English whirlwind blows French apart

ENGLAND romped to their most emphatic victory over France since the glory days of 2003 as Martin Johnson’s under-fire side enjoyed a staggering return to form at Twickenham.

If this, as had been mooted in some quarters, was ‘Le Crunch’ for Johnson’s regime after five defeats in seven Tests then England answered their critics in style.

All the talk of sin-binnings and ill-discipline was forgotten on a glorious spring afternoon as England roared into a 29-0 half-time lead with tries from Mark Cueto, Riki Flutey, Delon Armitage and Joe Worsely.

Flutey added a second shortly after the restart and although France managed two consolation tries through Dimitri Szarzewski and Julien Malzieu the match had long been won by England. Johnson had reacted furiously in the stands at Croke Park a fortnight ago after England gifted victory to Ireland with a performance of gross indiscipline.

He put the team through boot camp-style training sessions in order to hammer home the message – and it worked.

Yesterday England defended with courage, defiance and brains and they attacked with vision and confidence. England are now the leading try-scorers in the competition with 13.

Johnson had heard his side booed from the field following recent Twickenham performances and he reiterated during the week that England had to give the crowd something to shout about in order to regain their faith.

England did so from minute one. Flutey spotted the perfect mis-match and sliced past Sebastien Chabal before sending Cueto away to touch down the opening try with just 70 seconds on the clock.

“When we do what we did today we look like a good team,” said Johnson. “That was great. I don’t think our intensity level was higher. Our precision level was better - guys saw opportunities and took them.

“I am very happy for the guys and there’s a good feeling of satisfaction in the changing room. When you lose you are going to get criticised – you know that – and defeat is a very realistic possibility when you are playing France, so it’s great.”

On Steve Borthwick, under increasing fire as captain following the losses to Wales and Ireland, Johnson added: “I don’t think he has to answer criticism, but I am happy for him that all the heartache he has had has paid off. It just showed that when we executed what we wanted to do we could open them up and score tries.”

England, who scored all their points in the first 42 minutes, knew going into the game that their hopes of the championship were already over. But, having ended France’s chances and set up a decider between Wales and Ireland in Cardiff, Johnson said that next Saturday’s visit of Scotland was still “a big game”.

If England were dominant without the ball they were incisive with it. Flood extended the lead to 10-0 after Harinordoquy was ruled offside before a slick attacking move sent Flutey over for a second try. France were wobbling and England hammered home the advantage with two tries in the last three minutes of the half.

After Chabal had been stripped of possession by Flutey, England piled forward and pitched camp in the French 22. Shaw’s charge was halted short of the line but Armitage was on hand to provide the finishing touch. Ellis chipped ahead and Flood came within inches of the line before slipping but the ball was shipped wide for Worsley to secure England a quite remarkable 29-0 lead at the interval.

French coach Marc Lievremont said: “The start of the game was terrible for us. We had a lot of turnovers, lost the ball in the contact, didn’t contest on the floor and England got confident.”

ENGLAND: D Armitage, M Cueto, M Tindall, R Flutey, U Monye, T Flood, H Ellis; A Sheridan, L Mears, P Vickery, S Borthwick, S Shaw, T Croft, J Worsley, N Easter.

Replacements: M Tait for Monye (72), A Goode for Flood (40), D Care for Ellis (55), J White for Sheridan (66), D Hartley for Mears (57), J Haskell for Shaw (57), N Kennedy for Worsley (68).

FRANCE: M Medard, J Malzieu, M Bastareaud, Y Jauzion, C Heymans, F Trinh-Duc, M Parra; L Faure, D Szarzewski, S Marconnet, L Nallet, J Thion, T Dusautoir, S Chabal, I Harinordoquy.

Replacements: F Fritz for Bastareaud (46), D Traille for Trinh-Duc (46), S Tillous-Borde for Parra (59), T Domingo for Faure (51), B Kayser for Szarzewski (59), J Bonnaire for Thion (46), L Picamoles for Harinordoquy (68).

Referee: S Dickinson (Australia).