Yachvili's boot trumps two tries from the hosts
What a thriller! What a sea change! The boot beat the tries at Twickenham, and this time it was not the boot of Jonny Wilkinson but the boot of Dimitri Yachvili that gave France an unexpected 18-17 Six Nations victory at Twickenham after England's had led 17-6 at half-time.
The narrow victory kept France on course to retain their Six Nations title, setting up fascinating encounters with Ireland and Wales.
At half-time France were rudderlessadrift and heading for the rocks of defeat. Then in the second half coach Bernard Laporte made three changes and France burst into life. Gone was hesitance and gone was the ill-discipline that conceded many penalties.
In the first half France were penalised eight times to six. In the second half France were penalised three times to seven.
England scored two wonderful tries but the penalty kicks were wayward. In all they missed six penalties. With three minutes to go and France leading 18-17 England had a five-metre scrum after Jamie Noon had forced Christophe Dominici's to carry over. England bashed Charlie Hodgson to a comfortable position in front of the posts but his drop-kick attempt was not near.
As time ran out, England were back near the French line after Jason Robinson had kicked long to his left, but France won the line-out and Yachvili, the man with the Midas boot, slapped a kick into touch, and the final whistle went -- to set the French cheering, dancing, hugging and singing.
It had rained all over Britain -- heavy rain with nasty winds -- and Twickenham barely disguised its muddy base. Divots came loose and players' garb was soon blackened.
One would then expect a match of many stoppages but in the first half there were only five scrums and 11 line-outs. Much of this was thanks to the positive enthusiasm of the England side. The forwards got stuck in, the kicking was clever and the attempts to play with the backs creative.
France had little of the half as their hands were shaky and their defence wonky. Without Serge Betsen they would have made precious few tackles. A one-tackler team? That one tackler certainly had the deadly measure of Jason Robinson.
If England's goal kicking had been better they would have been even further ahead at the break than their encouraging 17-6 lead. Charlie Hodgson and Olly Barkley each missed two penalty kicks at goal.
France got the first score. Betsen won a turnover and Jimmy Marlu chased a long grubber. Mark Cueto, not far from his goal-line, hung on. Dimitri Yachvili goaled from an awkward angle.
England kept charging, changing angles, looking for chances. Ben Kay had a great charge and then England got a try.
They got scruffy ball from a scrum but Jamie Moon came in for a short pass and burst clean through. He drew Pépito Elhorga and gave Barkley a straight run to the posts. Hodgson converted. 7-3 to England after 20 minutes.
Yachvili missed scoring from a long kick when it bounced off an upright, but when Damien Traille was penalised at a tackle, Hodgson made it 10-3. Yachvili goaled when England were penalised for a harsh obstruction. 10-6.
England bashed and bashed and bashed on the left. Then they went wide on the right and back on the left where Josh Lewsey cut and swerved and scored. Hodgson converted. 17-6 after 36 minutes.
The first change for France in the second half was a debutant -- Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, a burly three-quarter who came on for injured Jimmy Marlu. France did all sorts of shuffling. Grandclaude went to centre, Damien Traille to fullback and Elhorga, who had looked rickety, to left-wing. And then they brought on Frédéric Michalak and had a lively flyhalf who varied play and passed the rugby ball instead of one who stood back and either kicked or flung the rugby ball.
Then came the three effective substitutions and suddenly William Servat, on for stodgy Sébastien Bruno, charged with a purpose. Suddenly France had life, but it was not the life that ever looked like giving birth to a try, not against England's watertight defence.
Instead it was the left boot of Yachvili that brought them higher, higher -- and over.
When Lewis Moody held on, Yachvili made it 17-9. When Moody used hands at tackle time, Yachvili made it 17-12. When Moody, went off-side at a poor kick by Harry Ellis, Yachvili made it 17-15.
Just after that Yachvili tried one from the half-way line when Robinson held on. The kick rose high and true but dropped just under the bar, and a lot of Twickenham said "Whew"!
Then England were penalised at a maul when Graham Rowntree went in at the side, not an easy kick on Yachvili's right and 37 metres out and wide, but the kick was true, and France led 18-17 with 11 hectic, frantic minutes still to play.
Man of the Match: Has any player ever in the history of the game tackled more often and more effectively than Serge Betsen did on Sunday? But our man-of-the-match has to be Dimitri Yachvili of the cool boot -- the scrum-half who did not get a starting place the week before.
Monument of the Match: There was Jaime Noon's sharp break for Olly Barkley's try but probably the moment -- cruel as it may seem -- was the missed dropped goal with three minutes to go.
Villain of the Match: Nobody really. In a match of such intensity nobody has time to be nasty, though Martin Corry, for a charge on Pépito Elhorga after the whistle for a mark, and Elhorga himself for throwing the ball into touch were perhaps fortunate to avoid spending time watching rather than playing.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Barkley, Lewsey
Cons: Hodgson 2
Pen: Hodgson
For France:
Pens: Yachili 6
The teams:
England: 15 Jason Robinson, 14 Mark Cueto (Ben Cohen, 70), 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Josh Lewsey, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Harry Ellis (Matt Dawson, 73), 8 Martin Corry (Andy Hazell, 61-67), 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Danny Grewcock, 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Graham Rowntree.
Unused replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Andy Sheridan, 18 Steve Borthwick, 21 Henry Paul.
France: 15 Pépito Elhorga, 14 Christophe Dominici, 13 Damien Traille, 12 Brian Liebenberg, 11 Jimmy Marlu (Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, 43), 10 Yann Delaigue (Frédéric Michalak, 67), 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Sébastien Chabal (Yannick Nyanga, 49), 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Fabien Pelous (Grégory Lamboley, 80), 3 Nicolas Mas (Olivier Milloud, 49), 2 Sébastien Bruno (William Servat, 49), 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Unused replacements: 20 Pierre Mignoni.
Referee: Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Assessor: Jim Bailey (Wales)
Television match official: Huw Watkins (Wales)
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