France dominates England in the 2023 Six Nations

Ollie Lawrence improves England’s performance

Whoever wears No 10 for England, they will perform better with Ollie Lawrence outside them. Eddie Jones has shown how he can make a team perform at the World Cup but Kiwi pundits aren’t convinced he has the talent in his player pool to field an XV capable of World Cup heroics.

A highly anticipated match

No matter what the fortunes of either side going into it, England-France in the Guinness Six Nations is always a highly anticipated, muscular affair and this contest was no different. England coach Steve Borthwick had made a bold decision by starting Marcus Smith ahead of experienced fly-half Owen Farrell, who started on the bench. Meanwhile, Les Bleus were looking to end their long drought at Twickenham, having not won there in well over a decade.

France dominates England

Yet it was England who looked like the away side here, with France paddling Borthwick’s men in what was very much a case of men against boys in Twickenham. Worryingly bad from England and frighteningly good at times from France.

Player ratings

15 Thomas Ramos – 7.5. Showed decent gas to bag his opening try, his third of the Six Nations.

14 Damian Penaud – 8. Showed his mettle in the frequent high-stakes kicking battles that littered the first half.

13 Gael Fickou – 7.5. Hit some sweet lines in attack.

12 Jonathan Danty – 8.5. Showed a Manu Tuilagi-like ability to consistently break the gain line for France.

11 Ethan Dumortier – 7. Brilliant timing to put Ramos away for France’s first try.

10 Romain Ntamack – 8. Magnificent.

9 Antoine Dupont – 8.5. Still by some distance the best player on the planet.

1 Cyril Baille – 7.5. Used as an effective carry option twice in the opening three minutes.

2 Julien Marchand – 7.5. Got through a mountain of work with very little by way of errors.

3 Dorian Aldegheri – 8. Monstered Ellis Genge on 40 minutes which directly lead to Ollivon’s try.

4 Thibaud Flament – 8.5. His second was a testament to his work ethic, even if it was opportunistic.

5 Paul Willemse – 7. His most convincing performance of the campaign to date.

6 Francois Cros – 7. Brought meaningful value in contact.

7 Charles Ollivon – 8. Did brilliantly at the less glamorous stuff.

8 Gregory Alldritt – 9. A return to form for Alldritt, who hadn’t heretofore hit the heights in 2023. A phenomenal shift.

The French bench didn’t have much to do with the game decided early in the second half. Sipili Faletea’s star turn two weekends ago wasn’t quite followed up here, with Genge getting into him at the setpiece. Romain Taofifenua and Peato Mauvaka were impressive, while Moefana struggled to make an impact.

Credit: https://www.rugbypass.com/news/france-player-rating-vs-england-2023-guinness-six-nations/

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