Robinson and his troops flunk French test
The odds on a French victory in the 2006 Six Nations shortened dramatically in Paris on Sunday as Les Bleus recorded a comprehensive 31-6 victory over England courtesy of a cultured and controlled performance that left the English rooted to the spot like so many oaks.
Worcester scrum-half Andy Gomarsall caught an early morning flight to France after Matt Dawson awoke feeling less then himself. But at least he woke up. The rest of his team-mates slept-walked into "Le Crunch" and were 10 points to the bad after just five minutes of play.
The English never recovered from their poor start and were guilty of making careless mistakes, skewing clearances, dropping balls and conceding penalties.
Despite bags of possession and more huff and puff than a pack of Big Bad Wolves, the visitors never once manage to penetrate the well-marshalled French lines.
France scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili added the kicks following Florian Fritz's try in the opening minute of the game and France had opened a 16-3 lead before Damien Traille and Christophe Dominici rounded off the victory with second-half tries.
All England could manage was two penalties -- one from Charlie Hodgson and one from his second-half replacement, Andy Goode.
The defeat, England's seventh in 14 Six Nations starts since winning the World Cup in 2003, equals their worst margin of defeat against France, having lost by 25 points in Paris 34 years ago.
Late in the second half, France lock Lionel Nallet, on as a replacement for Fabien Pelous, got the ball under pressure. He did a little dart and shuffle and was pulled down.
It was a tiny moment in the match and probably of no consequence except that in that little moment he looked livelier and brighter than either of the big English centres looked in the match. It may just be here -- in skill sacrificed for muscularity -- that England lost the match.
Any line-breaks and any creative skill came from the French. England did well enough at getting possession and in territory but they at no stage did they look like scoring a try. They had a five-metre line-out and that was stillborn as Lewis Moody caught the ball and instead of the traditional English maul they had Martin Corry peeling round the front and getting thumped.
French defence was excellent and they used the rush defence system which produced an intercept try.
All the real line-breaks came from France with breaks by Thomas Lièvremont, Frédéric Michalak, Thomas Castaignède and Yannick Nyanga in the first half and Michalak, Castaignède, Florian Fritz and Damien Traille (twice) in the second half.
The French wings, Aurélien Rougerie more than Christophe Dominic, got passes while the English wings had to be content in trying to run back French kicks.
Some of the English handling was poor, notably in France's first and third tries.
England missed a penalty kick at goal, while France missed two penalty kicks at goal and two drop attempts that were distinctly goalable. Goaled, they would have made the score huge, even more humiliating for the English than it was.
England acknowledged its parlous state at the break. Charlie Hodgson did not reappear in the second half, a tough departure for the pivot who has spent so much of his career in the shadow of Jonny Wilkinson and was getting his first chance to play against France in Paris.
Andy Goode came on his place, and nothing improved for England, even if Goode scored the first points of the second half with a penalty goal when Olivier Magne was penalised for deliberately knocking on, the third penalty he had conceded of six against France up until that point.
Other fresh troops were thrown in -- Harry Ellis and Tom Voyce -- were on eagerly in the second half. And with 20 minutes to go Lee Mears, Andy Sheridan and Lawrence Dallaglio were on -- and nothing improved for England. They lost the first half 16-3, the second 15-3.
All of that said, in the intensity of the match, the muscularity of the confrontation, the determination of the defences, all three of France's tries came from English error.
The first came after just 41 seconds of first whistle.
From well within his own half, Michalak hoisted a high kick down the middle of the field towards the England 22 where Jamie Noon and Josh Lewsey contrived to miss the ball entirely. Damien Traille was there to snap it up and pass to Florian Fritz in his right and the big centre raced over for a simple try, which Dimitri Yachvili converted. 7-0 after 41 seconds!
There were two in the second half. The first came at a scrum near the half-way line and near the touch-line on France's right. England were penalised and Yachvili tapped and darted. Out the ball went to Traille who forged ahead before kicking at the goal-line. Back for it were Ellis and Mark Cueto. Haring after it and just behind the English duo was Fritz. The trio dived at the ball -- and missed it! But Traille was on hand to gather and plunge over for the try. Yachvili's conversion hit the upright and stayed out.
