They held on to the end in the most epic game of this season’s Six Nations. When the final whistle blew on a very extraordinary and vivid spectacle in Lyon, France were in second place in the final table, with England further down the table, but in truth it was a relatively trivial matter. It felt like. What mattered was the quality of entertainment provided by both sides, who completely refused to bend the knee.
Let’s put aside for a moment the fact that this year’s Six Nations trophy belongs to Ireland. The most scintillating performance in his last two rounds came from an England side who once again did much to restore the confidence of their supporters. This time, they made a spectacular comeback from trailing 16-3 after 37 minutes, but although it wasn’t their fourth win in five games, it was another game that showed they were definitely improving. .
Tommy Freeman’s try and George Ford’s conversion on the touchline seemed to have won the day, but Tomas Ramos converted a 50-metre penalty at the death to open the scoring. But before that, Steve Borthwick’s side looked like they were on the verge of becoming something special after Ollie Lawrence’s second of two tries and Marcus Smith’s incredible score.
Instead, it was France who clinched the decisive victory with Gael Fickou’s try in the 59th minute. Scrum-half Nolan Le Garrec provided the assist, adding to his own eye-catching first-half try and Ramos’ killer shot.talk about Le Crunch It really crackled. England will point to the disruption caused by the early loss of George Furbank, but France were hardly noticed by a team that fought their way through the early stages slowly. Likewise, there were times when they were on the verge of complete exhaustion.
England don’t often win the final game of a Six Nations season, having won just once in the last seven campaigns, against Italy in 2020. I’m also not feeling much joy these days about France, who we inflicted a record-breaking 53-10 defeat on at Twickenham this time last year. But in the gastronomic capital of France, England was hungry for revenge, and the result was a delicious match.
Lyon’s would-be trainers were unable to summon their new lucky charm, Rag’n’Bone Man, this time, with the exciting Immanuel Fay-Waboso also unable to provide further impetus. They also had to deal with a home crowd whose rendition of La Marseillaise before kickoff was as enthusiastic as any song heard in this year’s tournament.
France started like a speeding TGV, with Fickou passing the ball backwards through his legs and creating a nice flow down the left touchline. England fought off most of their close calls, but also had a few ferocious charges thwarted by the giant home forwards.
A little more precision would have certainly led to an early goal, and when a clearly disappointed Firbank was sent off within eight minutes, England had to bring on occasional full-back Marcus Smith. There wasn’t. So he was quite relieved when Ford took every second he had to take a brilliant penalty after the scrum broke down.
Helter Skelter games have waxed and waned. Le Crunch There is a tendency toEngland’s last beat Les Bleus This tournament was held in France in 2016, and surprisingly, seven Red Roses who survived the contest were registered on the team sheet.
But it was France’s youthful exuberance that led to the first try of the match. An absolutely incredible goal for the team score from 75 meters out, by the genius Le Garrec from start to finish, and young full-back Leo Barre casually scoring the winning left-handed goal. . Off-road.
The need for England’s response was clear and urgent, but instead it quickly turned into a state of panic again. A turnover deep in the French 22 caused Damien Penault to take a long shot, and although Smith sprinted to recover the ball, he conceded a 5-metre scrum in the process.
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France could not fully gain the advantage, but England became increasingly persistent. Charles Ollivon’s furious line break could have easily earned them another try, but Ramos’ three points later cut the team’s lead to 10 points. The big hope for the visitors was that their opponents might not be able to maintain that blistering pace.
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Ramos scored another deadly 50-metre accurate penalty to make it 16-3, but England bounced back from the night before thanks to Lawrence between the interval, who smashed his way past Fickoe’s tackle and went wide of the post. , with Ford converting easily. This means England have been behind at half-time in every game in this competition, the first time this has happened since the early 1970s.
It didn’t really matter in the end against Italy, Wales and Ireland. However, first half statistics showed that England missed 25 tackles and France only conceded three penalties.This sums up the host’s physical impact and smarter decision-making around the ruck, although rugby matches are notorious for being played for over 80 minutes.
Sure enough, it was England who attacked with the swiftness of a rattlesnake after the break, not once but twice. After first Lawrence stretched out to score his second goal, Ben Earl then made a furious break, giving Smith a chance to finish somehow. Suddenly England were 24-16 and France’s legs seemed to disappear. Will they recover? Will they be able to recover? The answer, surprisingly, was “yes.”
