England 42 France 18: Leeds Rhinos man impresses for French but hosts grab second RLWC2021 win

Having led by only six points at the break, England controlled the final 40 minutes in what was, for the most part, another good performance following the round one rout of Samoa.

The 42-18 win doesn’t mathematically guarantee England’s appearance in the knock-out phase, but with Greece to play next they will finish top of the table and probably face Papua New Guinea in the last-eight.

England made an excellent start, went 18-0 ahead after as many minutes and were totally dominant for almost half an hour, but France, to their credit, worked their way back into the game.

Leeds Rhinos signing Justin Sangare played a big part in that, the prop coming off the bench and getting les Chanticleers on the front foot with a series of strong runs, one of which led directly to France’s second try.

Unfortunately for Sangare’s future teammate Mikolaj Oledzki, his introduction coincided with England losing their way, though that wasn’t his fault.

Oledki had a 30 minute spell either side of half-time a second spell later on and was solid without doing anything spectacular.

France took advantage of a slice of luck for their opening try and an England error before the second, as well as a run of six-agains.

Television pictures from the changing room suggested Wane was far from happy at the break and England responded to his encouragement by adding four tries before France’s late consolation.

A concern for England was the loss of Kallum Watkins, the former Rhinos captain, who was hurt early in the second half. The stretcher came out, but he managed to walk off after lengthy treatment.

Hull KR’s ex-Leeds winger Ryan Hall scored England’s first two tries as they went 12-0 ahead inside 13 minutes. His 36th England touchdown was a walk-in from Marc Sneyd’s pass after France had failed to deal with George Wiillaims’ high kick.

The 37th came after England turned down an easy two points from a penalty and Sneyd and Herbie Farnsworth linked to send Hall sliding over. That was England’s only penalty of the game. France received five, all in the second half.

England looked set for a big half-time lead when, after 24 minutes, Victor Radley broke through the middle, off a quick play-the-ball by Oledzki and Luke Thompson was in support to go between the posts, but they lost their way for a spell after that.

It was 27 minutes before France had a play-the-ball in England’s half and that came on the back of successive set restarts. There was an element of fortune involved, but France made the most of it as Arthur Mourgue’s kick rebounded in goal off Sneyd and the standoff ran through to touch down.

Just six minutes later, Sangare was tackled just short on the last, but Herbie Farnworth lost possession in the next set, in Benjamin Garcia’s tackle, the new Leeds signing forced his way to the line again and Eloi Pelissier ducked through from acting-half.

Mourgue converted both and suddenly there was six points between the sides and while England didn’t exactly look rattled, they knew they had a game on their hands.

That was a test and England passed in good style. The hosts started the second period in similar fashion to the first, extending their lead to 18 points within 10 minutes and the result from then on was never in doubt.

Just four minutes in John Bateman split the defence and his pass - which looked forward - sent Elliott Whitehead over for his third try of the tournament.

Then Andy Ackers, who had missed the tackle on Pelissier, atoned for his defensive error with a grubber behind the defence which Radley touched down.

Bateman and substitute Jack Welsby carved out a try for Dom Young, who is emerging as one of the tournament’s breakout stars.

The winger completed his second brace in as many games with a length of the field interception - from Pelissier - and Sneyd landed his seventh conversion - but England made some errors after that.

Though France were never really in the game after the interval, they did grab the final try, through Arthur Romano from Tony Gigot’s pass, Mourgue converting.

They should have had another, but Samisoni Langi didn’t ground Mourgue’s grubber and the on-field decision of try was overruled. England finished with 12 men on the field after Tom Burgess was sin-binned following a skirmish.

The crowd of 23,648 at Bolton was the highest for a game between England and France in this country.

England: Tomkins, Young, Watkins, Farnworth, Hall, Sneyd, Williams, Burgess, McIlorum, Hill, Whitehead, Bateman, Radley. Subs Welsby, Oledzki, Thompson, Ackers.

France: Escaree, Romano, Langi, Jullien, Laguerre, Morgue, Gigot, Dazaria, Da Costa, Blemas, Goudemand, Seguier, Garcia. Subs Pelissier, Sanare, Springer, Le Cam.

Referee: Gerard Sutton (Australia).

Attendance: 23,648