Poms survive French fightback
11 Mar 2012
England ended France’s Six Nations title hopes with a thrilling 24-22 win in Paris.
The last time these two teams met, in the World Cup quarter-final in Auckland, France raced out to a 16-0 lead that their opponents were never able to overturn. At the Stade de France on Sunday, it was England who took charge early on, scoring two tries for a 14-3 lead after 17 minutes.
The first was a result of a big hit from winger Chris Ashton on hooker Dimitri Szarzewski, whose poor pass in contact was picked up by Owen Farrell. The England flyhalf found scrumhalf Lee Dickson who sent the ball wide to Manu Tuilagi on the right touchline and the midfielder had enough pace to beat the cover defence.
France flyhalf Lionel Beauxis got his side on the board soon after, but England struck again from the restart when scrumhalf Julien Dupuy’s clearance kick was collected by Ben Morgan near the halfway line. The England No 8 shrugged off two tackles during his storming run before putting fullback Ben Foden away for the try.
Farrell again kicked the conversion, but missed a penalty a few minutes later. Dupuy and Beauxis then took advantage of some English indiscipline late in the half to reduce the deficit to five.
England made a good start to the second half when Farrell slotted another three points, but were reduced to 14 men two minutes later after referee Alain Rolland showed winger Charlie Sharples a yellow card for a deliberate knock-down.
While the hosts failed to take advantage of their numerical superiority, two penalties, from replacement scrumhalf Morgan Parra and Beauxis, made it 17-15 with 10 minutes to go.
England responded with a converted try from flanker Tom Craft, who took the ball 25m out and sliced through a gap which was there because centre Aurélien Rougerie had shot out of the defensive line.
France, though, hit back when No 12 Wesley Fofana scored his fourth try in four matches and Parra nailed the touchline conversion.
Les Bleus surged back into opposition territory from the restart and patiently got replacement flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc into position for a drop goal from 35m out. But his kick fell short and England hung on for a famous win.
By Simon Borchardt
37 Comments
11 Mar 2012, 19:43 pm
Excellent win for England. If the RFU had balls then Lancaster should get the job. Mallet has had his time…….
11 Mar 2012, 19:47 pm
@XV(XV)-1:
Mallets the man lancaster is already preparing the team fo rhim
2 saffas
11 Mar 2012, 20:09 pm
France remind me of the Boks,they play with zero brains.
Their selectors are morons just like ours. In the dying minutes
they needed to drive closer to the english line and then set up a drop
but they are way too retarded to do that
11 Mar 2012, 20:09 pm
@CoachPete(CoachPete)-2: Lancaster reminds me a lot of when Jake White first took control of the Boks…….. Mallet is a great coach but really at the end of the day he has had his opportunities. And his decision re Teichman in 1999 RWC will always be with him.
11 Mar 2012, 20:12 pm
France are the Pakistan of cricket! getting millions of $$$$$$$ throwing matches and pitching up at the right time when the odds are down! …. that how their clubs can buy rugby geniuses like Frans Steyn etc!
11 Mar 2012, 20:18 pm
lancaster should stay and be given a permanent job.
mallett is no great shakes – ian mac was a better coach
11 Mar 2012, 20:26 pm
Ian Mac with his Wahl Bartmann rugby! oh no please! one of the k@kkest coaches in SA rugby! England needs Jake or Nick … a no nonsens coach with a rugby brain!
11 Mar 2012, 20:29 pm
@BWA(Dusktill)-7:
cabous, a very ordinary winger, scored most of his tries from ian mac “wahl bartmann” rugby.
you need to understand the reason for the tactics.
don’t have the time or inclination to type an essay here.
11 Mar 2012, 20:31 pm
Pieter Hendriks scored much more tries for Transvaal … Cabous scored against mickey mouse teams …. Kitch Christie!
11 Mar 2012, 21:23 pm
That means South Africa have cemented 3rd spot in the rankings.
11 Mar 2012, 21:34 pm
@Nils(Nils)-10:
Something i am sure the rest on here are proud of.
