England player ratings - vs France
England and Eddie Jones’ 2019 redemption took another big step forward on Sunday as they cantered to a 44-8 victory over France at Twickenham in the Guinness Six Nations.
Le Crunch was a one-sided affair, as England sped into an early lead and didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal until around the 60th minute, when the result had become a foregone conclusion. They now prepare for a tense clash in Cardiff in two weeks’ time, with both they and Wales gunning for a Grand Slam in this year’s competition.
We have rated all 23 of England’s performers below.
- Elliot Daly – 7
A bright start, spotting the space on the transition, weaving his way through the French defence and putting through a kick for Jonny May to chase and score his first try. Counter-attacked nicely on a couple of French kicks which outstretched their chase, but slipped out of the game a little as it went on and England took their foot off the gas.
- Chris Ashton – 7
The wing chased as effectively as Jack Nowell did a week before him, including a ball he was able to tap back for England to retain possession. A smart kick through set up May for his third try and he came close to opening his own account on a couple of occasions. England had so much joy going to the left wing that Ashton was relatively unused on the right.
- Henry Slade – 8
A strong aerial display from the outside centre, who took a number of contested balls, as well as winning back English kicks, including in the build-up to May’s third try. He took his try well, stepping back inside and beating the would-be tackler. He did get caught out shooting up trying to close down the play in the build-up to Damian Penaud’s opening try, but it was otherwise a solid defensive showing, as illustrated by his intercept in the second half that led to a penalty try.
- Manu Tuilagi – 7
A couple of handling and passing errors aside, Tuilagi went well as an attacking force. He straightened the line well, popped up on Owen Farrell’s shoulder a number of times and was valuable as a solo tackler, in particular his cover defence in the first half, which saved England from a probable French try.
- Jonny May – 9
Ripped off a first half hat-trick, two of which came from kicks in behind Penaud, whilst the other was from an Owen Farrell miss-pass, as he stepped inside of his opposite number. He chased energetically, too, helping making England’s kicking game a success and the one blemish on his game was being brushed off by Yoann Huget in the build-up to Penaud’s first half try. For the second week in a row, dominated the aerial contest.
- Owen Farrell – 8
The deft touches on the gain-lines, with pops, offloads and cutback passes, mixed with his array of wider and miss-passes, allowed Farrell to successfully orchestrate England’s win. His kicking game from hand was effective, constantly moving the French back three around and manipulating the space, whilst he also popped up with 17 points. Fully deserved his second half try.
- Ben Youngs – 7
Not quite the masterclass he put on in Dublin, with he and his chase just a little off that level of synergy, but he targeted Huget to good effect in the first half. A clever switch of play preceded May’s second try of the game, whilst his tempo and distribution was conducive to England’s success at Twickenham.
- Mako Vunipola – 8
A busy first half in the loose was further emphasised by a growing dominance at the set-piece, after some early parity between he and Demba Bamba. An apparent injury saw him leave the field early in the second half.
- Jamie George – 7
Just one lineout went astray for the hooker, with his other seven throws all going cleanly to their targets. His carrying was strong around the fringes and he was a mobile defender in the wider channels.
- Kyle Sinckler – 8
A trademark influential performance in the loose from Sinckler, who was another playmaker in the England XV. His soft hands and good distribution game allowed England to shift the point of contact effectively, whilst he came in at scrum-half and got the ball out quickly and accurately for Slade’s score late in the first half.
- Courtney Lawes – 9
A dominant, all-round performance that went a long way to filling the boots of Maro Itoje. The lock’s line-speed was excellent, he made dominant tackles and he was a force carrying, bringing consistent gain-line breaks. He was effective at the lineout, too, proving valuable on attack, as well as stealing two French throws and putting pressure on hooker Guilhem Guirado. His second half scything down of Mathieu Bastareaud was representative of his monumental performance.
- George Kruis – 6
Kruis carried strongly against France and offered himself as an attacking option at the lineout. He was busy around the fringes as a defender and contributed to quick attacking ball at the contact.
- Mark Wilson – 7
Another industrious display from Wilson, who was busy doing the less glamorous work at Twickenham. He was influential as a kick chaser, helped shepherd England’s back three in the kicking game and, just as he did in Dublin, went to work at the contact area, slowing down opposition ball.
- Tom Curry – 8
Not quite as clean a display as a week before in Dublin, with the flanker earning the ire of Nigel Owens on a few occasions, but he did bring impressive line-speed in defence, frequently hunting down France’s first receiver, as well as slowing down the ball at the contact area. Noticeably stepped up as a more prominent carrier.
- Billy Vunipola – 7
A second dominant tackling display in as many weeks for Vunipola, who was not required to put England on his back and carry them to victory due to the presence of so many other effective ball-carriers in the XV. He did pop up with a number of powerful punches through the French line, however.
Replacements
Missed his first lineout after coming off the bench but followed it up with two successful throws and a strong defensive display.
- Ben Moon – 6
Contributed to a well-functioning set-piece after arriving but didn’t have too much opportunity to influence the game in the loose.
- Dan Cole – 6
Folded up Jefferson Poirot in his first scrum after replacing Sinckler and looked as if he hadn’t missed a beat in international rugby.
- Joe Launchbury – 6
Bounced back from a knock-on soon after arriving to deliver some powerful tackles in the loose, including soaking up French pressure around the fringes.
- Nathan Hughes – 6
Some good control at the base of the scrum and a couple of big tackles.
- Dan Robson – 6
An effective kick chase that won England a late penalty. A promising cameo.
- George Ford – 6
Didn’t have too much opportunity to influence the game, with England have won the game before he arrived and taken their foot off the gas. Chased back well to prevent a late French try.
- Jack Nowell – 6
Continued on from where he left off in Dublin, chasing effectively and harrying the French back three.
Watch: Scotland coach Gregor Townsend dissects the loss to Ireland on Saturday
Comments on RugbyPass
I’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
139 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
139 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
139 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
139 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
139 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
139 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
139 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
139 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
139 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
139 Go to commentsHo hum.
139 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
139 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
139 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
139 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
139 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
139 Go to comments