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France player ratings vs England | 2025 Six Nations
By Josh Raisey at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
France player ratings: France’s hopes of a Grand Slam were shattered at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium on Saturday, as England struck late to win 26-25 in round two of the Guinness Six Nations.
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The visitors will wonder what might have been if their handling was better in a match defined by dropped passes. Almost no player came away from this match without at least one knock-on to their name, and they paid the price.
Some rare off days for some superstars and Les Bleus are now relying on other results to go their way this Championship.
Here’s how the players rated:
15 Thomas Ramos – 5
A poor miss from the tee early on which came after some loose kicking out of hand. Shared the first-receiver role with Matthieu Jalibert, or even had the lion’s share in a match where he saw a lot of action- he wasn’t without errors though. Didn’t seem particularly interested in tackling Ollie Lawrence for England’s opening try of the match.
14 Damian Penaud – 5
Returning after missing the victory over Wales in round one and looked lively. Now sits just one try away from Serge Blanco on France’s all-time charts, though he will rue a couple of handling errors in positions many would have expected a world-class winger to score from- such errors defined the match in the end. Had no problem assisting his Bordeaux team-mate Louis Bielle-Biarrey with a perfectly weighted grubber to open the scoring.
13 Pierre-Louis Barassi – 5.5
Linked up very well with Moefana in the midfield, coming short to flummox England’s defence a few times. Caught out for the match-winner by leaving a gaping hole for Elliot Daly to run through.
12 Yoram Moefana – 6
Handled every runner that came down his channel and made some punchy carries with ball in hand. Could have mis-timed the pass for the late try, but executed well as he did with everything in the match.
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11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey – 5
Sloppy handling error early on when France had made a promising break down the left flank. That did not deter him as he came off his wing to devastating effect throughout. He was the culprit of a sloppy pass after the break when he broke down the left flank- he did everything perfectly but for the final pass. Comfortably beaten by Tommy Freeman in the air for England’s second try of the match. Would have thought he scored the match-winner late on, but was caught marking no-one as England scored the winner minutes later.
10 Matthieu Jalibert – 4
Filling in for the suspended Romain Ntamack, and had a similar performance in the No.10 jersey with Antoine Dupont taking on the playmaking responsibilities alongside Ramos. Such was the case that he was even taken off after an hour, with Dupont moving to fly-half.
9 Antoine Dupont – 5
By Antoine Dupont’s insuperable standards, this was not vintage. Controlled the game with both feet and mixed his kicking to keep Marcus Smith guessing. But he had a few sloppy passes in him, including a hospital pass to Alexandre Roumat. Looked to be in for a certain try soon after, but spilt a pass with the try line beckoning. Had the ball ripped from his clutches by Tom Curry just metres from England’s line early in the second 40. Not too bad by a normal player’s standards, but for Dupont, this was quite error-strewn. There were, of course, still moments of pure genius.
1 Jean-Baptiste Gros – 5
Pinged at the scrum when up against an opposite man in Will Stuart who had a size advantage. Had referee Nika Amashukeli watching him like a hawk at the scrum, which is never a great sign. Dynamic in the loose, which saw him covering a grubber into the corner in defence.
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2 Peato Mauvaka – 4
His nonchalant offload to no-one inadvertently helped his side as Dupont snapped up the loose ball and France were scoring the first try of the match seconds later. But that sums up the supreme confidence he is playing with currently, which included a cheeky one-handed lineout throw. That insouciance cost him though when he effectively missed an open goal when he tried to catch an admittedly wayward pass one-handed when a try looked a certainty. Won a crucial turnover deep in his 22 soon before being taken off.
3 Uini Atonio – 5
Though he couldn’t get the better of Ellis Genge in the opening 50 minutes, he had more success against Fin Baxter. Was taken off immediately after winning a scrum penalty against the Harlequin though.
4 Alexandre Roumat – 4
Put England’s lineout under huge pressure as a front jumper, but had quite a few handling errors in him- one notably early in the second half when France were on the edge of England’s 22. Only lasted 50 minutes.
5 Emmanuel Meafou – 6
Metres after contact were sensational, which would be expected from a 145kg player. Pivotal to how France play now.
