England vs France - minute-by-minute - COMPLETED

[Banquo]

I'm loving the not at all obvious confirmation that M Smith is a natural born 15 .

Great stuff

Are you claiming I have an agenda? In fairness, France barely tested him (or at least they haven't in the first 20 minutes), so neither of us have conclusive proof of our points of view. I suspect Scotland will be cannier/less cocky and give us more info.

At present though, I'm baffled at pundits/casuals/Stephen Jones who claim he was a disaster. Not a single sliver of that so far.

Puja

Definitely not a disaster, and he did a lot of the things in the backfield well- its nice not to just hoof it back. I liked that Supportive Backfield gave him Earl to play with; I also liked he came up to play distributor once or twice, if he can get that timing right, then you think about how to get an extra man in the wide channels--- I don't think that will necessarily suit him. But it is without the ball that needs a good workout.

[Which Tyler]

Lawrence has carried well enough that he doesn't go backwards and doesn't lose the ball so we'll count that as a draw.

My bias is having difficulty processing this

[Banquo]

Lawrence has carried well enough that he doesn't go backwards and doesn't lose the ball so we'll count that as a draw.

My bias is having difficulty processing this

On Lawrence, I liked the way he and Slade mixed and matched- Slade defending wider (tho missing a fair few tackles) mostly, and lawrence being used both inside and outside...eg he ran at 12 for the final try and dropped a nice pass to Finboythree. So think he's starting to adapt to different duties, which will help his development imo.

[FKAS]

"Dupont on the wing who just has to outpace FSmith to scoooooore, and he drops it."

The mighty presence of Fin Smith putting fear into the hearts of the French and forcing errors clearly...

[Puja]

"Dupont on the wing who just has to outpace FSmith to scoooooore, and he drops it."

The mighty presence of Fin Smith putting fear into the hearts of the French and forcing errors clearly...

Yeah, my memories from watching it live were that FSmith had him covered and was going to drag him down with the despairing dive, but that was clearly just the result of adrenaline and relief (and annoyance, cause I spotted those three pens live as well (although I believe I did also shout for a "blatant" forward pass which turned out to be entirely fictional)) as FSmith only catches him because he slows to try and regather the fumble. Gods only know how Charlie Morgan gives him credit for putting Dupont off (haven't seen the tweet in question as I try not to engage with twitter more than I have to and it wasn't easily findable on a quick look) - not sure Dupont knew he was there!

Puja

[Puja]

Minute 21: England pull off a cunning lineout ploy. They look like they're lifting Tom Curry at the front. They wait until France move an opposing jumper next to him. Then they lift Tom Curry at the front. Shockingly enough, full-time jumper and 5 inches taller Alexandre Roumat manages to get up in front of him and nick the ball. It's not a great throw by LCD - if he's hit double top, then I think Curry would've been able to claim - but realistically, that one's Itoje's fault for having such a ridiculously poor lineout call. I can only assume that the theory went along the lines of "Surely they won't think we'd be stupid enough to actually lift our weakest jumper at the front after being blatantly obvious we're going at the front. They'll think it's a crassly obvious dummy and be blown away when we actually do it and get uncontested ball." That's the only thing I can think of.

Anyway, French ball and Dupont shows his weakness by only throwing a 20 metre pass directly to his target. Thankfully for England, Alldritt has a complete brain fade and, instead of passing out the back to Jalibert who would have the option of feeding Penaud for a two-on-two in plenty of space, passes to Moefana who is so committed to being a dummy runner that he's almost ahead and has to stop and go back to catch the pass. We come up on Moefana and the immediate panic is gone.

Minute 22: Slower French ball and Dupont has a look for a snipe with a dummy, but England's guard defence once again do not give a single shit about following a pass or pressing out and instead have their eyes firmly fixed on him. Instead, France crash up around the corner a few times, making small bits of ground until they're just 4m out. They then spin it into midfield with the hope England have got narrow - it's a decent pull-back move and Penaud is running hard off Jalibert's shoulder. Unfortunately, he's thinking too much about whether he can beat Slade and Mitchell (who have him pretty covered in fairness) and not enough about catching a simple pass, and blunders it forwards with some well-timed clog-hands. Lucky escape.

Minute 23: Good stable scrum and England get the ball to the back. Earl is packing down at 8 and executes a nice pick up and pass for Mitchell to clear - it's a long kick, but it doesn't find touch and I remember being somewhat concerned about that at the time. Ramos looks to run and is helped by Alldritt giving Curry a shove in the back to open a hole, but everyone's favourite superhero slings out an arm and tackles a running Ramos one-handed, while falling from having received a shove in the back. I'm not apologising for that one Which - competence is hot and that was sexy as hell. France recycle, but it's slow ball and our defence pushes them back to the halfway line, so Dupont calls a grubber kick through from the base of a ruck for Jalibert to chase. Thankfully, the kick's so badly overhit that for a minute I think Ollie Lawrence has donned a blue shirt, and Jalibert makes it worse by going down like a Premier League striker as he attempts to brush past Earl.

Slade is covering, but the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you and it's on the 22 before it comes to heel. FSmith is calling for the ball and, if the ball is passed to his hands, he can clear our lines with ease. As such, Slade decides to pass to the invisible 3 inch high goblin that's standing just in front of FSmith, just to add an extra layer of challenge. By the time FSmith takes it on the bounce, he's got Dupont already tackling him and he does very well to get any kind of kick through the ball at all. It looked a terrible kick initially, but France have been up chasing and no-one's in the backfield on the right, so a squiffy kick can just roll and roll until eventually Penaud comes back to reclaim it well inside his own half. Was that luck or judgement? Hard to tell, but it's a good result for England.

Minute 24: Our kick chase is **excellent**. Penaud is faced by a connected line of Earl/Lawrence/Sleightholme defending his wing and, when he passes it inside to Ramos, Itoje and TWillis have joined up and leave him a long line to try and run around. As such, Ramos kicks long. Slade gathers just inside the 22 and marginally redeems himself for passing to an absinthe vision a minute ago by putting in a fine touchfinder to set up a lineout just inside the French half.

France show England how the lineout is done - they lift their number 6 at the front and he takes a throw that wasn't perfect, but they did a bit of backing and forthing first and so Cros goes up uncontested. They form a maul, which looks to be moving, but it falls down, probably with some skullduggerous help on our part and the caterpillar and box routine is performed.

Minute 25: This kick is high to compete, for once, but it's Sleightholme who is targeted. He gets there well enough, but it's a very decent kick and Alldritt gets a hand in ahead of him, only to knock it on.

Everyone looks thoroughly shagged out and Amashukeli doesn't press too hard for an instant scrum formation, but he's rewarded by a nice stable scrum on the first attempt as the minute ends. What a difference a terrific referee makes.

[fivepointer]

Usual excellent job, thanks Puja.

