RugbyRebels

France 23 -

Ford makes another clearing kick this time into touch but Ntamack makes a quick throw and Bouthier kicks into the England 22

Daly now returns the ball with another kick, and this time because Bouthier had followed his own kick there's space in behind him, so whilst Bouthieris retreating and France have 3 players back in their 22 between the centre of the pitch and their right touchline the ball still finds grass and rolls towards the try line. Bouthier retrieves the ball and kicks again, but this time it goes out on the 10m line in France's half.

Some patience shown by England, it might not be exciting but they've won possession and territory in this kicking battle.

England win the lineout and use JJ on a crash ball up the middle. And then follow up with a couple of carries from the forwards. It's not bad but France aren't losing defenders to the ruck or ground in the tackle.

Digby wrote:Minute 20 -

Itoje, great workmate if nothing else, gets to the Dupont box kick, but as with Curry it's only a deflection. This is the ball that might be knocked back by Lawes or might be knocked on by France, I can't tell but I can't say the try being awarded bothers me much.

One minor query, Blue 5 is ahead of the kicker and chases ahead, and he's perhaps close enough he's material. But as Itoje gets a hand to the ball does it matter Blue 5 was previously ahead of the kicker?

I'd say it's a nicely finished try from France but given England don't play to the whistle it's a basic run in. May has done some daft stuff in his time, this is right up there.

No - because Itoje gets his hand to the ball at the point of the kick, everyone is onside at that point.

May has actually apologised for that - said he thought he saw Nige putting his whistle to his lips, but no excuse and very sorry. Forgiven if he never does it again.

Puja

Puja wrote:

Digby wrote:Minute 20 -

Itoje, great workmate if nothing else, gets to the Dupont box kick, but as with Curry it's only a deflection. This is the ball that might be knocked back by Lawes or might be knocked on by France, I can't tell but I can't say the try being awarded bothers me much.

One minor query, Blue 5 is ahead of the kicker and chases ahead, and he's perhaps close enough he's material. But as Itoje gets a hand to the ball does it matter Blue 5 was previously ahead of the kicker?

I'd say it's a nicely finished try from France but given England don't play to the whistle it's a basic run in. May has done some daft stuff in his time, this is right up there.

No - because Itoje gets his hand to the ball at the point of the kick, everyone is onside at that point.

May has actually apologised for that - said he thought he saw Nige putting his whistle to his lips, but no excuse and very sorry. Forgiven if he never does it again.

Puja

Sod forgiving him, it's time to mock, mock and mock again. Stuart Hogg has probably already texted his thanks

Minute 24 -

Ford spins the ball to Furbank, and it's worth noting Furbank has take a love step just prior to the ball reaching him using the pass as an extra attacker to give himself an outside shoulder and even a half gap to run at, worth noting 'cause he promptly drops the ball, again, and it's nice to find some moment of his debut which shows ability.

France hack the ball downfield for an England lineout.

England back up the Furbank mistake by losing the lineout and France set up a ruck in the centre of the pitch. Again England had shortened the lineout, again the front lifter is late getting into action after a decoy move, again Lawes as the rear lifter has a wide stance ensuring he couldn't possibly give the biggest boost up. Suffice to say neither French lifter has straight arms and Itoje is losing the height battle by quite some distance

Minute 25 -

France run a couple of phases, they're not going forwards and Curry gets over the ball to force a turnover penalty. Not convinced Curry was on his feet at all times but it certainly passes for legal these days.

Farrell puts a decent kick into touch given it's from the middle of the park.

Minute 26 -

England win a full lineout throwing to the front. We try to set the maul and actually advance a few metres before bringing the ball out to Farrell on a hard line up the middle. Sinckler carries over the gain line and then Underhill gets smacked down at the point of the tackle. But George and then Curry carry to put a little momentum back into the attack. All lost when Sinckler comes to halt at the side of a ruck and then Youngs passes to him. Sinckler doesn't carry straight he looks to run back to the open side and gets scragged. The ball shoots out of the ruck/tackle on France's side, and France thump it downfield, where (and I'm going to include action from the coming minute so spoiler alert) the ball goes into touch inside the England 22. Massive momentum shift for France. Sinckler too passive into contact and Ewels too passive on the clearout, again, brutal it isn't

There'll be something of a break again before further updates, one forgets how long it takes to actually watch a game back in blocks of a minute

Minute 27 -

Nothing happens. Quite some delay from the last post to bring such exacting analysis if this next minute's play

Minute 28 -

England win the lineout, but it's not the cleanest knock down to Youngs who takes it in stride and gets away a terrific kick that goes out just over halfway, outstanding given the time and angle he's working with.

