England XV narrowly beaten by France XV at Allianz Stadium
England XV were beaten 24-26 by France XV at Allianz Stadium thanks to tries from Tom Willis, Alex Coles, Joe Carpenter & Alex Dombrandt, with four points from George Ford's boot. France's tries came through Gaëtan Barlot, Hugo Auradou, Paul Mallez & Romain Taofifenua as well as a conversion by Nolann Le Garrec & two by Antoine Hastoy.
With just a minute played a smart kick by Ford gave England a promising platform in the France 22 and allowed the backs to work it to returning wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, but he was stripped of the ball just over the line.
Successive penalties later allowed France to kick for territory and they found themselves with a lineout seven metres from England’s line. From the resulting maul Barlot crashed over for the first points of the game, but Le Garrec’s conversion attempt went wide.
With nine minutes on the clock a turnover by Gael Fickou set up Théo Attissogbe to break the line before passing inside to Auradou, who grounded the ball despite a last-ditch effort from Feyi-Waboso. Le Garrec then converted for a 12-0 lead.
After 20 minutes, England won multiple penalties in France’s 22 and after a series of carries Willis powered over from close range. Ford followed up with a conversion from wide to close the gap to five points.
Shortly after, England won a penalty on halfway that Henry Slade kicked deep into the France half. From the lineout Seb Atkinson, making his first senior appearance, carried through the midfield, before Ben Spencer switched back to find Coles to score. Ford’s conversion was unsuccessful, leaving the scores tied at 12-12.
Joe Heyes nearly scored a sensational try as he latched onto a Guy Pepper break, but he was brought down just metres from the whitewash and his offload was intercepted by Attissogbe who cleared his lines. Minutes later Feyi-Waboso was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle which was later upgraded to a 20-minute red card.
As half-time closed in, Ted Hill regathered Ford’s cross-field kick just outside the France 22. England worked in-field through Pepper, before Atkinson juggled Ford’s pass and charged towards the line. The Gloucester centre was tackled with the line beckoning and probably could have scored himself, but offloaded from the deck for Carpenter to score. Ford converted to extend the lead to 19-12 at the half-time whistle.
England began the second half looking to continue where they left off, pinning France in their own half with some smart kicking before winning a penalty. Ford looked to go for the posts but his attempt drifted wide.
Ten minutes into the half England’s dominant scrum won a penalty on halfway and Henry Slade hit an impressive touch-finder to put his side five metres out. The lineout went over the top and the ball went loose, allowing Carpenter to dot down, but the try was disallowed for a knock-on by Slade in the build-up.
Shortly after, Léo Berdeu won the ball in the air and offloaded to Émilien Gailleton who then found Le Garrec inside to score. However, a dangerous clear-out by Cameron Woki beforehand saw the try disallowed and the replacement received a yellow card, which was later upgraded to a 20-minute red card.
England, back to a full complement, took advantage of the numerical advantage almost immediately. Tom Roebuck made a half break to give his side front-foot ball and once it was recycled, some simple hands put Alex Dombrandt over in the corner. Ford’s conversion drifted wide, but England led by 12 with 20 minutes remaining.
With just five minutes left, France kicked to the corner from a penalty and Mallez drove over, before Hastoy converted to make it a five-point game as the clock ticked towards full-time.
Just two minutes remained as Woki returned to the field and a dangerous tackle saw France rewarded with a penalty that they kicked to the corner again. France carried through the phases and eventually Taofifenua barreled over to tie the scores before Hastoy added the extras to retake the lead at the death.
