France 22 v England 9 - 18th August 2007

England oh England wherefore art thou?

 Dejected England - Photos by Empics

England went forward to Marseilles and we all hoped they would win, some even thought by a number of points but it was not to be. When it came down to it England looked at the end a tired side bereft of ideas and only one game plan.

In both the first and second half of the game both sides made some huge bone crunching tackles.  This was most definitely a very physical game and we had a constant melee of bodies strewn around the midfield.   It almost felt like a battle of war, as the camera panned up in the air you could see the flat defensive line and Wilkinson running back and forth shouting orders.  

The French absorbed England's heavier pack and in the first half it was really all about brut strength, I could almost here echoes of four years ago when England used to take the opposition pressure in the first half and look to grind them down in the second half, then capitalise on their mistakes   This time however, the team performing these tactics were wearing the blue of France.  

Many mistakes by England, too many players in the line out, players taking their eye of the ball and knocking the ball on, Wilkinson missing kicks and kicks to touch all in all another standard day at the office for England these days.

The first half both teams swapped penalties, tempers boiling and Allain Rolland demonstrating his command of French was about the only thing I found very interesting,   As we approached half time Simon Shaw was binned for a high tackle on Damien Traille, to be honest I did not think the tackle was that bad.  I rather think the 16th man helped out on that one but I could be being a one eyed fan here. So another penalty to France!  During the same incident we had Phil Vickery knocked out cold and having to be taken off on a stretcher, we await to hear how he is.

Half Time France 12 - England 3

England had it all to play for in the second half but still had almost 10mins to go with only 14men, tough on any team but at this level even harder.  During that time France came out guns blazing scored a penalty and then a try from Jauzion who brushed off tackles from Farrell and Perry.  This was really the beginning of the end for England, we did get another penalty bringing England's tally of points to 9 but that was the sum total for England today.

France however, stepped up the gears brought on their subs looked much sharper and as I watched reminded me of England four years ago the confidence, strength and belief in themselves could almost be felt through the screen. 

On the 70min mark France got another penalty to take them to 22 points but they could and should have had more, they also missed penalties and they should have had a another try in the 65th min when Manol Harinordoquy decided not to pass out wide and kept the ball for himself............ (ahhhh that red mist of the try line) surfaces again!

Final Score France 22 - England 9

Comment:  Good physical demonstration by England, no use of the backs - much more work to do before we meet Samoa, Tonga, South Africa ....errr we should beat USA shouldn't we?

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