England has made a statement in a bid to keep their semi-final hopes alive, celebrating an 82-0 romp over France in Perth.
AJ Brimson starred with five line breaks, seven tackle breaks, three try assists and a try in a player of the match performance to help his side to a record winning margin against their cross-Channel rivals.
Despite the result, the start was inauspicious as France dug in their heels and both sides struggled for execution in a scoreless opening 20 minutes.
Match: England v France
Round 2 -
home Team
England
3rd Position
away Team
France
6th Position
Venue: HBF Park, Perth
From there a switch seemed to flick among the English as they notched six tries in 16 minutes, four of those tries originating from their own half.
It was Dom Young who broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute after George Williams threw the dummy and got his hands free in the tackle of French fullback Arthur Mourgue then produced a flick pass offload to his winger to go over.
England then started their left side assault, firstly with AJ Brimson from inside his own half stepping off his left to break the line and put Matty Ashton on the scoresheet, before a carbon copy from Harry Smith, who had Herbie Farnworth sprinting away – the conversion making it 18-0 after 27 minutes.
Herbie Farnworth 2nd Try
France’s right-edge defence suffered a blow when Latrell Siegwalt left the game with a shoulder injury and they were exposed again as Junior Nsemba and Farnworth combined.
England’s right side got into the action in the next set as George Williams got one of his own, before Farnworth popped up in support of Dom Young to complete a first-half hat-trick, giving his side a 36-0 lead at the break.
Chasing a points differential boost to put themselves in the semi-final frame, England had to keep pushing and added two tries in the opening eight minutes before France went close to spoiling the clean sheet.
It was only a short stay of proceedings before the AJ Brimson show erupted, the fullback busting through France’s tiring middle defence to see Jez Litten and Mikey Lewis over the stripe.
The French tactics turned to short kick-offs and it turned disastrous when Dom Young juggled his way through an aerial battle and outpaced everyone to lodge his hat-trick and take England into the 60s.
Dominic Young 3rd Try
Jack Welsby joined the party and Lewis added another before the England charge ran out of steam, the French forcing them into last tackle kicks and enjoying a run of possession on attack.
Brimson added a well-deserved try to finish off England’s first Test victory in Australia since 2008.
England will take on Papua New Guinea in their final pool stage match likely needing another big win to progress, while France will be fighting for pride against Lebanon.
