In the final game of the day England needed to win by 26 points to secure a first title since 2011.
France were playing for pride and a chance to be party poopers at Twickenham.
Here is a report on the game by “BabyBlueElephant”
England 55 – France 35
by “BabyBlueElephant”
It’s not often in rugby you can score 35 points against a top tier nation and lose, its equally unlikely to score 55 points and come away feeling dejected. That was exactly what happened in Twickers yesterday, if you get the chance to watch the game do it, it’ll be the best 80 minutes you’ve spent all year.
England started the day knowing a winning margin of 26 points was needed. The French defence up till this stage had conceded the fewest points. England nevertheless rose to the challenge to score within the first five minutes. Some lovely pop passes down the right touchline between Brown, Joseph and Ford seen the latter dot down in the corner. He converted his own try to make it 7-0 after 3 minutes.
It looked ominous for Irish fans. France as usual however, seemed ready to throw a spanner in the works, immediately scoring a penalty kick. An English attack ensued after the kick off, but sloppy ruck ball lead to French scrumhalf Tillous-Borde collecting the ball and running over 60 minutes to put the French into the lead at 11 minutes in.
Adding salt to the wound, the French scored just five minutes later, with wing Nakaitaci scoring from a simple overlap to make the score 15 – 7. Englands chances were slipping away, and the silence around Twickenham shown it.
Frances Noa Nakaitaci scores to put France 15- 7 ahead
England had to respond and did just that, with Youngs dragging his team to the French try line with a superb break. A few phases later Watson scored in the corner, and Ford brilliantly converted. Just minutes later England found themselves right on the French try line again, Youngs shown his quality to quickly step through the fringes of a ruck to score underneath the posts. Ford knocked over a penalty soon after to put the English in 27 – 15 at half time.
If England fans hoped France would roll over in the second half they were wrong. Immediately after the break Frances Maxime Mermoz crashed under the posts following some superb offloads. At 27 – 22 the task seemed a bit steeper once more, yet that man Youngs helped England to an immediate reply, running straight through the French defence and passing to Ford who ran under the sticks for a 34 -22 lead.
English hands in the ruck lead to a slight reduction in the lead, with Plisson nailing a penalty for 34 -25. England however, immediately hit back with Jack Nowell scoring in the corner just two minutes later thanks to some lovely hands from Ford and Youngs. A fantastic conversion from Ford and it was a healthy lead at 41 – 25.
Jules Plisson scores a penalty
Not even five minutes later, Nakaitaci ran at least 70 metres in a stunning counter attack starting from his own 22. He made it deep into the England 22 before offloading to French prop Vincent Debaty of all people to reduce the lead to 41 – 30. England were only momentarily rocked as Vunipola powerfully barged over three minutes later to restore the margin between the teams at 48 -30 with 63 minutes gone. England only needed 8 more points to win the championship.
Ireland fans expecting France to give up hope would be in for a shock after the French scored from a brutal rolling maul in the 66th minute. This was the 11th try of the game. Scrappy play by the French however lead to England punting a penalty deep into the French 22. It was inevitable by this stage that a try would come, with Nowell eventually running a fantastic line, splitting the French defence for a 55 – 35 lead. A converted try would win it now.
Jack Nowell scores his second try of the match
England had possession with 77 minutes on the clock with a lineout just on the French five metre line. In a game where 12 tries had been scored already, this seemed like a formality. Lawes claimed the ball and the English began a maul, but all would go wrong when it collapsed and France being awarded the scrum. It seemed like game over for England, only for France to cough up a penalty. 79 minutes now on the clock, Ford kicks for another lineout, and another maul ensued. This time France would snatch a turnover from the following phases.
80 minutes were now on the clock, Ireland fans were shocked when France then ran the ball back instead of kicking it out. It then hit them France aren’t here to do Ireland any favours. Luckily instead of losing possession, Kockett had enough and the French scrum half kicked it out. Ireland became the champions, and England and France had played their part in making this the most entertaining final round of the Six Nations in the competitions history.
The wrap up
This was like a Rocky film, two heavyweights going toe to toe, blow for blow. The French just refused to give up, and the English mentality was perfect, always scoring after the French to keep their title chances alive. For me, this was the best Six Nations game I’ve ever witnessed.
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The Game Changer
In a game of 12 tries this is a hard one, but Mermoz’s try after the break laid down a marker that the French weren’t just here to make up the numbers.
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The G&GR MOTM
Ben Youngs was fantastic. He dragged his team back into the game after France raced ahead early in the first half. Was central to his teams attack, scored two and creating two in a great day for the England 9.
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The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”] England
Tries: B. Youngs 2, Watson, Ford, Nowell 2, B. Vunipola
Cons: Ford 6
Pens: Ford 2
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France
Tries: Tillous-Borde, Nakaitaci, Mermoz, Debaty, Kayser
Cons: Plisson 2
Pens: Plisson, Kockott
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[one_half last=”no”]
Cards & citings
Haskell
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Crowd
80,000
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The teams
France
1 Vincent Debaty, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 3 Nicolas Mas, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 7 Bernard LeRoux, 8 Loann Goujon.
9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 10 Jules Plisson, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 13 Gael Fickou, 14 Yoann Huget, 15 Scott Spedding.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Rabah Slimani, 18 Uini Atonio, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud.
England
1 Joe Marler, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Geoff Parling, 5 Courtney Lawes, 6 James Haskell, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain) ,8 Billy Vunipola
9 Ben Youngs, 10 George Ford, 11 Anthony Watson, 12 Luther Burrell, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 14 Jack Nowell, 15 Mike Brown.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Nick Easter, 20 Tom Wood, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.
Venue: Twickenham
Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)
Assistant Referees: John Lacey (Ireland), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
