England beat spirited French outfit
England recorded a 32-18 victory over a spirited French outfit in front of nearly 17,000 fans in Avignon this evening.
The English started the brighter after an early 40/20 from Kevin Sinfield provided excellent field position to mount an attack which they took full advantage of with Ryan Hall touching down out wide.
The hosts hit back and took the lead through a converted try on the 17th minute when Thomas Bosc grubber kicked through for Olivier Elima to touch down.
Bosc had a chance to extend the lead just before the half hour mark through a penalty kick, but his attempt just drifted wide.
England regained the lead minutes later after quick hands by Sam Tomkins saw the ball spread out to Kirk Yeaman who touched down in the corner. Sinfield adding the extras to put England 10-6 in the lead.
The visitors extended the lead further when Tom Briscoe touched down well in the corner following the ball been spread wide off the back off a penalty.
England got more points on the board before the half time break with James Roby crossing the whitewash after James Graham made a break on the last tackle before passing to the hooker to touch down. Sinfield adding the extras to put England 20-6 in the lead at the break.
Briscoe grabbed his second try of the evening just before the 50 minute mark when he raced down the left hand side touch line to score out wide. Sinfield adding the extras to extend the lead to 26-6.
Jack Reed scored the try of the game on the 67th minute after a length of the field effort stemming from Gareth Widdop breaking near his own line to pass to Reed who raced down the touch line past the French defence to score under the sticks.
The French hit back three minutes later through Eloi Pelissier when the Frenchman produced a neat dummy from a penalty and dived over the whitewash for the four-pointer. Bosc slotting over the conversion.
The hosts scored again minutes later and had the final say when Vincent Duport ran hard onto a Chisholm short pass to sprint 60 metres to touch down, beating Widdop in the process. Bosc again adding the conversion to leave the full time score at 32-18 to England.
Stacul, Vaccari, Baile, Pala, Duport, Bosc, Chisholm, Ferriol, Mounis, Casty, Elima, Gossard, Baiteiri
Subs: Pelissier, Fakie, Simon, Raguin
Tries: Duport, Elima, Pelissier
Goals: Bosc (3)
Tomkins, Hall, Reed, Yeaman, Briscoe, Sinfield, Chase, Peacock, Roby, Graham, Ellis, Westwood, Heighington
Subs: Widdop, Morley, Jones-Buchanan, Wilkin
Tries: Roby, Hall, Reed, Briscoe (2), Yeaman
Goals: Sinfield (4)