Ewels gets up to win French lineout ball at the front, a rare positive moment for Charlie. But England quickly set about not taking advantage of the advantage. Underhill had been in the 9 slot and Youngs at 2 in the defensive lineout. Underhill is moving backwards and sideways once the ball is coming back on our side but that doesn't excuse the pass from Youngs, it's less a pass and more the balling falling out of his hands, Underhill does well not to knock it on tbf.

I don't know if Underhill would have been sending the ball down the line crisply even if he'd received a good pass, especially with George outside him, he might in any event have done what he did which was to run at the gap inside of the 10 and the 4 coming across from the lineout. Had we been able to pass down the line with accuracy there was a natural 2 on 1 with Daly on the outside, but if we can get a fast ruck with Underhill carrying turnover ball over the gain line we're in a good position. We get a 4 second ruck after Marler is beaten to the ball by Alldritt by I'd suggest conservatively around 30 minutes

Youngs uses a couple of forwards as decoys and fires an okay pass out to Ford, and Ford sends a pass out to Farrell, it's not a pass that will trouble a defence and they'll just drift on to Farrell and probably outside Farrell who they likely don't fear as a running option. Sadly the pass does trouble Farrell who for no acceptable reason drops it, maybe he's injured but if so get off the bloody pitch, if you're on the pitch you cannot shaft your own team like that. Farrell does at least fall on the ball to stop France turning the knocked on ball back over. Even had Farrell not dropped the ball the not sending the ball down the line after Youngs' shit pass to Underhill and then the screwed up ruck had in any event cost us the possibly overlap already

Minute 29 -

France win the scrum, sort of, it's a bit of a mess and Alldritt picks up at the base to take pressure off his 9

Minute 30 -

In the scrum if anything England got the left shoulder up, which is our blindside but Lawes isn't looking to come forward aggressively off the scrum, he's sat back on his heels and rides Alldritt down with a piggyback tackle. So from being under pressure France carry easily over the gain line. Once again it's far from brutal.

Curry tries to get over the ball after the Lawes tackle but Dupont does well to shift him and the forwards follow up to protect. I trust Ben is compiling video for Tom of him being cleared out by a 9

At the next phase George makes a tackle looking what some might call offside, it does get France down behind the gainline but it's a hell of a risk for not much gain. At the next phase Youngs does well to try and rush Ntamack, but Ntamack does well moving to his left avoiding Youngs and gives himself space for a an up and under, not maybe the distance he's looking for on the kick but it's contestable and May does well to claim the ball.

From that phase we pass the ball to Marler who simply sets another phase, he loses contact but gets boosted a bit by supporting players. Youngs puts up and box kick which is decent and France cannot claim, the ball gets pinged around a little, Sinckler slaps it back which Bouthier gets to first but he can only knock it on and the ball goes to Marler now back to his feet and some distance behind the play. Marler gets to the deck we protect the ball and send it left where Farrell makes up for his earlier mistake by dropping the ball again, in fairness it's funnier to repeat the error. France though concede a penalty with Alldritt going offside, not clear from the TV pictures, the pass from Youngs does give him the time to have gotten as far forward as he has, but I assume the touch judge had a good view he was ahead of the back foot.

Worth noting if Farrell had caught the ball and been able to pass we had a 2 on 1 with Daly on the outside, there would have been a corner flagging defence and no doubt the 15 so hardly a gilt edged chance, but there was a line break there for the taking.

Minute 31 -

Farrell kicks to touch, around 10m out

Minute 32 -

England win the lineout with Lawes at the front, and actually set and get a maul driving.

