[2025 Six Nations] England vs France - 08/02/25

[Which Tyler]

Certainly, throwing himself in front of Mitchell's pass. I had that on Mitchell for picking the wrong person, should have gone out the back as Smith had the defenders eyes on him

I had it on both of them.
Marcus went too early, which means the Mitchell shouldn't have sent the ball to him.

What we don't know is what was being shouted from the rest of the team - if Marcus is shouting for the ball as well, and/or Maro is calling "one out", then Mitchell would need superhuman confidence to give the ball elsewhere. Equally, if Marcus was silent, and the shout was "pull back", then he should have looked for someone else - plenty of players were arriving at pace from deep.

 

[HamJan]

For all this celebrating I can't help but feel we're gonna get beat by Gatland's Wales. We're going to be that team that has a shocker

Yeah let's not enjoy the moment, let's just enjoy the thought of future misery

 

[HamJan]

France undeniably left about 26 points out there by dropping the ball and missing kicks, but England still scored 4 tries and put to bed the 'last 20' hoodoo for the day.

Tight 5 stood up well against some huge opponents. T. Curry in particular was monstrous. Willis was good and Earl too. Mitchell and FSmith looked in control. Lawrence was good again (except when he kicked possession away with 3 minutes to go).

definitely worried that it'll be back to the drawing board after getting humped by

France undeniably left about 26 points out there by dropping the ball and missing kicks, but England still scored 4 tries and put to bed the 'last 20' hoodoo for the day.

Tight 5 stood up well against some huge opponents. T. Curry in particular was monstrous. Willis was good and Earl too. Mitchell and FSmith looked in control. Lawrence was good again (except when he kicked possession away with 3 minutes to go).

definitely worried that it'll be back to the drawing board after getting humped by Scotland though.

Can you not enjoy the moment?

 

[duncanb]

Taking the win.
Bad points first.
Line out a disaster most of the time..
Biting in on defense.
On a dry fast track mistakes probably aren't going to happen.
Good points.
Whole 80 minute game.
Players doing a tad of improvisation.
Try scoring.
Mitchell back to fitness.
Lawrence doing what he dies best.
Balance in back row.
Curry being curry.
Subs mostly at right time bar LCD on few mins to long.
A utility player if your 6 2 on bench.
Plenty to work on but everyone bar opponents would take this result including all others in 6 n.

 

[higgik]

Disagree about the attack. We scored 4 tries. I think as Fin Smith grew in confidence he really started to get England going.

Defence for me was the issue, we bite in too much and give teams far too much space outside our defence which is narrow.

Also disagree about Marcus looking comfortable. He wasn't terrible, but wasn't great either.

But the 4 tries were not well created.
1 was a loose pass that confused the defence, 1 was a short drive of a ruck, 1 kick chase with only the last actually a constructed attacking try.

 

[Duck a l'Orange]

Scrum halves dont score that highly in fantasy rugby. None of the scoring categories suit their strengths.

I agree, but thought Dupont would be an exception. Assists and tries galore usually.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

But the 4 tries were not well created.

jesus christ, aren't we picky today? Take the bloody points!

Jokes aside, they were not properly planned, true, but this aint chess. Improvisation, adaptation and exploiting your oponent's mistakes at key moments is part of the game. A wonderful play with one weak link might result in 0 points while a boring as ****, predictable, repetitive and tedious one might end up giving you 5 points on the board.

You know what the best and the worst tries from this game have in common? They are both worth 5 points.
Take the bloody win!

 

[Geordie]

How many tackles did Willis get.. apparently it's very high.

What's the best site for seeing game stats , tackles, carries etc?

 

[Reiser99]

This is usually pretty good for me.

England vs France - Match Statistics - Six Nations 2025 - 8 Feb, 2025 - ESPN

Get a summary of the England vs France, Six Nations 2025 8 Feb, 2025 rugby match.

www.espn.co.uk

 

[Toulousain ex French fan]

Galthié joins the chopping block?

In a normal world yes, in the FFR time warp, prob not. The union reward failure so well…Just look at the way he was kept in the job after the WC 1/4 final exit. With two more games on the road, the slope is going to get slippier. Let's hear the excuses…

 

[Geordie]

This is usually pretty good for me.

England vs France - Match Statistics - Six Nations 2025 - 8 Feb, 2025 - ESPN

Get a summary of the England vs France, Six Nations 2025 8 Feb, 2025 rugby match.

www.espn.co.uk

Thanks very much.

Aw I thought Willis had an excellent game...16 tackles...

 

[IT157]

They both took a deal to only be the second best Irish player / European 10 of the pro era to look young forever.

Didn't realise you were such a big Ronan O'Gara fan.

 

[duncanb]

In a normal world yes, in the FFR time warp, prob not. The union reward failure so well…Just look at the way he was kept in the job after the WC 1/4 final exit. With two more games on the road, the slope is going to get slippier. Let's hear the excuses…

Could well agree.
Today it was 2 .
1.mostly by players.
2.Dupont was clearly worst back on pitch (usually never this).A proper 10 would have manged last 4 mins so a management mistake in substitute.

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Congratulations England. You took your chances and eventually won.

 

[IT157]

Penaud 4/10? Same bloke who scored one try and made at least one other? Blimey.

That feels a like a 4 out of 10 game for him, but it is really a 7 in the real world.

edit. okay he got a 6 which makes more sense

 

[Jimbo]

Really struggling with the negativity, England not creating, FFS how many of the best teams scores come from off the cuff stuff (ironically many of France's) sure some off training park set piece scores are lovely but It's not how SA won back to back WCs, it's just being bloody negative for negatives sake….:

 

[Becca]

Well, I'm just pleased we won !

 

[IT157]

Really struggling with the negativity, England not creating, FFS how many of the best teams scores come from off the cuff stuff (ironically many of France's) sure some off training park set piece scores are lovely but It's not how SA won back to back WCs, it's just being bloody negative for negatives sake….:

We could win the World Cup and Grand Slam in the same year, and I'm sure there would be some poster complaining that we kicked too much against Italy....

 

[Wasps92]

But the 4 tries were not well created.
1 was a loose pass that confused the defence, 1 was a short drive of a ruck, 1 kick chase with only the last actually a constructed attacking try.

Oh ******* get a grip man. Honestly some people are never happy. Must be a miserable ******* existence.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

England fans:

England fans: