England pass French test

England kicked off the Four Nations with a 34-12 win over France - though not before they'd been given a first-half fright in Doncaster.

Tony Smith's side had to overcome a 12-4 half-time deficit at the Keepmoat Stadium after the French threatened to pull off an opening-night upset.

Richie Myler grabbed two of the home side's six tries while Kevin Sinfield also crossed, the loose forward finishing with a personal haul of 14 points.

In the end the visitors ran out of steam and their night ended on a sour note when Jean-Phillippe Baile was red-carded for a high shot on Myler.

Flattering scoreline

While the final scoreline looks healthy enough, England know there is still plenty of work to do before they face Australia and New Zealand, who play each other on Saturday night at the Twickenham Stoop, in the coming weeks.

A fresh-looking home line-up looked flat in the opening 40 minutes despite taking the lead through a try from rugby union-bound Lee Smith.

But after breaking the deadlock the hosts never built on the advantage, instead finding themselves behind when they allowed the French to cross twice in as many minutes.

Clint Greenshields set up Vincent Duport to get over in the right corner before Lionel Touxagas' interception of Scott Moore's careless pass resulted in Kane Bentley darting over from dummy-half underneath the posts.

Thomas Bosc knocked over one of his two conversion attempts and had he also been on target with a late penalty, France could have been further ahead.

The opening half was in stark contrast to the last time the two teams met - England having led 44-0 after 40 minutes of the mid-season international in Paris.

Myler, who had scored 30 points in that victory in the French capital, helped quickly erase the deficit as England managed 18 points in nine minutes.

The scrum-half, a big-money signing by Smith's Warrington, grabbed a brace from close range to help a much-improved England go ahead again.

This time they didn't have any problems hanging onto the lead, though, Peacock coming back into the action off the bench and immediately setting up his Leeds colleague Sinfield with a superb offload.

To their credit France continued to fight hard, though the longer the game wore on the more ill-disciplined they became.

Breakaway try

Ryan Hall clinched the victory for England shortly after the hour mark with a breakaway try that saw him make a length-of-the-field dash.

The Rhinos winger somehow snaked out an arm to intercept a pass next to his own line before galloping away from those trying to catch him up. Sinfield added the extras from out wide and at 28-12 the French dream had died.

England's man on the other flank, Tom Briscoe, also got his name on the scoresheet shortly before the final hooter by getting on the end of Kyle Eastmond's well-weighted grubber.

There was still time for further drama in the closing minute, though, when Baile, who had just been held up short of the try-line, delivered a clothesline to Myler that wouldn't have looked out of place in a WWE ring.

New Zealand referee Leon Williamson, who had been a busy man all night, decided to send the Catalan Dragon off, meaning France finished the contest with only 12 men on the field and having failed to muster a point after the interval.