Six Nations 2020: England suffer opening-half shutout for first time since 1988

England suffered an early case of Les Bleus against France in Paris, failing to score a point in the opening half of a Five or Six Nations fixture for the first time in 32 years.

Vincent Rattez and Charles Ollivon crossed for tries as a rampant France – now under the leadership of coach Fabien Galthie – scored 17 points without reply.

Romain Ntamack landed both conversion attempts as well as a penalty, giving the hosts a huge lead at the halfway stage – much to the delight of a raucous crowd in the French capital.

As for England, they had not been shut out in the first 40 minutes of a game in the tournament since 1988.

It was a bleak start to the new campaign for Eddie Jones’ side, who suffered the disappointment of losing to South Africa in the Rugby World Cup final last year.

0 – England have failed to score a point in the first half of a 5/6 Nations game for the first time since 1988, while this is their biggest halftime deficit in the tournament since 2007 when they trailed Ireland 3-23 at the break. Blank. pic.twitter.com/HR8xbzZgCn

— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) February 2, 2020

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