Amashukeli really is a quality ref.

[Oakboy]

Will Aldritt and Dupont ever simultaneously have such off-days (by their standards) again? It shows they are human, I suppose.

[Banquo]

Will Aldritt and Dupont ever simultaneously have such off-days (by their standards) again? It shows they are human, I suppose.

It’s the Fin Smith effect. The force is with him.

[Captainhaircut]

Usual excellent job, thanks Puja.

Amashukeli really is a quality ref.

Is it a coincidence that he was the ref when we beat Ireland as well?

[Oakboy]

Usual excellent job, thanks Puja.

Amashukeli really is a quality ref.

Is it a coincidence that he was the ref when we beat Ireland as well?

I'd forgotten that. Is it that he's good for us or bad for Ireland and France? (Or, does the way we cheat attract more sympathy than the way they cheat?)

[Puja]

Minute 26: The scrum is stable and stationary - Atonio tries to attack, but Genge holds firm and then Stuart finds a weakness on the other side and drives through Gros. The ball is at the back though, so the ref says play away for England to have their second-best attacking position of the first half so far - a scrum 65m away from the French line.

We go down the backline, but it's highly ropey - Slade has overrun Mitchell's pass and has to slow to gather, FSmith is thinking about what he's going to do with the ball before he has it and nearly drops the pull-back, the delay caused by his fumble means that the rest of the backline is now too flat and not a great option, so he shovels onto MSmith, who looks at the completely uncommitted French defence and decides a kick is a much better option. Unfortunately, Barassi blindly sticks out a boot and the ball ricochets away. It bounces badly for England, going straight back towards their posts and stopped 5m from the tryline, but thankfully Mitchell reacted quicker than anyone and he is able to get back, sweep the ball up, beat Jalibert for pace and then run hard enough that the forwards can get behind him when he does get tackled.

MSmith steps in at 9 to get a few board members hot under the collar, but it's just recycling until Mitchell can dig himself out of the Mitchell-shaped dent in the mud where he was impressed by half the French pack. We set up the caterpillar and clear up to halfway... and still don't find touch! The kick chase remains excellent - gods only know how, given how knackered everyone must be and it's Itoje's turn for a superhero move, lunging one handed as Penaud tries to accelerate into a gap, using a ridiculously strong grip to hold onto him, and slowing him enough for TWillis to properly bury him. Maro ends up with Penaud's boot and, just to remind us all that he's actually a supervillain who just so happens to be on our side, Maro yeets the boot downfield with greater distance than half of Slade's touch kicks.

France play into midfield and a simple tip-on puts Gros into a bit of space as Earl drifts too early. We bring him down, but France are on the front foot with quick ball.

Minute 27: They spin it wide, but our defence remains connected, with a lot more drift than we're used to and France have to cut back inside. They try sending their big forwards up the guts again but Boundehent gets solidly stopped and the ball slowed by a team of TWillis and Itoje. The next phase, France try the tip on again to send Atonio running full pelt into Sleightholme… who bends his back with a smile on his face and drives a perfect tackle straight into the big man's midriff, not just stopping him dead, but then pumping his legs to march him back the way he came. Sadly Meafou save Atonio by stripping the ball off him and peeling to the left, so the focus moves before Sleightholme completes taking out the trash, otherwise that clip would've been on every social media platform.

Meafou does a decent job of drawing and giving and France have a 2-on-2 with Bielle-Barrey and Penaud combining down the right wing and facing Mitchell and FSmith in 8m of space. Thankfully we don't have to test whether our halfbacks actually do have them covered, as Bielle-Barrey drops a very simple pass. The ball does go backwards and Jalibert gathers, but he's being harried by the English defence and has to try a little miracle grubber which has no chance before he goes into touch. The ball bounces off players and Mitchell dives on it to secure possession.

Will Stuart plays 9 and he pops to LCD to recycle. We're lucky the ref isn't strict here - both Genge and TWillis go needlessly straight off their feet when clearing the ruck and it could so easily have been called. France aren't competing though and we're not exactly trying to make ground or get quick ball, so it's probably a good call to let the game flow considering there was no material effect. Need to be careful though - the Wheel of Ben O'Keefe would've had a 50:50 shot of giving that penalty.

{Checks referees for the rest of the tournament} We have Pierre Brousset against Scotland (whom I don't know much about), Andrew Brace against Italy (at home, so we'll get his home-team advantage), and Nic Berry against Wales (could be worse, especially with Amashukeli being touch judge).

Mitchell looks like he's setting up for a box-kick, but he gets a call from MSmith and so throws a long pass back to him. Alldritt has read it and is sprinting up to charge down, but MSmith very coolly plays the matador and steps inside to leave him flailing at nothing, before putting his boot through the ball.

I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what Marcus has seen that made him call for the ball. There was never an opportunity for a counter-attack and he is now kicking cross-field, from the our left hand side to the right, so is taking the long way to a touchline. In addition, France have Penaud and Ramos stationed in the backfield, and the latter takes the kick on the run, a good 15 metres away from the first English chaser and 15 metres in from touch. By the time he's taken five steps, Moefana and Bielle-Biarrey have made it back to support and are either side of him in space - this should be a horrendous tactical blunder from MSmith that leads to a linebreak.

A kick is only as good as its chase though and Freeman redeems himself for his earlier cockups here. He looks like he's focussed on Moefana down the wing, so Ramos turns his shoulder and steps inside. That cuts off the pass to Moefana, which means Freeman is able to abandon the centre and use his pace to hunt down Ramos. That pushes him further across, taking Bielle-Biarrey out of the equation and drives him into the waiting arms of Slade, who has now joined the defensive effort.

Minute 28: Ramos offloads to Boundenhent, but Freeman catches him man-and-ball and the onrushing Lawrence can lock in over the ball to get a penalty. Facing a 3-on-1 and turning it into a penalty turnover - fair play Tommy, you are officially forgiven.

Slade kicks the penalty to touch and it is solidly okay, I guess, taking us up to the very edge of the 22. I guess I was annoyed live because he's always given the big build-up in commentary for kicking those kind of penalties to the edge of the tryline, but it is getting us about 32-33m territory, so it's not to be sniffed at.

Minute 29: We walk into the lineout and then immediately lift to catch the French off-guard. It's a good drill, LCD hits double-top, but the whole thing falls apart as Martin demonstrates clog-hands and punches it like a volleyball rather than catching it. Worse, he punches it with his outside hand, so the ball lands beautifully into Mauvaka's arms for him to run onto from his position as "scrum-half". Martin's done deliberate tap-downs to his own 9 that weren't that beautifully placed.