At least SA have the best refs….. so i keep hearing
11 Mar 2012, 21:38 pm
if Bryce and Keith retires from refereeing 2night, then NZ may just slip into the top 10 ranking of best rugby referees in the world!
11 Mar 2012, 21:42 pm
And the bok assistant coaches are: Rapport: Rassie Erasmus, Johan van Graan, Basil Carzis, Ricardo Laubscher, Louis Koen, Victor Matfield, Pieter de Villiers (from France) en waarskynlik Jacques Nienaber.
11 Mar 2012, 21:50 pm
And the bok assistant coaches are: Rapport: Rassie Erasmus, Johan van Graan, Basil Carzis, Ricardo Laubscher, Louis Koen, Victor Matfield, Pieter de Villiers (from France) en waarskynlik Jacques Nienaber.
Find the quota and win a BMW!!! Ricardo is average and won’t have any say!! … i’d rather have Breyton Paulse or Paul True there!
11 Mar 2012, 22:00 pm
Laubscher was a so-so player, doesn’t mean he is a bad coach. I’m no Bulls fan, but the try scoring stats and titles won of the underage teams he is responsible for is pretty good.
11 Mar 2012, 22:09 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-11: As for referees, you know, they are good as long as their team wins. Bryce was more than fine when worked his miracles for the Boks during first 2 tests of BIL series and suddenly hated one after the WC. Likewise, the one who shall not be named was the most honest and competent guy in reffendom after a certain game in Cardiff and for a strange reason ceased to be that loved one as soon as he reffed their own guys.
Regarding this game although I was cheering for France, glad to see English under Lancaster playing more interestingly or excitingly that I can recall for quite some time, having got rid of the old carthorses. Future for them looks good and that’s good for overall entertainment. Maybe Lancaster is indeed the right one for them right now.
11 Mar 2012, 22:12 pm
@Boksarenumber4(Boksarenumber1)-3: I agree! England played well today but when France actually turned on the gas they really took England apart, im surprised that they didnt get the ball out wide more often as thats where England were exposed. Also their players were definitely offside near the end when France got that break away that ended up in a ruck situation! however England should not have had a man sent off for 10 so it could be argued that the decision cancelled out the other. The standard of rugby is not much better than last years so far. Englands tries were good however it could be argued Frances defence was lacking at times, on the whole though a lot better than some of the **** thats been on display so far
11 Mar 2012, 22:21 pm
Got that one right too, although my margins were 3-5 for the Poms
Rolland made very few mistakes and basically only called what he saw, made it feel good for a change,
The Frogs can ‘thank’ their coach for picking Du Puy instead of the immensely skillful, composed and talented Para, and then Fofana in an act of selfishness and futility did the De Jongh/Habana thing while holding on the ball when Morgan Para at his left had the line within 7m, I knew then the Frogs lost it
11 Mar 2012, 22:28 pm
Frogs had the Poms at their mercy the last 3 minutes all they had to do was keep driving forward and they would have scored another try before full time. or at least get the fly half within range instead of attempting a 40 meter drop they could have got him within 30 mts from the poles before the last drop attempt.
England were on the rack before the botched drop attempt, few more drives up field and France would have been over for another try, instead conservatism killed the momentum and the drop was short.
11 Mar 2012, 22:35 pm
lol @ De jongh/habana thing!! so spot on!!! quotas!!
11 Mar 2012, 22:35 pm
@Nils(Nils)-16:
Yep, I always thought there was disconnect between the eyes and the mind if rugby fans believed that the scrumming deficient The Beast could win over Phil Vickery 3 time in a row, enough said!
11 Mar 2012, 22:41 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-19:
A good game with two impressive packs of forwards, it was brutal encounter and with some brilliance
The Poms took their chances, the Frogs didn’t
11 Mar 2012, 23:12 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-21: Indeed yet Burger yellow trumped that with ease. He must have the soft spot for him, because when he (Burger, not Bryce) tried to rip off Pocock’s head twice in matter of seconds during that fateful WC (http://images4.hiboox.com/images/4111/diapoe8f8259bd3e71b0961f8be9d89034ade.gif)and landing on his backside eventually while Pocock still stayed on his feet and competed for the ball – Bryce was blind as a bat. And okes still hate him. Weird.
