England foil French resistance

Tom Briscoe: Bagged two tries

England warmed up for the forthcoming Four Nations with a thoroughly unconvincing 32-18 victory over France in Avignon.

Tom Briscoe crossed twice while there was a try for Jack Reed, one of three debutants selected for the one-off Test by head coach Steve McNamara.

However the visitors did not have it all their own way. France - fielding 15 Catalan Dragons in their 17-man squad - took a 6-4 lead after 30 minutes, only to concede three tries before half time.

There will also be concerns for McNamara at his team's defending in leaking two scores in the closing minutes, meaning the final scoreline was much, much closer than many had expected before kick-off.

Bristling

Points aplenty appeared to be on the cards against a team beaten 38-18 by England's second string less than a week ago, particularly when it took the visitors less than two minutes to open their account.

Kevin Sinfield ended the opening set of six with a superb 40-20 that resulted in Ryan Hall being sent in on the right wing on the next tackle.

However, any thoughts of the game becoming one-way traffic disappeared during a fiery first quarter that saw the French, loudly supported by a brass band and a partisan crowd of nearly 17,000, more than match their opponents, despite having to wait until nearly four minutes to get their hands on the ball.

They even managed to take the lead when Olivier Elima won the race to Thomas Bosc's well-weighted grubber, the television official awarding the try despite there appearing to be some doubts over the grounding.

Bosc landed the conversion to make it 6-4 but missed the chance to push his side further clear, hitting a relatively straightforward penalty wide to the right.

Instead it was England who scored next, some quick passing by the exciting combination of Rangi Chase and Sam Tomkins setting up Kirk Yeaman.

Tom Briscoe soon followed his Hull team-mate in going over in the same left corner, just getting the ball down before he was forced into touch and, right before the break, James Graham's reverse pass allowed his St Helens colleague James Roby to run in for another underneath the uprights.

Sinfield added his second conversion to make it 20-6, giving England a perfect platform to push on after the break.

But, just as in the first half, the French put up some strong resistance to make sure the expected avalanche of tries for the visitors never materialised.

Abysmal defending

Briscoe did bag his second of the night when he broke away from two abysmal attempts to tackle him out on the left wing, while only a knock-on denied the Airlie Birds winger a hat-trick.

The try of the night, though, was all about two players from the NRL; Melbourne's Gareth Widdop created an opening down the right for Reed, the Brisbane Broncos centre breaking clear of his opposite man with strength and speed before cutting inside the full-back, clearing a route to the line.

But, much like the ever-eager band in the stands, France continued playing right through to the end, Eloi Pelissier being allowed to tap-and-go straight to the line from a penalty to earn a soft try.

They weren't done there either, Vincent Duport taking Pelissier's bullet short pass to gallop into space, though full-back Widdop should have made a better attempt to stop the Dragons centre from going all the way.

The late flourish was reward for France's commitment, giving Bobbie Goulding much to smile about after a difficult week that had seen him threaten to quit his job. Opposite number McNamara, meanwhile, may have had a different expression on his face when the final hooter sounded.