By K
February 6 2017

  Well what can you say about that match?  I rather think Eddie Jones summed it up.......... 'Winning Ugly'  And my goodness it was ugly!.....  But a  record breaking 15th victory in a row to boot!

England never really seemed to settle into their game and to be honest I thought they all looked a bit jaded.  Maybe too much training perhaps and just passed their peak, I don't know what, other than they were a mess.   Have you ever seen a line out at International level were the ball thrown in is bouncing off a player's shoulder?  The only thing I can think of was that Dylan Hartley had started his throw and if he had stopped it would have been a double movement, even so it was one heck of a risk to take.

To be fair to the French they really turned up to play and the size of some of their players...........wow they were huge.  Normally the French are swift and slight but this current batch are juggernauts.  It will be interesting to see how the other home nation sides get on with this French squad.

Both teams traded penalties in the first half going in 9 v 9.   I thought Farrell lived up to his billing along with Daly, who is just an amazing meteoric kicker of the long distance penalty.

The second half came to life with Rabah Slimani (59) scoring a try for the French and Camille Lopez converting.  England at last seemed to gain some urgency and Daly went in for a try but it was disallowed as his foot had gone into touch.

England's Elliot Daly scores a try which is disallowed

I really thought Ford, Wood and Ijote were off the pace today and Youngs looked tired not a s crisp as we have seen him be.     When the bench replacements came on, the match moved up a gear, Haskell as usual was immense and in the 70th minute Ben Te'o  went over for his first try in a

England's Ben Teo scores a try during the RBS 6 Nations match at Twickenham -All Pictures Empics

England managed to hold the French but that was a very tough match and can you believe the stats.,  below for Metres Made!!........... the French were really putting in a shift on Saturday.

England Meters Made: Mike Brown 97, Nathan Hughes 45, Jonny May 43 

French Meters Made:Scott Spedding 126,Virimi Vakatawa 126, Louis Picamoles 122

England: Brown; May, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, Youngs; Marler, Hartley, Cole, Launchbury, Lawes, Itoje, Wood, Hughes. Replacements: Te'o for Ford (69), Care for Youngs (66), Mullan for Marler (66), George for Hartley (55), Haskell for Launchbury (64), Nowell for Joseph (69)

Not Used: Sinckler, Harrison    Sin Bin: May (13).

France: Spedding; Nakaitaci, Lamerat, Fickou, Vakatawa; Lopez, Serin; Baille, Guirado, Atonio, Vahaamahina, Maestri, Chouly, Gourdon, Picamoles.  Replacements: Huget for Lamerat (72), Doussain for Lopez (72), Machenaud for Serin (57), Slimani for Baille (46), Maynadier for Guirado (72), Chiocci for Atonio (46), Iturria for Vahaamahina (72), Goujon for Chouly (64).