11 Mar 2012, 23:37 pm
@Nils(Nils)-23:
ripping his fingers across his face too. Repeatedly. Filthy Burger, gouging with impunity.
They were lucky when Lawrence allowed Burger back on the field in the BIL Test after gouging. They were lucky Lawrence allowed Burger to stay on the field for the RWC QF for gouging.
And the whinging Nation of Yappies take their vitriol out on the ref and sent him death threats.
Heck, thankfully the RWC was held in a civil nation and no bottles were thrown.
12 Mar 2012, 01:44 am
@Nils(Nils)-23:
wow
When you keep seeing that it makes you wonder how they lost that game. They had all the territory and ball and were allowed to eye gouge and claw around the head area.
All this and Burger was actually put himself offside doing it all.
To me once he fell down out of the ruck he got back up and joined again on the side. Minor offence but the gouging wasnt ands should have been picked up, by at least the touch judges
12 Mar 2012, 05:42 am
@PrickBoks going South(PrickBoks going South)-24:
The misus get another Saffa meat injection over the week-end? It must really get your goat hey dude?
12 Mar 2012, 05:47 am
For the record, Barnes got a few death threats after 2007 and hey, one or two kiwis had a whinge as well………….. just for the record. Would want to get a few facts in the way of your bitterness.
Hey if you spent more time at home and less trying to bait Saffa’s on the web maybe the misus would not stray……..? Then again maybe not, she’s tasted Saffa meat now!
12 Mar 2012, 05:48 am
@whatever(whatever)-26:
Sounds a lot like ET
He has no missus, just a long suffering right hand, hairy palms and carpal tunnel syndrom nonwithstanding
12 Mar 2012, 05:52 am
@victoriabok(victoriabok)-28:
Don’t think its ET.
Sounds more like a wound up “black panther” or a “poppa” on downers. Not sure if you had the displeasure of engaging in those two doos’s from last year?
12 Mar 2012, 05:59 am
@whatever(whatever)-29:
Yes, I’ve seen their posts, they’re pricks, but this guy keeps referring to medical conditions and it sounds a lot like ET, he reads the prof’s medical textbooks between weighing rat poop in the lab, and then tries to impress us with his wisdom
Bokprick referred to Prefrontal cortex a few post a go today, just like ET does
12 Mar 2012, 06:06 am
Vicky & Pricky, the lobotomized lesbi@n half sisters, cobble together what is left of their right cortex and still cant figure out how to tie their shoelaces without getting their teeth filled with loose pubes.
12 Mar 2012, 06:33 am
Alain Roland has a French father. Its a joke how he can referee and England France game. So many inconsistencys in the match, he almost won it for the French. He did however rob France of the world cup against New Zealand, so perhaps he is just simply useless. Its so sad how many rugby matches are ruined by referees these days. Its a new thing, because I can’t remember another era of rugby ever being more influenced by officials then players.
12 Mar 2012, 09:42 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-32: “He did however rob France of the world cup against New Zealand, so perhaps he is just simply useless.”
Can we know how?
12 Mar 2012, 10:20 am
Seems England have their new coach…!!
Thank you the rest…!!
12 Mar 2012, 11:33 am
XV – I agree. Lancaster seems to have England on a good role now and they playing their best rugby since RWC2007!! Tom Croft is brilliant and the knew young flyhalf has got a bright future.
The French are doubting themselves too much. they could have pulled off a win yesterday. I feel St Andre won;t last long!!
12 Mar 2012, 12:15 pm
@Nils(Nils)-33: Sure, just ask any neutral observer.
12 Mar 2012, 14:05 pm
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-36: Are you sure you did watch the right game?
The referee was Craig Joubert.
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