RBS Six Nations -  Match Review 

France 13 v England 24

 23^rd February 2008

 England's Phil Vickery and Paul Sackey celebrate at the end of the game - Picture by Empics

England are back in contention for the VI Nations, and frankly who'd have thought it? England have now won two on the trot in Paris and, unremarkable as it might sound on its own, England's last away victory anywhere outside Rome was so long ago the side was beginning to look positively agoraphobic outside Twickenham. But with their 24-13 win over France comes the chance to win the tournament for the first time since 2003.

It was Richard Wigglesworth's day, in truth. The Sale scrum-half crossed in the last minute after sustained forward pressure to seal the win; a try celebrated with vigour by the debutant. Wigglesworth performed well on his first start, bossing a pack that took their counterparts to school and providing a snap to England's service from the breakdown that has been a while missing.

Unlike in previous games, it was the French who dominated possession, drawing a splendid defensive display from their visitors, exemplified early on, when Jamie Noon clattered into Cedric Heymans, dislodging the ball - Steve Walsh conveniently missed the knock-on - for Paul Sackey to touch down, opening up a 7-0 lead for England after Jonny Wilkinson's conversion.

A Wilkinson penalty put his side further ahead, and after a miss from France's makeshift place-kicker, Damien Traille, Wilkinson stretched England's lead, only for the French to hit back with a try from Captain Lionel Nallet, in a powerful attack dictated and manipulated by the excellent Morgan Parra. If anything, France's own debutant no. 9 outplayed Wigglesworth with a confident and classy display, only to finish on the losing side. 

England led 13-7 at halftime, an event sandwiched in between two moments of unbridled mirth brought about by Iain Balshaw's inability to field a high ball. A few minutes in, indiscipline from Mark Regan led to Parra taking a shot at goal, to bring France back within three points. Last Tango in Paris for England's least wanted, surely?

Jonny Wilkinson  Picture by Empics

By now Wilkinson, either supremely determined or compelled by his impressive captain, Phil Vickery, was taking shots at goal from just about anywhere. A drive into midfield from Lesley Vainikolo - underused for his power or unusable for his lack of versatility, depending on your persuasion - set up the fly half for a World record breaking drop goal, before two long range efforts sailed wide and short, in that order. Eventually, one dropped through the sticks and England led, 19-10. Dmitri Vachvili, on for Parra, slotted a penalty but France could not break down England's defence with Michael Lipman and Tom Croft, a replacement for James Haskell who is now a doubt for Scotland, making tackles left, right and centre. Rougerie, Clerc and Heymans were successfully shackled, and the occasional half-break from Francois Trinh-Duc and Thierry Dusautoir came to nothing. With France trying everything from deep late on, David Skrela knocked on and Wigglesworth completed the job.

It was very much another of those ‘job done' victories for England, for whom Sheridan, Vickery, Lipman and Easter were tremendous. However, and it seems there's always a mitigating phrase of some sort, it's now 6 games since England scored what might be called a proper backs try that involved no kicking of any sort.

Marc Lievrement's squad tinkering continues apace, with 4 new names in his training squad for their clash with Italy, and Warren Gatland's selectorial ruthlessness has received nothing but praise, and of course results. It is a fool who retains all of a winning team or a winning strategy simply because the team has won, and if it weren't for the fact that we've seen it so many times before one can only see changes coming, especially in the backs. James Simpson-Daniel continues to draw limitless praise from every corner of the Premiership and ‘Danny vs Jonny' round three kicks off on Friday (Cipriani leads the series 2-0). Should these trends continue, and the named parties fail to win selection, in will add weight to a growing feeling that it is very difficult to play oneself out of this England side, but utterly impossible to play oneself in. 

But pessimism can wait. England's win in Paris sets up two huge weekends of competition. If Ireland, France and England should all prevail the weekend after next, then four teams could enter the final round on 3 wins apiece. Game on, ladies and gentlemen. 

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• France v England Match Preview
• Six Nations Table 2008
• England Squad for 2008 Six Nations Announced