Impressive England crush sorry France 56-8 in Toulouse
Leon Pryce was the star of the show for England
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Friday, 27, Jun 2008 10:17
A rampant England ran in 10 tries, including a hat-trick from Martin Gleeson, to destroy France 56-8 in Toulouse this evening.
England got off to a horrendous start as some big gaps in their defence allowed Lezignan player-coach James Wynne to waltz through to score a try for France. Thomas Bosc added the extras as the French took a 6-0 lead.
The try seemed to wake England up and with Leon Pryce dictating the play from stand-off they looked threatening every time they had the ball in their hands.
Debutant winger Peter Fox and Sam Burgess were denied tries by the video referee, before Pryce got England on the score-sheet.
Leeds skipper Kevin Sinfield brilliantly side-stepped two French defenders before off-loading the ball to James Roby who raced towards the try-line before passing to Pryce to ease home. Sinfield converted to bring England level.
Gleeson then grabbed the first of his three tries as England took advantage of a number of dummy runners before finding the Warrington star on the right-wing and he completed the try. Sinfield failed with his kick this time.
The French made it 10-8 through a Bosc penalty, but it was all one-way traffic from there on in as England found their try-scoring boots.
Maurie Fa'asavalu gave England a 16-8 half-time lead as he was on the receiving end of a superb inside pass from Sinfield which allowed him to score the try.
France tired badly in the second-half and England took full advantage running in another seven tries, the best of which came from veteran star Keith Senior.
The try-scoring move started underneath England's posts as Ade Gardner ran the ball out of the try area. Pryce then took over as his majestic side-step fooled the French defence and he passed to Senior who had a free run to the try-line from 30 yards.
Further tries from Fox, Jon Wilkin, Danny McGuire, Paul Wellens and another couple from Gleeson completed a comfortable win for England.