TCurry hurls himself at Mauvaka, but this one's a failure as the hooker keeps driving his legs and breaks out of the tackle. It's slowed him enough for FSmith to complete, but by this time France have gained 20 metres and quick ball. Thankfully our attacking line has now become our defensive line, so we're well numbered up and can do some blitzing - Genge and Earl catch Boudenhent well behind the gainline and dump him, so Dupont sets a slower ruck and goes for a chip box-kick to see if we're paying attention. We... mostly are - Earl gets back to field it and the bounce of a rugby ball doesn't hate him that badly today, but it does bounce high enough that he has to jump and so he gets Bielle-Biarrey in his back when his feet hit the floor and is driven back to our own 10m line.

It's slow ball, but TWillis is howling for it down the blindside. Mitchell goes across his face to Genge and it's a great spot from TWillis as we're 5-on-3 down that side and Mitchell's pass makes it 4-on-2. Penaud jumps up to get in the eyeline of Genge, but he makes the right decision not to give the early pass and instead to run at the gap between Barassi and Penaud. Penaud backtracks and turns in to avoid the pass going behind his back and that then leaves the simple pass on. Genge to Curry means Barassi is out of play and Penaud is in no mans land. Curry can make a simple pass to Lawrence who is already accelerating onto it, and that will take Penaud out of play, Ramos is already up in the front line chasing the kick, which leaves Lawrence and Sleightholme with a 2-on-0 and a 55m run to the line. It feels weird putting this on the counter when there's a couple of things to do, but if Genge makes that pass, then the only reason that's not a try is if Curry fucks up an easy pass or if both Lawrence and Sleightholme pull hamstrings.

Points left on the table: England 5 : 3 France

Unfortunately, Genge is still under the impression that he's a back and decides he should try and engage Penaud to make it a 3-0. He dummies to Curry at the precise point where he should be passing and attempts to run at Penaud's inside shoulder, but unfortunately Barassi actually **is** a back and runs fast enough that he can tackle Genge and the moment is gone. Genge does offload to Curry in the tackle, but he can do nothing but drive into Penaud, leaving Lawrence to clear the ruck rather than gallop to glory.

Mitchell puts up a box-kick and it's an absolute beauty - Sleightholme gets up above Ramos to tap it down, but a spectacular comedy of errors then commences. The bounce of a rugby ball always hates you and the ball kicks up off the turf and accelerates into Ben Earl's face. It ricochets free and Earl is going to be first to the rebound except that Martin is also lunging for the bouncing ball. Earl tries to pull out, but he's still in Martin's way, so the ball gets fumbled backwards. Stuart gathers the loose ball and remembers from training that "We're supposed to pass to a playmaker after a tap-down", so he spins on his heel and looks to pass. Unfortunately, instead of making a short pass to Mitchell (which would've given us a really exciting attacking opportunity against a dishevelled defence), he wangs the ball wildly backwards - I **think** he's trying to find FSmith, but that's a guess because the pass literally doesn't go within 7m of him - it instead bounces at the feet of Francois Cros who falls on it.

To add to the fuck-ups, not a single England player has considered that Stuart might be that stupid/incompetent, while Ramos has seen it coming a mile away and started running as soon as the "pass" leaves his hands. He takes the pop off the floor without breaking stride and is off and running behind the bulk of the English team.

Minute 30: Ramos engages FSmith and Lawrence and then flips a long pass over the top to Mauvaka who has a load of space to run into. If he makes a straight-forward pass to the man outside, then England are probably screwed, as it would likely leave Bielle-Biarrey with a 20m channel in which to try and beat MSmith one-on-one, which I would put money on, but Mauvaka is also under the delusion that he's a back and attempts a no-look, out-the-back offload to Ramos sweeping around. The ball promptly goes to floor and, for a second, it looks like we might've gotten away with it. Unfortunately the ball bobbles to the feet of Antoine Fucking Dupont (as I believe his full name is) and he has the pace to run a 7s style arcing sideways line and just about beat FSmith's despairing dive. He then straightens up and the English scramble has overcorrected in trying to make it to the far side, meaning that he can put Penaud through a yawning gap with an inside pass (I was screaming it was forwards live and on replay it probably is, but I've seen way worse). England do defend well - MSmith comes up to take Penaud, Slade/Freeman are blocking the passing lane outside to LBB, and Lawrence is blocking the inside pass to Mauvaka, but Penaud puts the ball on his toe to find the space that MSmith has just had to vacate and it's both well judged and the ball bounces nicely - it pops up into Bielle-Biarrey's hands rather than rolling one more revolution into touch and the only thing Freeman can do is make sure he's tackled in the corner to try and save 2 points.

12 point swing if Genge makes the pass. 7 point swing if Stuart doesn't make the pass. For all the press/casual fan talk that "England were lucky; they only won because France couldn't make simple try-scoring catches", it's very evenly balanced so far in terms of visits from the fuck-up fairy costing points.

[Puja]

Lol. This can't become another team selection thread.

My, fault. Sorry. Shift if required, Puja.

Have shifted to the Team for Scotland thread, just to keep this one a bit cleaner.

Puja

[Insouciant]

Minute 30: Ramos engages FSmith and Lawrence and then flips a long pass over the top to Mauvaka who has a load of space to run into. If he makes a straight-forward pass to the man outside, then England are probably screwed, as it would likely leave Bielle-Biarrey with a 20m channel in which to try and beat MSmith one-on-one, which I would put money on, but Mauvaka is also under the delusion that he's a back and attempts a no-look, out-the-back offload to Ramos sweeping around. The ball promptly goes to floor and, for a second, it looks like we might've gotten away with it. Unfortunately the ball bobbles to the feet of Antoine Fucking Dupont (as I believe his full name is) and he has the pace to run a 7s style arcing sideways line and just about beat FSmith's despairing dive. He then straightens up and the English scramble has overcorrected in trying to make it to the far side, meaning that he can put Penaud through a yawning gap with an inside pass (I was screaming it was forwards live and on replay it probably is, but I've seen way worse). England do defend well - MSmith comes up to take Penaud, Slade/Freeman are blocking the passing lane outside to LBB, and Lawrence is blocking the inside pass to Mauvaka, but Penaud puts the ball on his toe to find the space that MSmith has just had to vacate and it's both well judged and the ball bounces nicely - it pops up into Bielle-Biarrey's hands rather than rolling one more revolution into touch and the only thing Freeman can do is make sure he's tackled in the corner to try and save 2 points.

12 point swing if Genge makes the pass. 7 point swing if Stuart doesn't make the pass. For all the press/casual fan talk that "England were lucky; they only won because France couldn't make simple try-scoring catches", it's very evenly balanced so far in terms of visits from the fuck-up fairy costing points.

I remember that pass back by Stuart, although at the time I wasn't sure who it was that gave it. The game quickly accelerated away from that and even after the try there wasn't too much of a look into 'how did France get the ball back?' I've not spent much time looking to see who he meant to pass to either, I guess it was just a moment of indecision/panic. It's a shitter, not only because of the try, but because the game was broken up in a way that - if the ball went to an England hand - there was probably an opportunity to break.