6 Francois Cros – 6
The catalyst for Les Bleus’ opening try by distributing from the deck as soon as he pounced on a loose ball- a small touch but the hallmark of a team and a player at full confidence. Strong defensive effort.
7 Paul Boudehent – 4
A quiet 50 minutes on the field. Penalised on one occasion for holding on, but was left isolated when supporting Ramos.
8 Gregory Alldritt – 7
Player of the match last week and started this match in a similar vein, charging down a kick from Fin Smith in what was the Englishman’s first touch in his first Test start. Followed that up by marching George Martin backwards, which is no mean feat. Had a great battle with England’s lock in the midfield, with both trading huge shots. Even he had one knock-on, but was as reliable as ever.
Replacements
16 Julien Marchand – 4
Bowled over as Baxter powered over from close range as England scored their third try of the match.
17 Cyril Baille – 5
Produced some meaty carries in his 25-minute cameo.
18 Georges-Henri Colombe – 4
Gave away a scrum penalty, which gave England the field position for their third try. Fabien Galthie may regret making the change for Atonio, then again, he couldn’t last much longer.
19 Hugo Auradou – 4
In his third cap, the Pau man was penalised within seconds of coming on for holding on after taking the restart.
20 Mickael Guillard – 5
A nice touch kept the ball alive for France’s late score.
21 Oscar Jegou – 5
Fairly industrious from the bench, but not with a great impact.
22 Nolann Le Garrec – 5
A quiet cameo at the end.
23 Emilien Gailleton- N/A
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The fact that France lost by one point but this platform has rated them 50 points less than the England squad overall (even with England having one less player rated!) shows how much better the France roster is in the authors’ eyes.
Either Galthie has 2027 preparation underway already with that inexperienced bench or there’s arrogance/stupidity involved. Also, with the abundance of quality players in (almost) every position, it seems insane to leave an unused sub.
Extra headwinds for France today:
--Massive English pressure removing the space that French players wanted to run into and at breakdown.
--England deliberatley keeping the ball on the field to create more fatigue for French forwards and backs. It created fatigue for England also but they were planning for it.
--If the above kept the match close then scoreboard pressure would add to the above. Scoreboard pressure in the context of this match was England being within a score.
All of the above might also affect France's accuracy even when pressure was not as intense (eg gathering restarts)
England's plan was to hang in, and be in with a shout going down the final sstratch. France's plan was a more decisive win.
Also note if the plan thats working on the field is England's then the collective hive mind is reinforced, focused and doubles down. For the team on the field who's plan isnt working then the collective hive mind can be doubtful and manifest in individual errors as we saw.
England substitutions were aimed at bringing experience on and winning late penalties (via jacklers). Winning late penalties is the tries and tested methos of closing tight matches (eg SA via scrums).
France didn't go away. Bielle Biarrays try was amazing. They just could not shake the cumulative pressure England, the elements and match were exerting on them and failed to close from winning positions twice.
In Ireland we know England well. Their tenacity is extremely admirable, we saw it last year in Twickenham where they found a way and on many other occasions. NZ saw it in 2019. They met their match in collective team 'will' in the RWC semi.
England actually put it up to Ireland last week, but Ireland found a way out. Ireland and England looked close in standard whereas France look a bit ahead even given the loss yesterday. France's new task is maximum points from remaining matches to be relatively certain of the title. Its a four horse race.
Dupont makes the killer play for all 3 French tries. His general play is good and yet he gets a 5?
Dupont's play for the last French try to appear indecisive in his own 22 and honey pot 5 England players before releasing Penaud was genius. That should have been the winning French score. Massive credit to England coming back and to Fin Smith for executing that set end of match winning play (from the training ground).
They all got Dmac ratings.
Does Galthie have someone in France he can get back?
Everybody in here saying the ratings aren't fair need to straighten themselves out. 27 handling errors is enough to half anybody's score in ratings. Not to mention that these are the supposed favourites to boot.
If England don't get that jackal and score from that set play then you can add 2 to every French players score.
Dupont was directly involved in France's three tries as well as setting up several nailed on try opportunities. This was all in spite of an excellent English game plan to dominate the space that the players he wanted to pass to.
Ireland showed what to do last week. Don't go wide too early and tie up key England defenders in rucks before going.
