Substitutes used: Greseque, Carrasco, Ferriol, Moly.Referee: G Black (New Zealand).* Bradford say Leslie Vainikolo will not be able to play for New Zealand in the Tri-Nations because he is to have a knee operation today.. When Jones-Buchanan scored from Thorman's clever kick seven minutes later, England were on their way to victory.Crabtree's close-range try three minutes from the end of the match, flattered the home side.England: Mathers (Leeds); Calderwood (Leeds), Sykes (London), Reardon (Bradford), Gardner (St Helens); Thorman (Huddersfield), Robinson (Salford); Crabtree (Huddersfield), Alker (Salford), Wood (Warrington), Radford (Bradford), Jones-Buchanan (Leeds), C Charles (Salford). From the moment Jerome Hermet intercepted Robinson's pass to set up an attack that ended with the hooker, David Berthezene, going over for their first try, they looked like potential winners.Olivier Charles, almost had a second, but the penalty awarded when he was held back allowed France to build momentum and eventually score through Freddie Zitter.With two goals from Laurent Frayssinous, they had a well deserved 12-6 advantage at the interval.In the second half an individual try from Robinson brought the scores level. "But we were a bit rusty with the ball.'' England had started brightly enough with Crabtree supplying the ball to send his Huddersfield team-mate, Chris Thorman, through a gap for the game's first try.But for the rest of the half, France were the better side by a distance. Second-half tries from Luke Robinson, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and the outstanding Eorl Crabtree saw England home after a much improved French sideheld a shock lead at half-time. "Defensively I thought we were outstanding,'' said the England coach Karl Harrison.
England avoided embarrassment at the hands of the French at Headingley last night but few members of what was effectively Great Britain's second string advanced their claims for promotion to the senior squad. "But sometimes when you are missing your big players, somebody steps up and shows what they can do." Great Britain will go into Saturday's opening match against New Zealand at Loftus Road as underdogs after the Kiwis' impressive performances in the opening two games of the series against Australia.But Carney is relishing his new role of vice-captain and said he was surprised to have been given the job. "It is a great honour and a great privilege, but I was shocked when Brian Noble rang and asked me to take the position," he said."I think people have got to understand that the position has been given to me for a lot of different reasons that people don't often see."It's not because I'm a master tactician on the field or anything close to that. The people who excel at that, your halves and your ball-players, will still maintain that job. I guess Brian just felt I could provide an efficient link between the coaching staff and the playing staff That's the role I'm assuming - nothing else.". I don't want to play and be half-fit and feel as though I could be doing more to lift the side," he said.Australia play the first match of their tour at Wigan on 5 November.The new Great Britain vice-captain, Brian Carney, insists the Lions have the ability to win the Tri-Nations Series whether Johns plays or not.
Despite being without the likes of Paul Sculthorpe, Kris Radlinski, Sean Long and last year's captain Andy Farrell, Carney is confident Great Britain can cope."They are definitely a loss because they are outstanding players and immensely talented," he said. "The knee is giving me grief and has hampered me in the two Tests against New Zealand. I couldn't run properly on Friday and it's not the way I want to play."I haven't been happy with my performances and that's what I have to sort out within myself If I go to England, I want to contribute to the team. The scrum-half - widely regarded as the world's best player - aggravated a right knee injury in Australia's 28-26 win over New Zealand in Auckland last Friday.