Great write up btw - a labour of love for sure. I'm an infrequent visitor to the broad so hadn't been aware you'd been unwell - but glad to hear you've improved and I hope everything continues in that direction for you Puja.

[Which Tyler]

[bbvideo]https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DEoGrFPxG/[/bbvideo]

Dammit, won't embed, sorry - Video of Daly's try - keep an eye on FSmith and Daly whilst the maul is rumbling forwards.

[Banquo]

[bbvideo]https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DEoGrFPxG/[/bbvideo]

Dammit, won't embed, sorry - Video of Daly's try - keep an eye on FSmith and Daly whilst the maul is rumbling forwards.

Like that a lot, instinct for timing excellent, but also Daly keeping the oppos honest/guessing.

[Puja]

[bbvideo]https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DEoGrFPxG/[/bbvideo]

Dammit, won't embed, sorry - Video of Daly's try - keep an eye on FSmith and Daly whilst the maul is rumbling forwards.

Gosh, what a glorious angle to see how they communicate and how early FSmith has it planned out.

More of the m-b-m is coming - am taking advantage of the fallow week to be a touch lazy, but I'll break the back of it this weekend.

Puja

[Oakboy]

[bbvideo]https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DEoGrFPxG/[/bbvideo]

Dammit, won't embed, sorry - Video of Daly's try - keep an eye on FSmith and Daly whilst the maul is rumbling forwards.

Like that a lot, instinct for timing excellent, but also Daly keeping the oppos honest/guessing.

Lawrence, Fin and Daly planned it a minute or so before it happened, it seemed. Special! It ended up being slick but a lot of skill, energy, brain and trust went into it. Maybe the training-field preparation is bearing fruit in the right sort of way??

[Puja]

One thing to note - I have added an extra detail that I spotted, from being a nerd and watching videos about this match, to Minute 5 - I shouldn't've given France the 5 points for LBB's drop, as the reason he's overrun the scoring pass is that Slade has busted a gut to get into the passing lane and Bielle-Biarrey has to overrun Ramos in order for Slade not to block the pass.

As such, I've amended the counter: Points left on the table: England 5 : 3 France

We are ahead on the "failed to score guaranteed points" counter, if not on the actual scoreboard!

Minute 31: Ramos slots the conversion gloriously from the touchline. He owed them that one after the penalty fuck-up.

Minute 32: FSmith kicks off and it's a regulation long, uncontestible, kick to the opposition number 8. Martin puts in a nice chop tackle and France set up the caterpillar and box just outside the 22. Dupont shows off again by kicking with his left as TWillis is putting pressure on the other side and it goes up to our 10m line where Smith is waiting. He feeds Earl, who looks like he's going wide, but instead makes a nice step inside and drives through the tackle to get us up to halfway. MSmith nearly goes into the ruck like he did last time, but Itoje and Genge have made it back and do the essential clearout and, while MSmith would still be useful there to properly secure the ball, he takes one last glance up at the forming French defensive line as he goes to enter, and then backpedals at high speed and starts clapping for the ball.

France are disorganised down the blindside and MSmith runs at them with the ball in two hands. Mauvaka is trying to cover him, and the inside pass to TWillis, and the possibility of having to press out to help his wing - he does a pretty good job, but Marcus gives a hard pump of the ball towards Willis and Mauvaka flinches. It's not more than a planting of one foot to step inside and he recovers almost instantly, but it's enough for MSmith who hits the afterburners and is bursting through Aldritt's despairing tackle before anyone can recover. Unfortunately, Dupont has scrambled to cover the break, Gros does a terrific job of stepping across TWillis and blocking his support line, and Mauvaka's recovery has cut off any other hope of going left, so MSmith tries a pass over the top of Bielle-Biarrey for Freeman down the wing. It doesn't quite make it over the winger, who lunges with one hand and knocks it on, killing the move and leading to Freeman failing to gather the loose ball.

It's a borderline call - I thought live (and I do still) that he's lunged with one hand, it's an attempt to block, not an attempt to slap back, and, while he is unlucky that it goes forwards rather than back (given he's running backwards), he's taken the risk by sticking a hand up and it should be a penalty and yellow card. However, I can see the argument that he's running backwards and could reasonably have hoped any intervention would go backwards, making it a knock-on only, which is the interpretation that the refereeing team takes (good comms, as Amashukeli originally says it goes backwards, but is advised by the TMO to get to a better decision).

Minute 33: We just about get the scrum done in the minute - slowed by Itoje having a conversation with the ref about the potential deliberate knock-on. It's another solid scrum that stays up - England keep it at 8 to see if they'll get any joy from more pressure, but France aren't budging and the ref tells us to get it out.

Ball goes to Freeman running hard at first receiver - he thinks about pulling it back to FSmith, but instead dummies and runs at Jalibert's inside shoulder...

Minute 34: ...which is doing a good impersonation of a turnstile. Sadly, who should be there but fucking Dupont, who makes the cover tackle and stops a full break, but we're going forward and the ball is in Mitchell's hands under 2 seconds after the tackle. It goes out to FSmith, who probably makes the wrong decision to grubber through rather than keep it in hand, but it's saved from being a KADAB by being very well executed - Ramos is first there, but he fumbles it backwards under pressure and only just about gets it at second attempt. MSmith does phenomenally well not to fall into the trap of falling on Ramos when he doesn't get up immediately, instead getting low and starting the ruck. France get back and think that they have secured the ball with Bielle-Biarrey and Boudehent driving over, but they're unprepared for some frankly glorious technique by the unlikely cadre of MSmith, FSmith, Lawrence, and Sleightholme who get low and square and drive the French backwards and off the ball. I've seen openside flankers not show that level of body-positioning and leg drive in a maul. Specifically, I've just seen Boudehent.

Sadly, France somehow regather the ball - it very much feels like someone cheated, but I can't see it and the ref says its legal, so he's probably right. The rebuilt ruck is right on the French line and Itoje and TWillis are about to charge in (possibly irked by being upstaged by the backs), so Dupont box-kicks hurriedly. He does not find touch.

