Connect with us

Super League

France 10-30 England: Player ratings and major talking points

Shaun Wane was left with food for thought after a 30-10 win over France in Catalans today. Despite a fast start and a solid finish, England showed that they had a lot to work on for much of the contest if they want to challenge in next year’s World Cup.

Major Talking Points:

1. England spine clicks

Some wondered before the game whether or not the selection of Jordan Abdull and Paul McShane, with just one England appearance between them prior to the match, would work alongside Jonny Lomax. However, in a sloppy performance for England overall, the trio clicked. Lomax especially looked sharp. His passes were crisp and opened up space which wasn’t always used out wide. The three will face some serious competition from top quality Super League and NRL stars for places in next year’s World Cup, but they’ve shown they can work as a combination offering sharp distribution, a good kicking game and a little something different – the last two certainly came courtesy of Abdull today.

2. France get over sluggish start to show they have potential

The French went about the game in the wrong way in the first 20 minutes. They were sloppy and made things easy for England as they took control of the game. They surrendered field position again and again and looked for the easy way out with a short kick-off which worked against them. However, after the first quarter, they cut out the unforced errors, matched England physically and showed some real potential in attack with some creativity and decent shape. Next year with Theo Fages back in the fold and after the French youngsters have had a chance to develop, they could go far in the World Cup.

3. Lessons to learn

Speaking of going far in the World Cup, if England want to go one step further than they did in the last one, they’ll have to learn some lessons from this game. A few errors crept into their performance after the opening 20 and they found themselves struggling for metres in the second half. They’ll need to sharpen things up and quicken up the ruck if they want to match the Australians and Kiwis in next year’s World Cup.

Player Ratings:

France
1 Mark Kheirallah – 5
2 Morgan Escare – 6
3 Matthieu Laguerre – 6
4 Mathieu Jussaume – 5
5 Fouad Yaha – 6
6 Arthur Mourgue – 6
7 Tony Gigot – 6
8 Romain Navarrete – 7
9 Anthony Marion – 6
10 Jordan Dezaria – 7
11 Benjamin Jullien – 7
12 Paul Seguier – 7
13 Mickael Goudemand – 7
Substitutes
14 Eloi Pelissier – 7
15 Maxime Puech – 5
16 Justin Sangare – 7
17 Corentin Le Cam – 7
England
1 Niall Evalds – 8
2 Tom Davies – 7
3 Reece Lyne – 7
4 Zak Hardaker – 6
5 Tommy Makinson – 7
6 Jonny Lomax – 8
7 Jordan Abdull – 8
8 Alex Walmsley – 7
9 Paul McShane – 8
10 Mike Cooper – 7
11 Liam Farrell – 7
12 John Bateman – 7
13 Morgan Knowles – 6
Substitutes
14 Ben Currie – 6
15 Mikolaj Oledzki – 7
16 Joe Philbin – 6
17 Kruise Leeming – 7

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Must See

More in Super League