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Official England vs France Match Thread

Welcome to the Official 'Le Crunch' Match Thread

RBS Six Nations Venue: Twickenham Date: Saturday, 23 February Kick-off: 5pm

England 23-13 France

TEAM LINE-UPS

England : 15-Alex Goode, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Manu Tuilagi, 12-Brad Barritt, 11-Mike Brown, 10-Owen Farrell, 9-Ben Youngs; 1-Joe Marler, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Joe Launchbury, 5-Geoff Parling, 6-Courtney Lawes, 7-Chris Robshaw (captain), 8-Tom Wood.

Replacements: 16-Tom Youngs, 17-Dave Wilson, 18-Mako Vunipola, 19-James Haskell, 20-Thomas Waldron, 21-Danny Care, 22-Toby Flood, 23-Billy Twelvetreees.

France : 15-Yoann Huget, 14-Vincent Clerc, 13-Mathieu Bastareaud, 12-Wesley Fofana, 11-Benjamin Fall, 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Morgan Parra; 1-Thomas Domingo, 2-Benjamin Kayser, 3-Nicolas Mas, 4-Christophe Samson, 5-Yoann Maestri, 6-Yannick Nyanga, 7-Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 8-Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: 16-Dimitri Szarzewski, 17-Vincent Debaty, 18-Luc Ducalcon, 19-Jocelino Suta, 20-Antonie Claassen, 21-Maxime Machenaud, 22-Frederic Michalak, 23-Florian Fritz

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee : Craig Joubert (SA)

Touch judges: John Lacey (IRE) and Leighton Hodges (WAL)

TV: Jim Yuille (SCO)

MATCH FACTS

Head 2 Head

England have won five of the last six Six Nations meetings between the teams.

France's only Six Nations win at Twickenham came in 2005 when they won 18-17.

The last time England failed to score a try against France at Twickenham was in 1999, when they won 21-10.

England

England have won six of their last seven Six Nations matches. Their only defeat was when Wales beat them 19-12 at Twickenham last season.

England have the lowest line-out success rate (77%) in the tournament so far.

The average age of England's starting XV is 24.

France

France have had their worst-ever start to a Six Nations, losing their first two games. The last time that happened was in 1982, when they lost their first three matches.

France are without a win in their last five Six Nations contests, including four straight defeats. This is their poorest losing run in the tournament since they lost six in a row between 1957-58.

Philippe Saint-Andre played three times for France at Twickenham, losing each time, although he did score tries in two of those matches, including two tries when France missed out 16-15 in 1993, and one of the all-time great Twickenham tries in 1991.

Mex's Prediction England 27-16 France

Enjoy the game and have some good banter

posted on 23/2/13

PSA's replacements cost France the possibility of a win there. Trinh-Duc was playing well and Freddy has not been playing 10 for his club so a really stupid decision.

posted on 23/2/13

Comment Deleted by Site Moderator

posted on 23/2/13

michalak gave the possession away a few times, but England were so much better with their possession than france in the final 30, I think England would have closed it out anyway tbh

posted on 23/2/13

Englands domination started when Freddy came on. Up until then it was very close and could have gone either way i feel.

posted on 23/2/13

France may still yet get the wooden spoon

posted on 23/2/13

good thread guys im off out to get pashed laterz

posted on 23/2/13

Comment Deleted by Site Moderator

posted on 23/2/13

Have a night Rave

posted on 23/2/13

his shirt looks kinda good with the blood on it and the white rose behind

posted on 23/2/13

michalak gave the possession
===================

I think I got caught between 'possession' and 'the ball' there

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