Match Report - France get 'Le Crunched' by England
Jonny May plundered a hat-trick of tries as England continued their rampaging start to the Guinness Six Nations by overwhelming France 44-8 in their biggest win against their old rivals since 1911.
May sealed his reputation as world rugby’s deadliest finisher inside half an hour, capitalising on brilliant home kicking but also showing dazzling footwork to outfox Damian Penaud from a standing start for his second.
It lifted the Leicester wing’s strike rate to 12 tries in as many Tests and helped propel England to a 30-8 half-time lead at Twickenham that included the bonus point sealed by Henry Slade’s touch down.
Eddie Jones explained the decision to select Chris Ashton ahead of Jack Nowell in the number 14 jersey as a “gut feeling” he would conjure an early try and if it was a ruse to deceive France then it worked brilliantly as all the play unfolded down May’s flank.
From the moment he crossed after a mere 65 seconds, England looked assured of victory as they swept aside possibly the poorest French team to have played in the Six Nations.
Les Blues were a rabble and Jones’ title challengers ran amok, helping themselves to six tries to deliver another ominous statement in World Cup year a week after overrunning champions Ireland 32-20 in Dublin.
It sets up a mouth-watering clash with Wales in a fortnight when the Six Nations’ only unbeaten teams collide at the Millennium Stadium.
That match might have to be played without Mako Vunipola, however, after the loosehead prop limped off to sit in the dugout with ice strapped to his left ankle.
Jones had voiced his fears over France using a variety of tricks to slow the tempo of the game and placed the onus on Nigel Owens to act against any scheming, but the matter was taken out of the Welsh official’s hands by England’s devastating precision.
They scored inside the opening three minutes for a fifth successive Test, the lightning-fast May tapping down Elliot Daly’s chip ahead after the full-back had sprinted into open space.
The try was made possible by a thunderous double tackle from Billy and Mako Vunipola that dislodged the ball from Guilhem Guirado’s grasp – just one element of a dominant home start.
⭐ Hat-trick hero Jonny May ⭐#ENGvFRA #CarryThemHome 🌹
[Credit: @SixNationsRugby] pic.twitter.com/B7SC5FFrLs
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 10, 2019
Two Owen Farrell penalties extended the lead to 11-3 in the 13th minute and the one-way traffic continued when England cranked up the tempo at an attacking line-out.
Waves of forwards arrived to run off Ben Youngs at scrum-half before the Leicester half-back expertly switched play left where a long Farrell pass offered May a one-on-one with Penaud that proved all-too easy to finish.
And just before the half-hour mark May had completed his hat-trick as French incompetence was exposed for the umpteenth time.
England were wandering down a blind ally and Slade’s up and under should have been caught easily by Morgan Parra, but instead the ball spilt to Ashton who chipped on for May to touch down.
The #GuinnessSixNations table after two rounds.
Discuss… 👇 pic.twitter.com/pGKtcBIoxo
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 10, 2019
Yoann Huget engineered a try for France down the right wing that was finished by Penaud, but it was only a brief interruption to the flow of home points that continued on the stroke of half-time when Slade danced over after Ashton had almost scored.
Slade was at the heart of England’s fifth try as he intercepted Camille Lopez’s pass and kicked ahead and when Ashton was tackled without the ball, Owens awarded a generous penalty try before showing Gael Fickou a yellow card.
The carnage continued in the 55th minute when Farrell scored seconds after May had almost claimed his fourth from a move that started deep in the home half, but then all urgency drained from the game and neither line was breached again.
Press Association Sport
Comments on RugbyPass
The first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to comments