Earl catches on the touchline (terrific vision to have dropped back already, because it wasn't like a normal caterpillar-and-box where everyone has 20 minutes to check their tax returns before play restarts) and shows vision to pass wide inside to Slade rather than running himself (Genge, take note - limits should be known). It's a wobbly pass that makes Slade wait, but he's got acres of space - he runs diagonally, targeting the wing, that LBB abandoned to save the day on the other side, and which is now staffed by an incredibly nervous Mauvaka facing Freeman. It should be a 2-on-1, but Antoine Fucking Dupont has somehow got across and makes it a 2-on-2 - he tackles Slade, but Slade has already timed a pass to meet Freeman running a hard line against Mauvaka's inside shoulder. He bursts through the tackle, but it's enough to slow him for Meafou to get to him. Freeman keeps running though, dragging the lock with him a full ten metres into the 22, before throwing a pop-pass up on his outside shoulder in the hope that Mitchell has read him. The 9 has, but only just in time, and he has to stretch for the ball which costs him a step of pace. By the time he brings it in, LBB has come across and is ready to cream him into touch, so Mitchell dabs a desperate grubber down the touchline with the hope that he can go into touch to evade the tackle and get back round to touch it down. The bounce of a rugby ball does not hate him for once and it rolls beautifully, but unfortunately, Gros is once more not living up to his name, and the loosehead prop puts in a phenomenal effort to get across and carry the ball over the line to concede the scrum instead of the try.

Minute 35: The poor sod has just ruptured something to get across and now has to try and recover to deal with a 5m scrum. It's again a solid and stable scrum - World Rugby just need to bottle whatever Amashukeli has got and feed it to the other refs, cause it can't be a coincidence that this kind of platform always happens when he's in charge. Must be man management or the front rows believe he knows enough to spot the shenanigans or something.

Mitchell takes his time getting the ball out and Freeman makes a mistake by jumping too early and having to stop himself. By the time the ball comes out to him, he's overrun and has to slow to catch it, which ruins the planned move. Even without momentum though, he still makes Jalibert look all the pricks of the day with a nice inside step, and then accelerates hard to drive into Moefana and get over the gainline. Slade obliterates the French player to clear the ruck and it's another sub-2s for Mitchell. TWillis runs a hard line, but it's going back towards the ruck, which is where the big boys stand, and he doesn't get much change out of it.

Freeman offers himself as first receiver down the blind - he's still standing too flat, but he runs hard and steps back inside Moefana...

[Puja]

Minute 36: ...who does make the tackle, but again Freeman drives through contact and so nearly gets to the line. He makes the sensible decision to lay the ball back instead of going for the low chance of glory. France come round the side and slow the ball, so we go for a pick and drive to try and get over the line - it's repelled, but France infringe again at the ruck and this one is our advantage. France attempt to kill the advantage with cynical play, but Stuart does a great job to clear them out and Mitchell must surely go left to the pace...? Nope, he's been overruled by LCD, who goes for the pick and drive open with Itoje and TWillis for company, but very nearly loses the ball.

The ball must surely once again go and Mitchell is once again at the base, but this time it is Genge who overrides him. He's got a good idea in picking from the base and looking like he's going himself before passing the ball - it's a good strategy because the defence won't believe that a loosehead prop would have the vision and skill to do anything but rumble forwards, but it's only a good strategy if said loosehead prop doesn't fuck the pass and prove the defence was right not to be worried. Thank heavens for small mercies, the crap pass is at least behind TCurry so it's still live - it bounces away from his despairing dive though and it's all he can do to try and flick it towards FSmith (which he does while kneeling on the floor, so it is technically a penalty to France). Fin the 10 picks it up off his bootlaces and tries to drive through a tackle, but Barassi slaps the ball from his hands in contact. It bounces beautifully for Freeman on his outside however, who can make a simple pass to Lawrence on the run. Lawrence takes a moment to make sure that he hands off Ramos in the throat before sauntering over the line for one of the scruffiest, yet most vital tries, we've scored in a long time.

The overhead camera confirms that there's no knock-on as the TMO, and also that Ramos was France's last man, whereas we had Smith and Sleightholme outside him - had the forwards just let Mitchell pass the damned ball, we could've scored that try with significantly less reliance on lucky bounces of a dropped rugby ball. MSmith belts over the easy conversion and it's 7-7.

The try was scored 35.43 and the conversion is taken before the minute is completed - there was a brief pause for the TMO check, but it was one replay and done. The speed suggests England feel the momentum is with them and quite fancy doing some more running at what must be a very tired French pack by now.

Minute 38: France are not as keen to get on with it and take up half the minute leisurely walking to halfway. They kick long to TWillis who carries hard back over the 22. We recycle and then caterpillar and box - I like that the referee is calling "Use it!" early and then consistently shouting "2!" when he gets to that point in his 5s count-down to give the hurry-up, although I'd imagine the hookers on both sides are somewhat less keen on that refereeing quirk, as they probably have the instinctive twitch to work out why the ref's shouting at them.

The box-kick is superb - landing on halfway only about 2m from touch. It's just too long to contest and Ramos catches and arcs inside - he beats TCurry but is caught by the rest of our kick chase who are putting pressure on... only for the ref to blow and call for blocking. Great spot that - Penaud is running a shepherding line and slows with his hands in the air, like he's trying really hard to get out of the way but is just so unlucky that he coincidentally happens to have put himself in the perfect place to impede Sleightholme and TCurry from getting to Ramos.

FSmith kicks for touch and it's a little disappointing - he only makes about 20 metres from just inside the French half, when we'd've been hoping for something in the 22. Still, it's a good attacking opportunity and the wind is definitely in our sails.

Unfortunately the position is wasted - we go up quick at the front to secure uncontested possession and then Mitchell passes to TCurry on the charge, with the aim that he'll make a metre or so of go-forward and we'll attack from the ruck, but unfortunately TCurry makes his first mistake today and thinks about what he's going to do with the ball before he's caught it, dropping a simple pass through nothing but cloghands.

Minute 39: Dupont gathers the loose ball and is under pressure from the England players who were planning to run the next phase, so he instead runs backwards to give himself room before throwing a 20 metre, no-look, back-of-the-hand, pass that lands perfectly in Ramos's hands. He is a freak - he's looked at Le Garrec pulling off that kind of bullshit, thought to himself, "Okay, bet," and then learned to do it himself.

Ramos had space to run against a non-existent defensive line, but Slade does very well to get across and force him back inside. He get beaten on the inside and it will go down in the Opta stats as a missed tackle, but it changes the attack from being an imminent LBB unmarked down the left wing, to Ramos having to go further infield to avoid Slade only to find TWillis is there. Willis goes for the choke tackle to get the ball back and Ramos is so desperate to try and get a knee on the floor that he loses concentration on protecting the ball and TWillis removes it from him and passes away to Lawrence who has a clear run to the line, but sadly we're going back for the knock-on as there's clearly been no advantage.

Minute 40: The scrum goes up this time - looks like Atonio driving in on LCD, but it's not clear and obvious and we had stability enough to get the ball out so we play on. Jalibert puts his boot through the ball - it looks like it's gone straight into touch and the scrum did start just outside the 22, but there's no replay to confirm and it's not a huge issue. It's a great kick, going from 22 to only 35m out from our line and a pressured lineout. LCD hits Itoje and a less generous ref would give that as not straight, but we get away with it, thank the gods.