France do pretty well holding the maul up, 1 or 2 players probably get away with trying to drag it down but for all we march them a few metres we can't march them back the last few which count. We bring the ball out and Daly carries forwards through Ntamack's tackle. Then George carries up, which is a shame as France are defending as far wide as the posts and Ford wants the ball with May in so much space on the right there's a chance I could score. It's further a shame as that message that Ford wanted the ball is what Youngs knows about on the next phase and he does pass the ball to Ford, but France have wrapped around now in defence and Ford passes to May who has one defender in front of him and 2 coming across from inside, May does pretty well to buy a little time and set up a ruck. Curry tries to do the right thing by playing the ball quickly from the ruck with a pick and go but it doesn't mesh with what Itoje, Lawes and Underhill were doing, they were making themselves available for passes away from the base and supporting those so we're left with Youngs trying to stop Alldritt getting over the ball. I've seen clearer releases than Alldritt makes, but whatever he's basically unopposed over the ball so it's hard to argue that he wins the penalty.

I doubt this is a moment communication is going to help, the crowd were making enough noise I doubt they'd be able to hear much. Just one of those moments where we had a few chances and our actions didn't line up in positive fashion across the team.

Minute 33 -

Nothing happens. Well there's sort of a lineout which Nigel aborts with the gap closing

Minute 34 -

We've had a few brainfart but Sinckler giving away a free kick after closing the gap is up there given the ref has just stopped the game to talk about the gap. Also of note is the rest of the lineout aren't making sure we're painting a good picture to the ref, there's nothing like leadership, and this is nothing like it.

France stick up and high kick, Furbank comes up to knock the ball on. Not his worst moment in the game but hardly a good moment

Minute 35 -

France win the scrum and Dupont picks from the base running to the left and gets away a nice kick that goes out into the England 22.

It's a bit passive from England in defence, Youngs isn't able to put enough pressure on Dupont. Just before Dupont picks up something is making (encouraging) Youngs to step to his left away from and shifting his balance away from the area Dupont breaks into. The French 8 is on the blindside of the scrum so he's not covering that, maybe it's something happening in the French backs. Maybe it's just one of those things, but it works badly for Youngs and well for Dupont.

Minute 36 -

England win the lineout and Youngs kicks out up to the 10m line. Perfectly functional from England.

France win the lineout and pass to the centre where Vakatawa cannot take the ball. England gather the loose ball and Underhill sets up a ruck

Minute 37 -

England move the ball to the left, Alldritt isn't buying Lawes is an option on the hard line and just runs up on Farrell, Farrell gets the ball away to Youngs who's circled in behind Faz, and Youngs gets the ball to Ford. Not much on for England do Ford kicks away, and that's our advantage over.

Ntamack returns England's kick and it's our lineout on our 10m line.

The only moment of interest for me is after Ntamack kicks Nigel says 'stay white' which I assume is a mistake rather than we're not allowed to run back to gather a French kick

Minute 38 -

We win the lineout set a maul but don't have it in us to push France back. Youngs kicks away, decent kick, May chases but neither May not Rattez can claim the ball, their contest takes them both out of a chance to make a catch, and it bounces into touch.

France with a lineout on their 10m now

France win the lineout and as they try to set a maul drop the ball. Ball knocked back by white is the call, not sure how we knock the ball backwards on the French side but whatever. And then in a moment of stupidity that exceeds the Sinckler free kick Itoje finds himself next the ball with the ref screaming no, no, no at him which Itoje takes as an invitation to pick the ball up off the floor, ball that might only be loose as Lawes was busy playing the ball on the floor.

So we'd disrupted their ball, they'd be playing unsupported ball off the floor and likely still seeking an exit. And in the face of them being under pressure we give away a soft penalty. It's not good enough, maybe Eddie meant it'd be brutal watching.

Minute 39 -

Ntamack kicks the ball out for a lineout, we contest the lineout with Ewels, not a bad contest, but France do well to roll their maul into the space Ewels gives up going for the ball

The maul is brought down, partly us, partly France and the ball is moved infield where Willemse decides the best course of action is to run into the double team of Itoje and Curry and promptly knocks the ball on in contact. He could play for us with such gifted thinking.