The third try came at the death. Andy Goode threw a long pass to his left -- straight to Christophe Dominici who was somewhere in midfield. The French left-wing caught the ball, accelerated and then dropped to a grinning jog, looking around as he dawdled towards the posts, ending it with a dive for the try.
Lièvremont acknowledged his team-mate's score with a little Parisian mime, knocking imaginary nails into an all too real English coffin -- it was all over.
The surprise of the half-time score is that England were only 13 points behind, for most of the half belonged to France.
Following Fritz's early score, Joe Worsley was penalised for holding on at a tackle and Yachvili made it 10-0.
After Yachvili had missed a penalty and Michalak a drop, England made a foray into French territory. Lièvremont was penalised for an air tackle in a line-out but Charlie Hodgson's kick hit the upright and stayed out.
Yachvili then made it 16-0 when Matt Dawson was penalised.
Just before half-time England mounted their best attack of the match when Matt Stevens barged some headway in the middle and then, going left, Hodgson grubbered towards the French line. Castaignède gathered but Jamie Noon tackled him into touch for a five-metre line-out to England.
After Corry had been stopped at the ensuing maul, England went right, Magne was penalised for being off-side and Hodgson goaled the simplest of kicks.
Voyce's entry into the match was far from auspicious. He dropped the first ball kicked to him and then was penalised for holding on. Yachvili missed the kick at goal.
Michalak then kicked a bomb and Lewsey -- nothing like as secure as Castaignède under the high ball -- knocked on straight to replacement hooker Dimitri Szarzewski who ploughed ahead. Fritz carried it on but Jérôme Thion knocked on five metres from the line. That gave England a tough scrum five metres from their own line. The scrum was reset four times until France were penalised when Szarzewski collapsed.
Throughout the match, the French scrums had had no problems but England's were unhappy, regularly reset.
In seven England scrums there were eight resets and three penalties. Martin Corry, who played the whole match this time as Dallaglio replaced Worsley, had regular conversations with the referee about France's scrummaging methods.
But Corry's consternation was probably down to more than just France's tactics at the scrum. Les Bleus now have a third Six Nations title in five years in their sights while the English trudge home to pick over the pieces of another failed campaign.
England can still win the Six Nations title by thrashing Ireland on Saturday after hearing news of a Welsh victory over France in Cardiff -- but that is highly unlikely on this evidence. France have their tails up and they are strutting towards the silverware.
Man of the Match: It was not a good match for England -- too clumsy and error-ridden, which may mean that the players were too tense. For France there were several players who caught the eye -- athletic Yannick Nyanga, busy Raphaël Ibañez, lively Dimitri Yachvili, forceful Florian Fritz and dominant Damien Traille. But our man of the match was that mixture of genius and courage, Thomas Castaignède, who gave the match its electricity.
Moment of the match: That start for Florian Fritz's try which was the forerunner of things to come -- English bungling and France's light-footed enthusiasm.
Villain of the Match: Tense though it was, the manners were good.
The scorers:
For France:
Tries: Fritz, Traille, Dominici
Cons: Yachvili 2
Pens: Yachvili 4
For England:
Pens: Hodgson, Goode
The teams:
France: 15 Thomas Castaignède, 14 Aurelien Rougerie, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Damien Traille (Ludovic Valbon, 76), 11 Christophe Dominici, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Thomas Lièvremont, 7 Olivier Magne (Julien Bonnaire, 58), 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Fabien Pelous (Lionel Nallet, 66), 3 Pieter de Villiers (Olivier Milloud, 51),, 2 Raphaël Ibañez (Dimitri Szarzewski, 60), 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Unused replacements: 20 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 22 Cédric Heymans.
England: 15 Josh Lewsey, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Mike Tindall (Tom Voyce, 58), 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Charlie Hodgson (Andy Goode, 40), 9 Matt Dawson (Harry Ellis, 58), 8 Martin Corry, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Joe Worsley (Lawrence Dallaglio, 62), 5 Danny Grewcock (Simon Shaw, 71), 4 Steve Borthwick, 3 Julian White, 2 Steve Thompson (Lee Mears, 61), 1 Matt Stevens (Andy Sheridan, 61).
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Alan Lewis, Nigel Owens (Wales)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
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