Minute 41: We form a maul and the ref says it's a knock-on by France in the line - if true, it would forgive LCD the not-straight, but I'm now worrying that a defending front jumper was able to get a hand to a throw that was aimed to the middle jumper. Sadly, the director is getting artsy with the Spidercam, so it's hard to tell.

Mitchell decides that we're happy with 7:7 and dobs the ball over the touchline to bank the level pegging. Interestingly, France are straight off the pitch, while England saunter off, with Genge and Itoje hanging back so they can talk the ears off Amashukeli and Piardi (the touch judge) respectively. It's all very professional and calm, but there's definitely a concerted lobbying effort going on.

[Puja]

Second half!

Minute 41: More fireworks and more clouds of smoke as France kick off. It goes long to Mitchell who clears efficiently to get the ball up past the 10m line.

France throw the lineout to the middle and spread it immediately to midfield. Jalibert has options galore, but this time eschews the big bruisers to play wide to Moefana. Lawrence has to adjust to drift onto him and Slade does not trust his fellow centre to make it. He steps in, at which point Moefana dabs the ball on to Barassi who is running at the hole Slade's just opened up. Godsdammit Slade - I was complimenting you at the end of the half!

FSmith does a good job to get across and tackle, but Barassi can offload to Penaud on the loop and England are in trouble from the start. TWillis does a superb job to get across and bring him down though and suddenly there's opportunity - LCD is first man there, the ball is exposed, and it's an easy steal as long as he doesn't lose his balance and fall over, knocking the ball on in the process, so it's unfortunate that that's what he does.

France get the ball back and a lovely tip-on from Meafou completely bamboozles our defence as both Lawrence and FSmith step in on the wrong man, but thankfully Roumat becomes the latest player to drop a simple pass and the move dies.

Minute 42: I owe Cowan-Dickie an apology - he actually gets both hands on the ball only for the arriving French player to kick it (accidentally, I think) out of his hands. The replay comes up on the big screen and Amashukeli loses a mark by insisting that, yes, it was kicked out of his hands, but then he did knock it on afterwards, despite the screen showing that he doesn't at any point do that. He can't change his decision, but better to admit fault there, I think.

Minute 43: Another solid scrum that succeeds at the first attempt and Alldritt carries from the base with his new freedom under the law trial. Mitchell does a good job of a soak tackle to stop him, but France have quick front-foot ball, which they increase by sending Meafou on an immediate charge off of 9. Dupont thinks he sees an underresourced fringe at the ruck and a gap that he can go through for a score but, in the space between him looking and him picking and going, Genge has worked hard to fill in and puts in a solid tackle. Dupont's genius works against him here - Itoje goes high to try and prevent a pass out the tackle, but because Dupont is bullshit, he's thinking about a one-handed offload out of the back of his hand and so works hard to keep his ball-carrying arm unentangled. That leaves the ball perfectly exposed for TCurry to come in and rip it away.

It's so unexpected that TCurry gets nearly a full 3 seconds of players asking themselves, "Why is that defender arcing around behind the breakdown, what on earth is he doing, is this part of "Le Hammer", oh shit he's actually got the ball, how did that happen?!" before they react. He's tackled as he tries to pass it away, but his run has got him on the outside of the defence and Mitchell can gather and make a run up to the 22 before kicking long. It's a beautiful kick as well, scudding off the turf to go almost all the way up to the France 22. Penaud gathers and kicks long, but he's behind the rest of his team and doesn't find grass - MSmith gathers, realises that half of France is offside and goes on the attack. He nearly makes it all the way through, but Bielle-Biarrey targets the ball and rips it free. I still say it goes forwards, but I'll concede it's marginal. He picks up the loose ball and has a clear sprint to the line - our poor players have gone from defending fervently on our own line, to charging up for a kick chase to the 22, to running back in case we kick it again, then looking to go forward to be in support as MSmith looks to make a break, then faced by trying to chase back one of the fastest players out there for a seemingly lost cause.

Enter Ollie Sleightholme. You'd bet any money on Bielle-Biarrey making it for the try when he picks up the ball, but Sleightholme has taken the perfect corner-flagging line and he puts in an incredible turn of pace and desire. Not only does he get there to cut LBB off, but he gets there with enough time to space to slow his feet and adjust as Bielle-Biarrey steps inside. He doesn't quite make the tackle, but it's enough to allow MSmith to make it back and finish him off. LBB attempts a hopeful basketball offload to Mauvaka, who has overrun, has to reach up and back for it, and has one eye of the imminent tackle by Fin Smith, and he can't gather it in.

Once again, this one isn't going onto the counter - bitter pundits/fans might claim that "France threw away dozens of tries; it could've been 50 points again!" but so far I've only found one instance, where it wasn't a mistake forced by England's defence or where we had defenders in place and the player was covered. And that one was the Dupont one which I refused to put on the list because it only occurred because of three obvious penalty offences being missed! I will concede to being a bit petty on that, as ref decisions go both ways in a game and there's no way the TMO would've overridden the on-pitch decision on any of those offences, but I do enjoy being petty, so the counter remains as France only having thrown away 3 points (and being gifted 7 by the combo of should've passed/shouldn't've passed of Genge and Stuart, but there's no counter for that). I won't deny that the knock-ons massively helped our defence and that, even if the tries weren't immediately scored, then France keeping the ball might've seen them score in 2-3 phases, but if your aunt had had wheels, she'd've been a bicycle.

The ball bounces free and, not content with having sprinted a distance at speeds that would've given most of us a heart attack, Sleightholme is first to it, hands off Dupont, burns Cros on the outside and accelerates away. He is running out of space down the touchline and the T1000 Antoine Dupont is pacing him in preparation for a tackle, so he kicks long.

Minute 44: The ball bounces into the 22, at which point Thomas Ramos makes friends with all 16 forwards (and, tbh, probably all 29 non-Duponts on the pitch) by finding touch on halfway.

England screw up the lineout again - the movement is good, which opens up space for Itoje to jump unopposed in the middle, but something happens with the lift and he doesn't get up properly. You can point the finger at LCD for throwing a touch early, but I would say that was the lift more than the throw.

France gather the loose ball and again go to the midfield. There's some nice offloading to get outside the defence and Genge does very well to get across and haul down Moefana. TCurry then makes an absolute nuisance of himself at the next ruck by getting into a legal position and making a futile attempt to drive through which allows him to legally harass Dupont as long as he doesn't grab him. The distraction works as Dupont's pass is ropey from an unstable platform and France knock on again.

Minute 45: Thank all of the gods, we have a minute where we fail to scrum. Amashukeli's a top ref, but he's really annoying for a poor innocent recapper who needs an occasional minute where nothing happens!


