England beat France in 6 Nations

[Thequeerone]

Toby Flood
England 26 - France 18



England kept alive their RBS 6 Nations title hopes - and destroyed France's Grand Slam chances in the process - after producing a performance packed with courage, character and commitment at Twickenham.

Injured Jonny Wilkinson's replacement Toby Flood amassed 16 points, including a try, before going off injured and leaving the stage to his replacement Shane Geraghty.

Geraghty slotted a penalty and conversion, but his mesmeric midfield break decided the contest as he created England's winning try for centre Mike Tindall.

The victory - England's first against France since their 2003 World Cup semi-final triumph in Sydney - means they can still secure RBS 6 Nations silverware through beating Millennium Stadium hosts Wales next Saturday.

Points difference looks likely to decide the trophy's destiny - and England are trailing France and Ireland in that capacity - but in terms of confidence, the win will have worked wonders.

It was easily the best performance of head coach Brian Ashton's four-Test reign, and means England will start as firm favourites to inflict an embarrassing RBS 6 Nations whitewash on hapless Wales in Cardiff next weekend.

Flanker Tom Rees was a deserved man-of-the-match recipient, yet England, generally, played with so much purpose and composure, they thoroughly deserved to take the spoils.

They kept France tryless - David Skrela and Dimitri Yachvili kicked three penalties each for Les Bleus - and there could be few complaints about the result.

England, showing 11 changes from the side thumped in record RBS 6 Nations fashion by Ireland two weeks ago, fell behind inside four minutes when fly-half Skrela landed a 45-metre penalty.

Flood tied things up with his first kick at goal five minutes later, but Skrela ensured he kept France ticking over through two further strikes during a seven-minute spell.

Flood's second successful penalty brought England back to 9-6, yet scrum-half Yachvili - who had scored 53 of France's 73 points during their three successive wins against the world champions - slotted a penalty before the break.

Flood matched that strike, showing considerable composure amid the heat of battle, and England trooped off 12-9 adrift at half-time.

Quick ball was the order of the day in the second period as France retreated deep inside their own 22, and when scrum-half Harry Ellis shipped possession Mike Catt's searing outside break and offload in the tackle created enough space for Flood to touch down unopposed.

Flood added the extras, giving him all 16 of England's points, but Yachvili landed a 53rd-minute penalty to take France back to within one point.

Yachvili emulated Skrela, who had limped off, in completing a penalty hat-trick when Tindall drifted offside, and France led 18-16 as Flood limped off to be replaced by 20-year-old debutant Geraghty.

Dave Strettle remained a major problem for France, running aggressively and decisively whenever possession arrived on his wing, and his pace created the position from which England edged ahead through 15-metre Geraghty penalty.

Geraghty, full of youthful promise, left an indelible mark on the game seven minutes from time when his brilliant midfield surge shredded the French defence.

Although his inside pass eluded the supporting Catt, Tindall was on hand to collect possession and claim his 13th Test try in 53 games.

Geraghty added the simple conversion, and France had it all to do, but they encountered an England defence supremely organised that made its first-up tackles count.

IRELAND NEEDS TO BEAT ITALY IN CROKE PARK TO WIN THE 6 NATIONS ON ST PATRICKS DAY with an amazing margin or Scotland needs to beat France
GO SCOTLAND !

Italy trounced Wales 23-20 this weekend

Saturday 17th March 2007
13:30 GMT Italy vs Ireland
15:30 GMT France vs Scotland
17:30 GMT Wales vs England

CURRENT 6 NATIONS TABLE
Country P W D L For Against Points
France 4 3 0 1 109 67 6
Ireland 4 3 0 1 98 60 6
England 4 3 0 1 101 88 6
Italy 4 2 0 2 70 96 4
Scotland 4 1 0 3 76 107 2
Wales 4 0 0 4 59 95 0

[Sagerian]

The margin between France and Ireland is only 4. However as the paddies play first they'd be doing themselves a favour by scoring lots.

Yes, pity... Unless you're IRISH!


Ireland still in the hunt for 6N crown!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

England did the oooorish a huge favour overnight when they beat France 26-18. It still leaves the French on top of the 6 Nations table but only on a slight points differential over Ireland (France have a 44 differential, Ireland 38, England 13).

Ireland unfortunately play Italy before France play Scotland, so we'll need to play the waiting game before we know if the Paddies have it or not.

Roughly it'll work out like this:


Ireland need to beat Italy by 5 + whatever France beat Scotland by (presumably a lot)

13:30 GMT Italy vs Ireland
15:30 GMT France vs Scotland
17:30 GMT Wales vs England


France:
Played: 4 Won: 3 Lost: 1 For: 109 Against: 67 Point: 6

Ireland:
Played:4 Won: 3 Lost: 1 For: 98 Against: 60 Points: 6

England:
Played: 4 Won: 3 Lost: 1 For: 101 Against: 88 Points: 6

Italy:
Played: 4 Won: 2 Lost: 2 For: 70 Against: 96 Point:4

Scotland:
Played: 4 Won: 1 Lost:3 For: 76 Against: 107 Points: 2

Wales:
Played: 4 Won: 0 Lost: 4 For: 59 Against:95 Points: 0

[The EnForcer]

It's amazing what strength Scotland can find when it means spoiling englands day......it's a bit like biting your own nuts. (reference to Scotland joke posted last year.)

