France 12-66 England
France (0) 12
Tries: Baile, Gossard Goals: Bosc (2)
England (44) 66
Tries: Atkins, McGuire, Myler (3), Fox (2), Hall, Briscoe (2), Roby, Burgess Goals: Myler (9)
 Jamie Peacock's side were never under any threat from France |
Salford's Richie Myler produced a brilliant display as England put France to the sword in a friendly in Paris.
Ryan Atkins, Danny McGuire, Myler (2), Peter Fox, Ryan Hall and Shaun Briscoe (2) ran in tries as France made no impact in a one-sided first half.
Thomas Bosc's kick ahead found Jean-Phillipe Baile for France's first try but instantly James Roby struck.
Myler, Sam Burgess and Fox all went over for England before Cyrille Gossard had the final say for the home side.
Tony Smith's side were ruthless from the start, with Atkins opening the scoring with a neat side-step after good approach work by Scott Moore and Gareth Hock, and Maguire adding a second score within a minute.
Burgess punched a hole in the defensive line to set up Myler for England's third try, and the Salford player bagged his second when poor marking allowed Jamie Peacock to off-load to him in the tackle.
Myler showed great presence of mind to keep the ball alive despite being hammered by a challenge from Baile, and it produced results as Fox went over in the right-hand corner for England's fifth try.
Maguire then set up Leeds team-mate Hall to go over on the left as England produced a perfectly executed set-piece from the back of the scrum, before Briscoe rounded off the first-half scoring with two tries.
For the first, he shimmied through a couple of challenges and for the second rounded off a length of the field move begun by Eorl Crabtree's demolition of Eric Anselme.
England were always going to struggle to repeat the cruise of the first half, and the first time France managed to put together any sort of attacking move, they bagged their first try, as Baile touched down from Bosc's kick.
Roby soon restored the England advantage before Myler completed his hat-trick after Fox took advantage of a quick play of the ball, and the Salford scrum-half then turned provider for Burgess to touch down.
Fox notched his second try before another well-judged Bosc kick set up Gossard for France's second try to at least ensure the home side ended the night on a positive note.
France: Villegas (Toulouse); Duport (Catalans Dragons), Planas (Toulouse), Baile (Catalans Dragons), Vaccari (Catalans Dragons); Murcia (Limoux), Bosc (Catalans Dragons); Casty (Catalans Dragons), Bentley (Catalans Dragons), Guisset (Catalans Dragons, capt), Gossard (Catalans Dragons), Mounis (Catalans Dragons), Anselme (Toulouse).
Replacements: Martins (Pia), Gagliazzo (Carcassonne), Barthau (Catalans Dragons), Griffi (Toulouse).
England: Briscoe (Hull KR); Fox (Hull KR), Shenton (Castleford), Atkins (Wakefield), Hall (Leeds); McGuire (Leeds), Myler (Salford); Morley (Warrington), Moore (Huddersfield), Peacock (Leeds, capt), Hock (Wigan), Westwood (Warrington), Burgess (Bradford).
Replacements: Roby (St Helens), Graham (St Helens), Clubb (Harlequins), Crabtree (Huddersfield).