That'll do us for today. Apologies for the delay - was part of our third team giving someone a 55-7 clumping which took up a chunk of weekend. Hopefully more on Monday with the aim of finishing by Wednesday - probably best to get this done before teamsheets come out and we have something new to talk about.

Puja

[loudnconfident]

Please add my thanks for these excellent MbMs. (Happy to buy you an online coffee?).
I saw thx game on catch-up yesterday. Must have been a nerve-shredding live watch. (Bad enough checking phone updates on the transfer bus in Austria).
I thought Itoje was awesome throughout. Not least at his post match captain's interview. Seemingly unmarked and calm, and said the right things.

[Puja]

Please add my thanks for these excellent MbMs. (Happy to buy you an online coffee?).
I saw thx game on catch-up yesterday. Must have been a nerve-shredding live watch. (Bad enough checking phone updates on the transfer bus in Austria).
I thought Itoje was awesome throughout. Not least at his post match captain's interview. Seemingly unmarked and calm, and said the right things.

Thank you - the compliment is appreciated and all I need (unless you have an in with an organisation that wants to pay me to do these full-time, of course!).

Itoje occasionally seems a bit argumentative with refs to me, but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of ref-mics being broadcast in this tournament, so it's hard to tell whether he's being passionately persuasive or getting on their wick. Either way, it's night and day from the days of Fazlet hectoring refs and turning them against us. Very happy with him as captain so far.

Puja

[Puja]

Minute 46: Solid scrum, with Mitchell feeding right into the second row. I'm amazed LCD was able to get any part of his boot to that! Two wide passes from Mitchell and FSmith sees the ball in MSmith's hands in centre-field - there's the possibility of attacking wide, but France have generally numbered up so Marcus sticks with the planned move and puts a delicious kick in to find touch just past the French 10m line. Great training ground move making the most of a double Smith - the two passes make the winger come up to mind the attack (and if he doesn't come up, then we have a 3-on-2), and then it's top-notch execution from Marcus to nail the kick, landing it perfectly to one-bounce into touch, while judging the length to find the most amount of territory without any risk of the full-back getting there to cut it off. Tactically very sound plan, executed well, gains us about 25m from the original scrum position and puts play back in France's half.

France aren't in a tearing hurry to get into the lineout, but we do get it done in the minute - throw to the middle and Itoje sacks the impending maul. Slow ball, so Dupont sets up a leisurely caterpillar and box routine.

Minute 47: The kick goes up high, but it's too long for a contest and Freeman takes it easily. We set the ruck and LCD is setting himself up for a carry, but Mitchell hears a call from Genge and misses him to go wider. I'm not sure what Genge was calling for there - France have got their defensive line, he's got no-one to pass to and his only support is LCD who is now out of position because he was expecting the ball.

Genge however still thinks he's a back and you have to admire his sheer-possession and confidence - he chucks in a hitch-kick and kicks off his right foot to start running backwards and sideways across the pitch, presumably with the ambition that his sheer pace will allow him to outflank and round Roumat to make a break through the non-existent gap between him and Moefana. Slade has read what Genge is doing and runs a really exciting scissors line - if he gets the ball, then he's running against the grain at the weak inside shoulders of the forwards who have chased Genge across the pitch and this could be a really exciting opportunity that Genge has created, if only the loosehead could be convinced to let go of the ball. Instead, he turns his shoulder and throws a Simpson-Daniel-esque dummy, presumably with the expectation that Roumat will be so foxed that he'll abandon the pursuit and chase Slade like a labrador going after a fake throw of a tennis ball. Sadly Roumat has not read his script and instead crunches Genge from behind. Genge does do well not to go backwards, but he's very lucky LCD has followed across because his clearout is the only reason we've kept the ball.

Maybe I should start a counter for the number of times Genge had a choice between letting a back have the ball or trying to do it himself and messing it up? Cause that'd be #3 right there.

We do keep the ball from a slow ruck and Mitchell passes to TWillis who looks just to be carrying up for a reset for the caterpillar and box routine, but TWillis runs, from a standing start, into a double tackle from Boudehent and Alldritt and then somehow comes out the other side? I suspect witchcraft of some kind and it's a shame that Boudehent just clips TWillis's foot as he steps free, cause otherwise he was away. He still powers through the stumble to gain another 7 metres before gravity claims him, but unfortunately our quick ball is thwarted by Atonio flopping over and not showing a great amount of energy about rolling away - he does just enough to get away with it, but it leaves us with nothing to do, but set up the box-kick again.

It's too long from Mitchell and our chase isn't brilliant - Freeman has to defend a 2-on-1, but does a brilliant job to bounce off Jalibert and hunt down LBB, who is forced to chip ahead poorly. Mitchell catches and feeds back to FSmith, who sends the giant inside pass across to MSmith who can run forward onto it. It looks like he's got time and space to run into and support is gathering on his outside, but Antoine Bloody Dupont has read this five phases ago and catches MSmith from his blindside just as he puts in the kick.

It looks like a shocking error, as the ball bounces into Penaud's hands in space, but England have formed some semblance of a kick-chase, so Penaud kicks it early, in the hope of finding space behind, where MSmith currently isn't.

Minute 48: The ball skids off the surface - MSmith has got himself across to field it, but he doesn't have to in the end, as it rolls into the try-zone. Marcus gives half a thought to trying his luck on a counter, but it's not on and both sides are scattered over the pitch, so he touches it down for us all to take a breather with a goal-line dropout.

FSmith takes the kick - he does get it 38m out, but it doesn't feel high enough or long enough. Jalibert gathers with a 15m run-up to England's defensive line, but he doesn't much fancy running himself, so he goes sideways to call Alldritt to cut a line. Good tackling from Martin and Stuart, and it's slow French ball about 5m away from the 22.

France take a couple of phases of sending one-out forward runners and go a metre or two backwards at each. Amashukeli calls us for being offside at the next phase, which looks very harsh to me, but it's hard to see from the camera angles.

Minute 49: France take another couple of forward runs for no effect and then try going wide, but we have things very well covered and France go steadily backwards until they give away a crossing offence themselves, so we're back for the penalty. We're slow about getting into position and Dupont nearly punishes us with a tap, but Amashukeli does call for not going on the mark this time (much smaller difference than the one I whinged about earlier), so he's called back for Ramos to have a kick from in front of the posts.

The ref explains that it was the whole backline offside, not Genge as I (and Opta) had thought, and that they didn't retreat when the ruck shifted. I withdraw my complaint - I wish refs would call that much more often, as it would open up more space if sides had to at least minimally resource defensive rucks to avoid the offside line being pushed backwards.

Minute 50: Ramos doesn't miss his second sitter in front of the posts and it's 7-10 to the bad guys. France make a double substitution to bring on Auradou and Jegou, which is an unfortunate combo to bring on as a tag team considering the summer allegations (I should note for legal reasons, that charges were dismissed by the Argentine court).