Minute 40 -

The last update for the first half, in a match that already feels like we're into the 5th half.

England hook the ball back in the scrum, Curry controls it against Ewels leg and the ball starts to spin out the scrum but Curry and Unherill do keep control, and England win a scrum penalty that sees Faz stick a decent kick out into the French half.

It's a nice move from England, Itoje wins the ball at the tail of the lineout and Curry moves in as though joining a maul and then breaks from the lineout. Not a picture perfect handoff from Itoje to Curry, but Curry shifts the ball out to Youngs who drops the ball back inside the May who's working off his wing. May gets well over the gain line and then George straight away plays the ball carrying straight up.

However from 2 positive plays we produce a 3 second ruck, and then pass the ball to Sinckler who's hitting the floor almost before he's tackled, Marchand gets over the ball. Not sure there's a release from Marchand, but Nige isn't too worried about that, and anyway Sinckler tackles himself so much it's harsh to expect Marchand to show a release. Marler and Ewels clear Marchand so quickly it's a 5 second ruck.

We get further carries from Itoje and Sinckler, and this second carry from Sincks in the last minute again sees him getting to ground quickly but there's a decent clearout from Underhill and Marler and quick presentation and we're well below a 3 second ruck, possibly even 2 seconds or so.

Ford makes a slight attempt to break a line on a show and go (ish) but is scragged, and then Youngs breaks on a same way carry but there's no hole there and he's getting shunted backwards, he gets the ball away to George and it might even go backwards. George really flings the ball back to Lawes and Lawes has space, but only because we're now going backwards quicker than the French defence can push up.

But we keep the ball and head back left where Ford makes a line buckle if not quite a break using his footwork. Sadly the angle Ford is sent tumbling at forces him to present squeeze ball, and an almost line break leads to a 3 second ruck. However we have 20m of blindside to work with and 5 on 4 (albeit with the fullback covering behind) but again we're not on the same wavelength as George and Curry (Curry especially) are too far forwards. Curry is so far forwards he's not only not an option for Farrell but he's really only blocking the ball getting to May and Daly on the left.

Next up the obvious choice looks to be to work left again and use May and Daly, seemingly there's only Thomas to beat in about 10m of space, so why we're going right I don't know, but right/open we're going and it's with Marler who's tackled and it's a 4 seconds ruck.

Ford is playing very flat and takes the ball to the line, plenty of Ford looking for these options which is actually nice to see. Ntamack obliges by running out of the line, presumably so he doesn't have to make a tackle and Ford promptly sends Ewels into a hole, sadly Ewels loses the ball in contact, maybe backwards but Lawes can't get low enough to gather cleanly so he does knock on and France gather the loose ball and boot it off the pitch to end the half.

You deserve all the advocaat for putting yourself through this

I'm much more sanguine after those back to back wins over Australia and NZ. Right now back to back loses aren't enough to annoy, not more than my default status of being cross with existence anyway. If anything I'm amused at the selection being bad and being exposed, at Furbank coming in to give us a real fullback and shitting the bed, and Farrell not being able to even catch a ball. Tbh I don't even mind if we name the same team for Scotland and give the players a chance to make amends.

Also for all we were rubbish, and we were, just looking at that first half you could change 6 moments of play and we'd have led 21-0 at HT instead of trailing by 17, the margins are fine.

Minute 41

France kick off, only 3 players ahead of the kick and not by much, is this a new age of honesty for French rugby?

Curry catches the kick Youngs exits up just over our 10m line

France win the lineout and pass to a very deep Ntamack (5m in his own half) and he just boots an aimless ball into the English 22, though perhaps they just expected Furbank to drop it. Furbank in fairness kicks the mark a good few metres past halfway

Minute 42

Lawes gets up to win the lineout and taps the ball down on England's side, Sinckler runs back to gather the ball and spins a pass off his left into midfield. This is good and bad, not many tightheads would even try a spin pass, never mind off the left hand, bad because he floats the pass into space.

England aren't going anywhere but Ford calls for the ball and lands a great kick over the French winger going out for a lineout 5m from the French line. Though I suspect France will not be happy with their coverage at the back.