Rugby Union - England 17 France 18

[Menydh]

England pay penalty for woeful kicking

England 17 France 18

The Sunday Times

February 14, 2005

RATHER than making progress, England resembled at Twickenham yesterday a side reaching back into the past, discovering ways in which to lose games as opposed to winning them. The logic of this RBS Six Nations Championship has been turned on its head merely by the fact that France, unbeaten in two matches, have played with little or no ambition yet won in England for the first time since 1997 and remain able to defend their grand slam. England could have, should have, won this match yet, inexorably, it slid away from them on a wave of penalty goals — penalties that they could not kick but which Dimitri Yachvili did. A year ago in Paris, the Biarritz scrum half was the architect of England’s downfall with 19 points; here his return was 18, six goals from eight attempts and, of his two failures, one struck an upright and the other was from more than 50 metres.

England, for all that they scored the game’s two tries, saw chance after chance drift away, leaving them winless in the championship alongside Scotland and Italy. Between them, Charlie Hodgson and Olly Barkley shared six penalty failures and, by the fifth minute of injury time, Hodgson’s confidence was so low that a straightforward dropped-goal attempt from 30 metres — which would surely have snatched the result — missed its target.

Andy Robinson, the England head coach, spoke of the ambition with which his side played and that carried them to a 17-6 lead at the interval. But to win so much possession in the second half, to enjoy so great a territorial advantage and to come away with nothing will be of tremendous concern to Robinson, as much as the tendency to move slow ball down the line where France defenders lined up to make a series of tackles.

England have lost the capacity to look after possession or to pressurise sides lodged deep in their own half. They still believe that an inexperienced back division can make holes simply by keeping the ball in hand and their kicking game remains a thing of fits and starts. Nor are their primary platforms infallible: three lineouts trickled away and in the final quarter the scrum tired against a France eight reinforced early in the second half by three replacements.

The essential difference between the two sides was apparent as early as the fifth minute: Hodgson missed a penalty from 43 metres whereas Yachvili kicked an angled goal after Mark Cueto was caught ten metres from his own line and failed to release the ball.

There was a certain irony that the first try came from England scrambling behind their own scrum to salvage poorly controlled ball. Martin Corry, who played particularly well given that this was his first game in six weeks, rescued the situation and the ball flickered out to Hodgson who sent Jamie Noon on a powerful run past Yann Delaigue. Barkley loomed up in support and scored near the posts.

It seemed unnecessarily harsh to penalise Danny Grewcock for accidentally running into his own man as England rumbled down the left touchline, the offence that gave Yachvili his second goal, but it seemed not to matter when England scored their second try. Hodgson had missed a relatively simple penalty after Pepito Elhorga deliberately threw the ball into touch but he converted a try by Josh Lewsey that spoke of growing English confidence.

The ball was carried right then brought back left to Grewcock in midfield, the lock popping a pass to Lewsey who veered past Yachvili and curved away from two defenders on a 25-metre run to the posts. It was as good a launching pad for success as Robinson and his coaching staff could have wanted after the flat display in Cardiff but gradually the initiative deserted them, through their own indiscipline.

Two powerful runs by Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, the newcomer who replaced the injured Jimmy Marlu, seemed to throw the defence off balance but the introduction of fresh legs for France had a telling effect. England found themselves unable to win quick rucked ball, where Serge Betsen was invariably found at the bottom of the pile, and their frustration gave France their escape route.

Lewis Moody was penalised twice, at a ruck and offside in front of Harry Ellis’s box kick, and there was a third offence for slowing down France’s possession. Yachvili’s accuracy reduced the lead to two points and England will look today with considerable discomfort at statistics that show France had only one scrum in the first half and developed virtually nothing from loose play.

Typically the winning score came from the dexterity of Frédéric Michalak, the man whom most of France believe should be their first-choice fly half. Barkley’s kick was half charged down and Michalak flipped the ball off the ground to Damien Traille; although his lunge forward was held, Graham Rowntree entered the maul from the side and Yachvili, from 37 metres and halfway to the left, nudged France in front.


SCORERS: England: Tries: Barkley (19min), Lewsey (36). Conversions: Hodgson 2. Penalty goal: Hodgson (27). France: Penalty goals: Yachvili 6 (5, 30, 55, 61, 68, 75).

SCORING SEQUENCE (England first): 0-3, 7-3, 10-3, 10-6, 17-6 (half-time), 17-9, 17-12, 17-15, 17-18.

ENGLAND: J Robinson (Sale Sharks, captain); M Cueto (Sale Sharks; rep: B Cohen, Northampton, 75), J Noon (Newcastle Falcons), O Barkley (Bath), J Lewsey (London Wasps); C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), H Ellis (Leicester; rep: M Dawson, London Wasps, 80); G Rowntree (Leicester), S Thompson (Northampton), P Vickery (Gloucester), D Grewcock (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), J Worsley (London Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), M Corry (Leicester; rep: A Hazell, Gloucester, 66-72).

FRANCE: P Elhorga (Agen); C Dominici (Stade Français), B Liebenberg (Stade Français), D Traille (Biarritz), J Marlu (Biarritz; rep: J-P Grandclaude, Perpignan, 44); Y Delaigue (Castres; rep: F Michalak, Toulouse, 72), D Yachvili (Biarritz); S Marconnet (Stade Français), S Bruno (Sale Sharks; rep: W Servat, Toulouse, 52), N Mas (Perpignan; rep: O Milloud, Bourgoin, 52), F Pelous (Toulouse, captain; rep: G Lamboley, Toulouse, 80+9), J Thion (Biarritz), S Betsen (Biarritz),J Bonnaire (Bourgoin), S Chabal (Sale Sharks; rep: Y Nyanga, Béziers, 52).

Referee: P O’Brien (New Zealand).

[Menydh]

Some don't know how to lose with style. They shouldn't be expected to win with style either. It denotes a rather lack of class.

Well done, France!

[Gil]

First Wales....then France....I guess the next thing is the scots invading England!

Allez France Allez.

[Johnny Reb]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

Some don't know how to lose with style. They shouldn't be expected to win with style either. It denotes a rather lack of class.

Well done, France!

Scoring solely by penalty kick is stylish and classy now?

[Menydh]

This is rugby, not football (soccer). It takes team strategy and effort to even reach the contrary's area and to obtain a kick.

Still, I didn't say that that is classy and stylish. What is very unclassy and unstylish, most ungentle, is not to admit the opponent's deserved victory and instead whining that you should have won instead.

Sadly we don't have rugby here in Spain (but still I support Ireland with all my heart followed by Wales, Scotland and France). But we do have football. And while we do have our deffects as every nation has, one is not the pettiness. Usually, when the Spanish team is defeated the papers admit the opponents good game and lots of self-critiques.

[Johnny Reb]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

Still, I didn't say that that is classy and stylish. What is very unclassy and unstylish, most ungentle, is not to admit the opponent's deserved victory and instead whining that you should have won instead.

England definately needs to do some self-reflection.

Sadly we don't have rugby here in Spain (but still I support Ireland with all my heart followed by Wales, Scotland and France).

What about Italy?

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Johnny Reb

What about Italy?

They are newcomers in rugby. I don't think much of them when it comes to rugby.

[Gil]

Cymru all the way!

http://www.crwflags.com/art/countries2/wales.gif