[Thequeerone]

GO SCOTLAND

otherwise I'm guessing Ireland needs to win by 4+20 to be sure to be sure to be sure

Reds on Friday and 6 Nations on Saturday - another fantastic weekend !

[Sagerian]

Can Scotland hold France to a low score? I'm scared.

[Thequeerone]

I have Faith in Scotland - this is the year of the Hoodoo Breaker

Even England has discovered that they can win a game without Wilko - although not with the same kicker as they start with - hopefully they run out of them before the RWC

[Sagerian]

Any idea who's replacing O'Connell?

[WF2006]

......it's a bit like biting your own nuts.

Now that brought a wince to the visage and a tear to the eye!

Flexible aren't you?!

[Sagerian]

Is that like that Welsh guy a few years back?... YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOW!

[Thequeerone]

This is shocking :

O'Sullivan: I can't substantiate claims

11/03/2007
Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan is still refusing to name the Scottish player he alleges tried to choke Ronan O'Gara during the closing moments of Saturday's RBS 6 Nations win at Murrayfield.

O'Gara lost consciousness as a result of the incident at the bottom of the ruck in Ireland's 19-18 win which clinched the Triple Crown.

At the post-match press conference O'Sullivan claimed O'Gara had been deliberately assaulted but would not name names.

Despite chatting with his opposite number, Frank Hadden, at the post-match dinner, O'Sullivan has refused to change his stance.

Asked if he was prepared to identify the player, O'Sullivan said: "You should go along to the Scottish hotel and ask them – it's a simple solution.

"I spoke to Frank Hadden last night but it never came up in discussion. These things are never for discussion at social events.

"If you look at the front of the papers, something did happen. There is evidence that something happened.

"If nothing happened then maybe the person involved in the incident could come forward and explain what happened and we'd all be wiser, rather than me making accusations that everyone knows I can't substantiate.

"Maybe we're all wrong here, maybe it was a complete and utter accident, or he had nothing to do with anything,

"Ronan has the least amount of information – he went out like a light. If you look at the video he was kicking out, actually, and he was going blue.

"John Hayes spotted him immediately and put him into the recovery position.

"It's a very unfortunate incident and it's a pity it is overshadowing the game.

"It was a nasty enough incident – he could have died."

Asked why nobody seemed to come to O'Gara's aid, despite O'Sullivan's insistence that several players saw the incident, the Irish coach was bullish.

"So you're proposing that the Irish welly into the Scottish and punch somebody, when there's a guy on the ground not breathing?" he added.

"You want to save the guy on the ground. It was over, Ronan was out on the ground when the guys realised what was wrong."

Despite the incident, O'Sullivan revealed his side had suffered no major injuries.

He said: "Brian O'Driscoll fell awkwardly on the shoulder that he had reconstructed, so it was quite sore last night, but these things can settle down in a day or two.

"Girvan Dempsey picked up a broken nose in the first half in a tackle, so I suppose his modelling career is over now.

"You had two very tired sides last night and we've got a lot bumps and bruises.

"This is the last week of the championship and ideally we'd like to go out tomorrow and start working towards Italy, but it could be counter-productive in terms of keeping the energy."

Also more Injury updates

Ireland second row Paul O'Connell has been ruled out of the Italy game due to a fractured thumb.

O'Connell will see a specialist tomorrow morning to determine if the injury requires surgery on the hand and the length of recovery.

Marcus Horan will continue with his rehabilitation on his calf strain that he picked up on Friday and he is not ruled out of selection for the Italy game.

Isaac Boss is still recovering from his shoulder injury and is definitely ruled out for next weekend.

Replacement for O' Connell : Mick O'Driscoll is likely to come into the starting team with Trevor Hogan the leading contender to join the bench.

[Sagerian]

he could have died.

Not to make jokes about this disgusting (alledged) attack, but geez, the irish must have copyrights on this phrase.

[Thequeerone]

Hmm we Irish do like a good story - however it could have being a bit like what happened to Morlock the other week - a tackle that went a tad to high and basically garoted him

Nice to see Eddie worried about O'Gara - the Irish team never really recovered from Umaga's spear tackle on O'Driscoll and are a little bit sensitive to these things now

[luke_the_pom]

gotta love beating the Frogs!!

if we dont win it i would much rather the Irish than the French

[fulvio sammut]

Nobody here appears to countenance the possibility of Italy defeating Ireland.

Oh well, we'll see what happens...

[Sagerian]

It is possible, they gave the paddies a hard time last year. I'm trying to stay positive so that's not entering my head. Although I'd laugh if Italy won by 34 + France's winning margain. The 6N would go to Italy.