Didn't the French coaches watch that match?
England pressured France early which clearly unsettled them. You could see it in most faces including Duponts. England's tactic of keeping the ball in play and intensity high had a major effect on France. Greasy ball, pressure, fatigue, affected France.
It looked the whole game they had a nagging doubt they might lose and it became a self fulfilling prophesy. Missing both restarts after both England's late tries is criminal.
Bringing on the second Curry later to get more Jackal pens which might win a close game worked a treat.
England right back in the tournament now. Great performance by Fin Smith.
Looks like England have found their no 10.
I don't think the French were arrogant. But I do think some of the noise around them and Dupont might have seaped in.
From a coaching perspective I am surprised that they were surprised by the intensity England showed.
The day after Ireland-England, the french staff noted the english aggressivity. So no surprise here. And in spite of this aggressivity, France was close to the english line and lost six opportunities for bad handlings. With three more tries this is 15 to 21 more points and there is no question about the supposed effectiveness of the english aggressivity. Were the game played ten times, France would win nine out of ten. The stars were not aligned yesterday.
5 is a bit harsh a grade for Dupont, and that’s saying something coming from a guy who’s sick and tired of the absurd Dupont-GOAT claims.
Yes, he’s had one of his worse games, and he wasn’t the best scrum half on the pitch today (a rare sight such as it is), but he was better than 5.
5 is an average player, not someone who was directly involved in two of his team’s three tries.
The French lost by one singular point, yet their average rating looks like a half of that of England players.
Yes, England were the slightly better team today, but it was by units of per cent, not by a factor of two.
Time to bring some objective standard into the grading, because this is absurd.
He was directly involved in all 3.
Try 1 his run and reverse pass to Penaud opened England. Try two his skip pass to Bialle Biarray means simple try. Try 3 he honey pots 5 English players in the 22 before releasing Penaud.
I fully agree. A 1 point loss is scarcely a hiding and perhaps England deserve some credit for the upset. Just needs France to knock over Ireland now.
I do broadly agree but I would say that I think the poor French grading is reflective not just of the narrow loss but that a lot of their players played well below their potential.
27(!) handling errors by France. That is appalling.
Weather
Fatigue due to England tactic of long periods of continuous in ball play
High intensity clever pressing game.
Scoreboard pressure
Doubt in the collective mind due to all of the above
England used tactics on a rainy day to make lots of things go wrong for France.
Gutsy win by England but France were awful for the most part. Forwards looked unfit and handling was a joke - even if you consider the conditions. Bielle-Biarrey still can't catch a high ball to save his life and Jalibert is not international class. Just shows you -if Dupont doesn't fire France fall apart easily.
France are a top outfit, and they don’t miraculously just turn awful and unfit.
Every team plays only as good as the opposition allows them to. France were poor, because England put them under a lot of pressure at the breakdown, and through kicking.
Deserved win for England, and I rarely root for them.
Well at least this piece is an observation as to how off the usual pace France were today. So many unforced handling errors and basic mistakes being made.
Great result for England but this game doesn't suddenly mean they have exorcised the demons of what has been a particularly poor run in the Borthwick era.
Glad to see them close out the game and thrive in what became a very unstructured match, definitely shows promise. But a long way to go before any bold statements about the team's potential can be made.
Agreed completely.
Good for England good for the Six Nations. Now for a Scotland upset against Ireland. Turned out the SN are not as boring as initially expected.
The six nations are rarely boring. Glad you've had your preconceptions straightened out.
Truly appalling performance. No need to point a finger but clearly current setup hasn't worked. Got nothing to lose now to let Gatland and his team go
Bit soon to replace Galthie imo.
Very sloppy game by both sides and only the close nature made it a gripping watch for the neutral. That either side could have won it was down to mistakes and poor finishing. France lost considerable credibility and the comp looks like Ireland's to lose.
No its wide open now. France hold onto those passes in the first half they go in 21 or 28 up and its over. They have every chance of winning in Dublin (and I'm Irish).
They have a very serious hurdle to cross first tomorrow.
I think it was always Irelands to lose. Coming to Twickenham is always going to be difficult (when Marcus Smith isn't playing 10) and I think sloppiness has to be put down to good defence moreso than bad attack