. No defence. Not like our S15.

Ha ha ha so we get criticised for being boring then when we play like super 15 7's it's basketball.  

So which one are you all then? Or do you not get irony?

nathan wrote:I don't think we lost the six nations today, i think we lost that against Scotland not finishing of the moves.

How do we go about fixing that? Is it just playing time with these combinations?

The main problem against Scotland was lack of support runners.

Today that was much improved.

Haskell deserves to be towel whipped with a bar of soap in the changing rooms.