FSmith kicks the restart high - Itoje and Freeman look to compete, but France take it in. Itoje lets Stuart make the tackle and stays clear - both of the French support players flop to the floor and he reaches over to jackal the ball and earn the penalty. Literally just talking about the impacts Itoje makes - huge moment that England very much needed after 10 minutes of nearly continuous French pressure and territory.

[Puja]

Minute 51: The penalty is 15m in from touch and 40m out, so it's not an easy kick, but it is definitely kickable. However, Itoje opts straight for the corner and Slade is handed the ball.

The commentary goes like this: "Big moment in the game. England now need Henry Slade to bang this as close to the 5 metre line as he can. He's a left-footed kicker, so it's the right side of the pitch. {Slade kicks the ball. The touch judge starts running back from the 5m line] ...it's... erm... ...it's okay?"

The lineout is 15m out. From the position of that penalty, for any international level touch kicker, that's not good enough. It's definitely not good enough for somebody who is being given the ball ahead of the two fly-halves on the pitch because he's a specialist at this skill.

Minute 52: Because we're 15m out, France feel comfortable throwing up two jumpers, because even if they miss, they've got 15m to stop a driving maul. One of them gets a hand to the ball - Itoje just about gets it back to our side, but it goes loose and, while Mitchell does clear up, he gets buried (and we're very lucky the ref doesn't reward Auradou's attempt at a jackal). We now have slow ball, our 9 is buried, half our pack is in the ruck to regather our ball, France's defence is set (and now does not have to be 10m back), and we're now 16m out from the line. If that penalty kick is 6-7m from the tryline, then we get clean ball and a rolling maul in that position. I'm fuming.

It's made worse the next phase - TWillis picks and goes around the corner to try and restart things, but he's met by set French defence, who stop him on the gainline. LCD and Martin do a terrible job of being in support, Genge is blatantly impeded by the tackler refusing to roll away (not complaining, cause I think Auradou was hard done by the phase before), and Mauvaka wins the jackal penalty. Absolute cluster-fuck and a waste of a great attacking opportunity. If Slade is going to demand the ball in those situations, he needs to execute properly or he needs to fuck off.

Genge will be fuming, as his last action was being tripped up by Gros lying on the wrong side and rolling into him - he's had a poor game outside of the scrums and finishing on that note where he'll feel absolutely robbed will not be enjoyable for him. He's replaced by Fin Baxter for our first substitution of the day.

Minute 53: France have kicked their penalty touch finder about 5m longer than Slade did, just to add insult to injury. They take middle ball at the lineout under pressure from Martin and form a good maul which they roll forward for a few metres before Dupont breaks down the blind side. He makes a half break and looks like he's driving through LCD's tackle, only to lose his footing and endure the indignity of LCD dragging him back along the ground for 2m until the referee shouts "LEAVE IT!" at him like he's walking a dog that's trying to eat something suspicious on a walk.

France have slow ball, so Atonio runs at Baxter, perhaps on the basis that he has the face of a 10 year old and so might tackle like one. Baxter disabuses him of this notion, stops him dead a metre behind the gainline, and then does very well to get out of the way - Atonio tries to push the ball into him so he can complain that he's not rolling, but Baxter pumps himself off the ground like a breakdancer and the ball goes under him and spills loose. Dupont gathers and feeds a runner at pace, who once again gets stopped dead on the gainline (by Martin this time), and the next phase sees Baxter back up and chopping another runner down for no gain. France are going nowhere - it's quick ball, but they've run out of forwards to feed into the defence and, when they pass it out to Jalibert, our backline defence is numbered up and well-organised.

Jalibert goes for a chip over the top and he's picked just the right option - there is space there and he gets a good bounce. Unfortunately, Itoje has read it and started moving very early - he gets to the ball just before Jalibert can snatch it up and slaps it backwards. and it spills backwards. TWillis dives on the loose ball, but fumbles it badly on the floor - should've been our possession, but he loses it forward and Dupont passes quick ball to Ramos with France flooding forwards. He goes right, then cuts back on himself to put in a cross-field kick-over-the-top, which Bielle-Biarrey very nearly gets on the end of - Earl does fantastically well to get back and make sure he gets enough on the ball to ground it.

I originally started writing this sentence criticising Ramos for indecisiveness, but on analysis he's actually spotted an England mistake. When Jalibert chips forwards, Freeman comes charging forward and inwards from the right-wing kick defence and MSmith does the same from the left-wing kick defence. When it's clear that TWillis has lost the ball, MSmith abandons the ruck to go back to covering behind the left wing, but Freeman stays central to try and form the defensive line, leaving no-one on the right wing to cover the kick which Earl ends up fielding well. It's tempting to blame Freeman, but I think this is actually one of those MSmith full-back mistakes that I was warned would be all over the place. It's hard, because France look like they're going to our left wing, so it's reasonable to want to cover there, but he needs to have awareness of his wingers' positioning - Sleightholme is now back in place on the left and so MSmith is less necessary there and he needs to either pelt it across to the right wing to cover or be shouting at Freeman that he's not needed and he needs to get back in position. He needs to be commanding our movement there and he doesn't. Hopefully picked up in video analysis for Marcus to learn from and our back three will be better at working together for having had a match under their belt as a trio.

Minute 54: TWillis's first start comes to an end - he is replaced by BCurry.

FSmith kicks the drop-out and it's the same style as before, so it's either the maximum of his drop-kicking skills or it's a tactic. Alldritt catches again and Baxter works hard again to get up and chop him down. He's got a lovely tackle technique.

France attempt to run a bit of creativity with pull-backs and dummy runners, but England look supremely unconcerned and Barassi ends up trying to catch a pass with his face to turn over possession. Sleightholme is first onto the loose ball and does a bit of pinball, bouncing off Cros and Jalibert and accelerating before being dragged down by Mauvaka and Cros coming back at him. He drives into contact and overall makes about 10 metres. Mauvaka goes for the jackal and sees double as he gets blasted out by both Currys, but they're too successful - they destroy Mauvaka, but leave the ruck open for Meafou to burgle, so Amashukeli goes back for the knock-on advantage.

Minute 55: Terrible decision by the touch-judge at the scrum. Atonio shifts his bind to Baxter's arm, cranks that bind downwards to pull down on him, bores in hard on LCD and loses his footing when Baxter holds his position, only for the touch-judge to call it Baxter's offence for his elbow going down (which is hard not to do when someone's pulling on it). The pen should go the other way and I'm amazed how sanguine Baxter looks as he walks back. Hopefully he'll learn a trick or two about how to cope with that through video analysis on Monday and know for next time how to position and present himself so that he won't be on the wrong end of that call next time. Excellent technique and strength to combat the boring in by a very experienced opposing prop, just obviously not giving the right signals to the officials to get the reward he richly deserved.