FRENCH RUGBY TEAM.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 March 1922, Page 3

FRENCH RUGBY TEAM.

SHOWING AGAINST ENGLAND. VIEWS OF TIMES CRITIC. London, Feb. 26. Mr. O. L. Owen, the football critic of the Times, in a special article for the Sydney Sun, commenting upon French Rugby in view of the approaching tour of Australia, and New Zealand by a French team, says: —“Saturday’s result —England v. France, 11 all —was remarkable for two reasons. England has only once been beaten at Twickenham, when the South Africans won in 1913, and the only previous draw was against Ireland in 1910. Secondly, France scored a converted try and two unconverted tries to England's try and two penalty goals. On the other hand, England’s cracks did not show their last season’s all-con-quering form. In some respects they were unlucky, but France in the first half played against the wind and owed more to the mistakes of the English backs and to slovenly heeling than anything else. The French passing began brilliantly. The backs are fast and whole-hearted runners, but the long-threatened reverse movement and cutting through, of which there had been hints, were tried only once. When this is achieved the French backs will become a very serious proposition. Piteu, the scrum-half, was pitted against Kershaw, who is a master craftsman, and was assisted by several swinging forwards. Pascot, the new stand-off half, increased his reputation as a pivot, handling wild passes superbly. Got and Ramis formed the left Got, who was substituted for Jaurreguy, is less powerful than the big Jaurreguy, but is young and steadily improving. Crabos and Laffront formed the right wing. Crabos still passes mechanically, and wasted opportunities, ds Laffront, who was outside, was well marked. Lasserre led the forwards. He is a remarkably fine player. The forwards packed clumsily, but pushed with tremendous keenness. Their great fault still is their lack of restraint, and they have yet to learn to wheel and dribble effectively, but they are fast, strong, and well trained. The above message confirms the scores in the France v. England Rugby match as first published. The later report that credited France with a victory was due to a misreading of an ambiguous message.