RBS Six Nations 2010
France 12 - 10 England
Match Review Thoughts - by Mally

Having shopped for munchies and madly tidied the flat I was all set, the girls had arrived, sofas been shuffled round ready for the game. Not that any of us were expecting much, not after the last few matches. A storming performance from the French was on the cards and England would be as dull and lifeless as in previous matches. Or so we thought…

I hadn’t expected to care about this game, in fact I was only hoping Ashton and Foden would perform well sticking a metaphorical two fingers up at the England coaches for not picking them sooner. Oh and being a Haskell fan (well I am female and have you seen the Stade Francais calendar??) I was praying Joe Worsley would be dire and the lovely blond lump would get on fairly sharpish, after all a lass needs to have something to watch when the match gets dire!

So having settled down to watch the match & not expecting a lot, the anthems begin and so to my nerves and doubts go out the window and secretly I begin to think that ‘yes it’s possible we could upset the French Slam hopes’.

Flood kicks off and we’re off, England try to run then Bastearaud shoulder barges one of our boys, you are supposed to try and wrap your arms round when you tackle aren’t you? A bit of ping pong then that French 10 whose name I can’t spell sticks a lovely shot down past Ashton into the corner. This leads to a scrum and my favourite camera angle the overhead view… ahhhh lovely. First scrum and the ref is nit picking straight away, which was a sign of things to come.

France go ahead 3-0 to go groans all round and much girlie confusion as what on earth England had done wrong at the scrum, after 8 seasons of watching club rugby every week bend over and push is still the limit of my understanding!

“Oh gawd it’s going to be one of those games…”

But then… a little piece of magic. England go from one side of the pitch to the other building the move, lovely take from Mark Cueto, back across to the far side, ball moved well through the hands Flood, Flutey to Foden who scored… cue 3 screaming woman leaping up and down and 2 very frightened cats running out of the room! The metaphorical V-sign? Oh I think so… nice one Ben Foden!

France 3 – England 7 – stop the game now, that’ll do.

The next 5 minutes or so were good from England, quick ball, forwards winning ball, backs playing like they’d not played all tournament - maybe because some of them hadn’t?

11 minutes in the heavens opened and unfortunately it dampened down the England attack. That French 10, shunts another lovely long kick down to the corner, and England are right back in their own 22, Deacon got what I think was his only mention from the commentary team during the entire game, when he secures the lineout.

Then we see the open sally in what develops into the best head-to-head battle of the match as the mad French woman makes her appearance, leaping up and down in front of Johnno!

Shaw goes off and Mr Why-Oh-Why-Was-He-Selected-Instead-Of-Lawes comes on. Don’t get me wrong I’ve nothing against Tom Palmer, but I just don’t see him figuring much in England’s future plans, at least not in a sane world where we’re building for the World Cup, but this is Johnno & Andrew’s England so who knows?

England give a penalty away and France pull 3 points back.

France 6 – England 7

I was thoroughly enjoying the first half England attempting to run and not kicking aimlessly every 2 seconds, was this down to the change of players or a change in game plan? Whichever it was it was a vast improvement.

More wobbles at the scrum, for once I was agreeing with Brian Moore the referee seemed to be applying whichever laws he wanted to, a lack of consistency. Very confusing viewing, I dread to think how anyone who doesn’t regularly watch the game followed what was happening.

France 9 – England 7 (boo hiss at the referee!)

Wet slippery conditions don’t help, slipped bindings and poor handling, scrums falling over, and Dan Cole is pulled out by the referee. Another French penalty… now as much as I like Parra (those tight shirts in the rain, even make Frenchmen look attractive) I was cursing his accuracy with the boot!

France 12 – England 7

Not much else really happened in the game after this, second half was very much a damp squib. Johnno made replacements at half time, Wilson on for Cole, Thompson on for Hartley, but it wasn’t enough. There was a break from Ashton who just chipped over too soon, but bar that not much happened. The big blond lump got on, so I was happy, but seriously that beard…

All in all England played the better rugby of the two teams, but not for long enough.

What is really annoying about this game wasn’t the fact we lost, but the fact that it was too little too late. How good could that backline have been if they’d been playing together from the start of the tournament?

Some players are not going to be around at the next World Cup, or at least shouldn’t be. England need to sit down and think what they want to achieve in the next 18 months, carry on with the same old dross, or really think about building for the future. Sadly I think they’ve left it a little late.

Oh & by the way mad French woman turned out to be Rafael Ibanez’s mother-in-law… classic!

France: Poitrenaud; Andreu, Bastareaud, Jauzion, Palisson; Trinh-Duc, Parra; Domingo, Servat, Mas, Nallet, Pierre, Dusautoir, Bonnaire, Harinordoquy.

Replacements: Malzieu for Andreu (73), Marty for Bastareaud (51), Poux for Domingo (55), Szarzewski for Servat (53), Chabal for Pierre (59), Lapandry for Harinordoquy (53).

Not Used: Yachvili.

England: Foden; Cueto, Tindall, Flutey, Ashton; Flood, Care; Payne, Hartley, Cole, Shaw, Deacon, Worsley, Moody, Easter.

Replacements: Tait for Tindall (53), Wilkinson for Flutey (61), Thompson for Hartley (41), Wilson for Cole (41), Palmer for Shaw (15), Haskell for Worsley (64).

Not Used: Youngs.

Att: 80,000

Ref: B Lawrence (New Zealand).