England 44 France 8: match report and betting pointers

Result

Round two
Sunday, February 10: Twickenham

England 44 T: May 3, Slade, pen, Farrell; C: Farrell 3; P: Farrell 2
France 8 T: Penaud; P: Parra

Teams

England: E Daly (Wasps); C Ashton (Sale Sharks), H Slade (Exeter), M Tuilagi (Leicester), J May (Leicester); O Farrell (Saracens, capt), B Youngs (Leicester); M Vunipola (Saracens), J George (Saracens), K Sinckler (Harlequins), C Lawes (Northampton), G Kruis (Saracens), M Wilson (Newcastle), T Curry (Sale Sharks), B Vunipola (Saracens). Replacements: L Cowan-Dickie (Exeter), B Moon (Exeter), D Cole (Leicester), J Launchbury (Wasps), N Hughes (Wasps), D Robson (Wasps), G Ford (Leicester), J Nowell (Exeter)/

France: Y Huget (Toulouse); D Penaud (Clermont Auvergne), M Bastareaud (Toulon), G Doumayrou (La Rochelle), G Fickou (Stade Francais); C Lopez (Clermont Auvergne), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne); J Poirot (Bordeaux-Begles), G Guirado (Toulon, capt), D Bamba (Brive), S Vahaamahina (Clermont Auvergme), F Lambey (Lyon), Y Camara (Montpellier), A Iturria (Clermont Auvergne), L Picamoles (Montpellier). Replacements: P Bougarit (La Rochelle), D Priso (La Rochelle), D Aldegheri (Toulouse), P Willemse (Montpellier), G Alldritt (La Rochelle), A Dupont (Toulouse), R Ntamack (Toulouse), T Ramos (Toulouse).

Pre-match odds

1-6 England, 6 France, 33 draw.

First half

England kept up their run of blistering starts as Jonny May ran in their first try inside two minutes. That was the fifth consecutive match in which England had grabbed a try within three minutes, three of them scored by May, who had been 7-1 favourite to score first. It set the tone for a dominant display and the bonus-point try was wrapped up before half-time.

Second half

The scoring settled down after the break and England added two unanswered tries, but the intensity seemed to step up and England coach Eddie Jones will have been pleased to see his replacements showed no sign of easing up.

What they said

England coach Eddie Jones
"I think when you put yourself in a position where after 30 minutes you've got a bonus point against a top team you've done pretty well. And the second half I thought our performance was even better. Even though we didn't score as many points, our focus and our discipline to keep France scoreless was outstanding."

France coach Jacques Brunel
"England put us under pressure throughout the game and we just could not deal with it. They had an excellent kicking game and continually took advantage of the space."

Punting pointers

England meet Wales - the only other unbeaten side in the tournament - in Cardiff on Saturday, February 23, and are three-point favourites. They have been in dominant form but Wales coach Warren Gatland will be fully aware of the threat of England's kicking game and has Lions full-back Liam Williams to call on.

France paid the price for some strange selection calls, with winger Yoann Huget starting at full-back and centres Damien Penaud and Gael Fickou on the wings. Huget's positioning frequently came in for questioning and allowed the space for England to kick into. Les Bleus looked disorganised and rudderless, and Scotland will surely be gunning for a win in round three in Paris, where they are given a two-point handicap start.

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