Saturday 4th February 2006

England were knocked out of the Cup competition today in Wellington by an impressive French side.  England struggled to gain possession for much of the game, and despite tries from Mathew Tait and David Strettle, they lost 19-14.

The quarter final was a tense affair with England’s defence looking strong in parts but some errors during the match meant France were in the lead for almost the whole match.

France got off the mark first with a try from Jerome Naves.  They had won early possession and kept hold of the ball for two minutes, patiently waiting to score.  Henry Paul helped set up England’s first try when Mathew Tait crossed the line under the posts.  Naves scored again before half time meaning France led 12-7 at the break.

An early second half try by Julian Patey meant that England needed two converted tries to progress to the semi finals.  David Strettle scored when France were down to six men but despite some frantic attempts by England, time ran out.

England will now face Samoa in the semi final of the Plate competition at 17.38 (5.38am GMT).   Samoa lost to South Africa in their quarter final match.

England coach Mike Friday said, “I am extremely disappointed. We never like to lose but we lost to a very good French side who were the better team on the day.  We made some errors and at this level of competition you can’t afford to make errors.

“We do have a young side out here and learning to cope with defeat is as much of a learning curve as winning sometimes. This is a unique environment with a very hostile crowd and the players will be learning a great deal by being here.

This is always one of the toughest tournaments for us due to the traveling and jetlag but I am not making excuses. We weren’t good enough today and must now go on and win the Plate to earn the valuable two extra points on offer.”

Scorers:
England – Tries: Tait, Strettle
Conversions – Gollings, Amor

France – Tries: Naves (2), Patey
Conversions – Dulin (2)

England: Luke Narraway (Gloucester), Ben Russell (Saracens), Nils Mordt (London Irish), Ben Gollings, Henry Paul (Gloucester), Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons), Simon Amor, captain (Gloucester).
Replacements: David Strettle (Rotherham), Danny Care (Leeds Tykes).
Not used: Andy Vilk (Northampton), Dave Seymour (Saracens), Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons).

France: Julian Patey, Remi Vaquin, Renaud Dulin, Patrick Bosque (captain), Jerome Naves, Julien Malzieu, Jacques Boussuge
Replacements from: Jean Paul Dubois, Khrist Kopetzky, Nicholas Carmona, Jordan Garnier, Vincent Roux

Referee: Kevin Rowe (NZ)

Ends.