England floor poor France

A hat-trick from centre Martin Gleeson helped England cruise to an impressive 56-8 win over France in the Gillette International in Toulouse.

On a sweltering evening at the Ernest Wallon Stadium Tony Smith's side warmed up for the World Cup in sizzling style, running in 10 tries to one in the mid-season Test.

The final score had a one-sided look but the visitors had been forced to work hard in a tight opening half that had seen the French, who included nine players from Super League's Catalans Dragons, score first.

However, with the hosts fading badly as the game wore on England turned up the heat, Gleeson leading the way with a classy treble while debutant Peter Fox also got his name amongst the scorers.

Disallowed tries

The Hull KR winger had notched one of three disallowed tries for the visitors in an opening 40 minutes that was sadly dominated by the sound of Australian referee Jason Robinson's whistle.

It was France who managed the first legitimate score of the contest when scrum-half James Wynne stepped through some weak tackling to break the deadlock early on.

That proved to be the only time England's defensive line was breached despite them having to face back-to-back sets of six on several occasions.

Smith - still yet to be beaten at international level after five matches in charge - would have been pleased at the high standard of tackling that meant Thomas Bosc's 24th minute penalty were the only other points his team conceded.

Tries from Leon Pryce, who finished off good work from Kevin Sinfield and James Roby, and Gleeson eventually put England in control and a late effort from sub Maurie Fa'asavalu meant a highly-competitive opening half ended 16-8 in favour of England.

One-sided

The French - missing captain Jerome Guisset after he failed a late fitness test - had shown signs in the closing stages that they were feeling the pace already and the second 40 minutes proved to be extremely one-sided.

Keith Senior's quick pass set up Fox nine minutes in and then the provider turned scorer, running onto Pryce's well-timed pass to gallop away for his 14th international try.

His centre partner Gleeson showed off his finishing skills on the opposite flank to help himself to two scores that Rob Burrow converted after taking over the kicking duties from Leeds colleague Sinfield.

Jon Wilkin finally managed to get a positive verdict from the television judges to score a seventh from close range and the half-century came up with two more tries in the final 10 minutes.

Both replacement Danny McGuire and full-back Paul Wellens waltzed through a weary French defence to round out a clinical England display that will have given boss Smith plenty to contemplate ahead of their trip Down Under in October.