England vs. France: Winners and Losers from International Match
An experimental England lineup triumphed over France with a 19-14 victory on Saturday to give the 2015 Rugby World Cup hosts a boost in their bid to mount a serious title challenge at the competition.
Two tries from Anthony Watson and one from Jonny May pushed England over the edge despite Les Bleus' best attempts to record a shock Twickenham victory.
Head coach Stuart Lancaster fielded a team including three debutants and a host of other inexperienced names before deciding who makes the cut for the tournament squad.
Read on for a breakdown of who took the most from the Twickenham encounter as we discuss the biggest winners and losers from Saturday's clash.
Winner: Dangerous Debutants
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It's late in the day for players to only now be making their official starts as international players if they hope to go to the World Cup, but Henry Slade and Sam Burgess in particular have given Lancaster something to think about.
Not for the first time since taking over the England helm, the coach tinkered with his midfield to good effect as Burgess and Slade—playing at 12 and 13, respectively—looked comfortable in their new setting.
Ex-England international and 2003 World Cup winner Jason Robinson agreed that the midfield duo were among the more impressive performers, with Burgess making a joint-match high of 12 tackles, missing none.
Loser: Basic England Defence
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Not everyone was as impressive as the back row-cum-centre in defence, though, as 10 of England's starting XV missed at least one tackle, amounting to a collective 25 unsuccessful attempts between all who featured.
It was France who enjoyed the slightest of majorities in possession overall (51 percent), but Lancaster will look upon his side's tackling percentage of 80 percent with a grimace.
Owen Farrell was caught off guard on his return to the starting XV and missed four of his 11 attempted hits, while Rob Webber failed in three of his nine attempts and Richard Wigglesworth was successful in just one of his three tackles.
The positive side is simple mistakes can often make for simple and swift fixes, but committing such errors in defence, particularly among the forwards, is something that will concern the coaching staff.
Winner: French Flair
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On the other side of that debate, one might argue France were impressive in their attack. After all, they carried for 430 metres as a collective, 107 metres more than their hosts mustered on Saturday.
And indeed there were glimpses of the old France at Twickenham, signs that Philippe Saint-Andre's side may be capable of signing off his tenure with another underdog's display at the World Cup.
Rugby World's Gavin Mortimer quoted Brian Moore last week, who said France had "become a poor South Africa" since the Top 14 has taken precedence over the national team in recent years.
There may be reason behind that logic, but France were hardly without competition on Saturday and the likes of Louis Picamoles, Yannick Nyanga and Alexandre Dumoulin all looked good at times.
Few expected them to make the final four years ago and the same can be said in 2015, but just maybe the Group D combatants will find their ideal squad in time to spring a surprise or two.
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Loser: Squad Outsiders
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The double-edged nature of these warm-up fixtures is that while some cement their places in the squad after being given a chance to impress, others fall by the wayside, seemingly forgotten in the coach's plans.
Going on the assumption that Burgess and Slade have almost done enough to book their spots, it may spell the end for Billy Twelvetrees and Luther Burrell, who have just two warm-ups left to stake their claims.
Similarly, the debate is still out on whether Danny Cipriani will make it into the team after being given a short amount of time to impress against the French, as was debutant Luke Cowan-Dickie.
Cuts are a normal part of the selection process, but time is quickly running out for those who would look to make a late run into the reckoning.
Winner: In-Form Jonny May
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Gloucester's May has largely been spoken of as the standout player in England training, and whatever it is he's doing differently in his World Cup preparations, it certainly appears to be working.
The winger contributed a man-of-the-match-worthy display on Saturday, collecting an Alex Goode cross-field kick to score a sublime try and finishing with 124 carrying metres in all, more than double any other Englishman.
May beat five defenders from three clean breaks and functioned as part of a fluid back three alongside Watson and Goode, probably doing enough to pencil his name into Lancaster's squad.
All statistics come courtesy of ESPN Scrum.
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