Thank you for joining me. Here is Aaron Bower’s report from Bolton.
Dom Young has just been compared to Martin Offiah by the pundits. I am not sure we will worried by the comparison.
France coach Laurent Frayssinous: “I am proud of the effort of the boys. We challenged a great England team in a few areas which is what we wanted to do. We are not at their level yet but we want to be.
“I am confident in a few years we will be able to beat England.”
Shaun Wane: “I knew they could do better, we have to do better. Some of the things weren’t good enough. We did some good things, we have to be more consistent.
“We will, without a shadow of a doubt, improve on that.
Asked about his grandson delivering the match ball “I am very proud.” Then he has a little cry.
Man of the match George Williams: “We were really pleased with our first 20 minutes, but they came back strong. We got a roasting at half time.
“We were far from perfect but we won and carry on our journey. We are trying to get better week by week.”
Lindsay Hoyle is shown in the stands. What a lovely distraction from the day job.
Full-time: England 42-18 France
England showed their best in the second half and it is another thumping victory for them. They will be upset with some defensive lapses that they will need to address.
Updated
79 mins: Langi chases a little kick through and claims to have grounded it but the video referee sees the obvious separation.
78 mins: There is some argy bargy for some reason or other.
Updated
TRY! England 42-18 France (Romano, 76)
Young, inexplicably, tries to offload on the second tackle, gifting France a set of six. Gigot makes the most of it with a beautiful dummy and shimmy before gifting Romano the chance to cross the whitewash. Mourgue sends the conversion over.
74 mins: Hill earns some metres by bulldozing through defenders. The set is curtailed when Williams is penalised for offside after a kick ricochets back to him off a teammate.
72 mins: Welsby, on the first, kicks through from 10 yards out, Williams chases it but a France shirt gets to the ball first.
70 mins: England are playing at speed and France are struggling to keep them out.
68 mins: England’s rhythm is pretty impressive and the confidence is flowing.
TRY! England 42-12 France (Young, 66)
France are gifted a second set of six while in the England half. They get inside the 10 but Young intercepts the pass out wide on the final tackle and runs the length on the pitch to score. Pure class. Sneyd does the rest with the boot.
Updated
64 mins: Hall looks like he is in once more after a quick Tomkins pass but it is forward and the French make sure the referee knows it.
62 mins: Young collects the ball on his own 20-metre line and carries it a long way up field. It looks like the set will end with a Hall try but he is dragged down and his offload is intercepted.
60 mins: France kick early on the third and I have no idea why. Maybe their heart is no longer in this match.
58 mins: Watkins will not be back on tonight but is talking and medical staff do not believe he needs a hospital trip.
TRY! England 36-12 France (Young, 56)
Welsby sprints clear into space, eventually lobbing the ball to Young on the wing to finish things off. Sneyd keeps up his 100% record.
Updated
54 mins: Dezaria is held up just short. The final tackle results in a kick from Gigot which bobbles around the in-goal area until Young taps it over the line.
England are looking a touch sloppy in defence once again, gifting France a few sets of sixes on the trot.
52 mins: Watkins is brought to his feet. He does not look too steady and is being helped from the pitch by medical staff.
52 mins: Watkins takes a hit to the head from Da Costa. It is an accidental collision but it leaves Watkins out on the deck. The medical staff rush on to deal with Watkins who seems out cold.
TRY! England 30-12 France (Radley, 50)
England run back the dropout and make good ground. They get close to the line on the fourth and for the fifth Akers kicks through for Radley to chase and touch down. It goes to the video referee but he sees no issue with offside. Sneyd does the business once more.
48 mins: The try will settle a few England nerves after a poor final 15 minutes in the first half. Now they will be desperate to kill this off as a contest. Welsby, who came on at half-time, looks to have pushed England forward. Sneyd dinks through a kick on the final tackle but France kill the ball.
TRY! England 24-12 France (Whitehead, 45)
England have started the second half like they did the first. Bateman goes across the line and cuts inside to break it. He offloads it (it looks a little forward) to Whitehead and he goes over the whitewash. Sneyd completes with a conversion.
Updated
44 mins: Sneyd sends a kick up on the final tackle, Farnworth plucks it out of the air and offloads it but France manage to get their hands on the ball to end the danger.
42 mins: Both sides complete an identical set of six, making little to no ground and sending a long kick downfield that is collected by the full-back.
Second half
Here we go again!
Fiji ran in 10 tries in a 60-4 hammering of Italy to take a big step towards the Rugby League World Cup quarter-finals.
The Pacific Islanders were in complete control of the contest at Kingston Park, Newcastle, with Maika Sivo, Penioni Tagituimua and Viliame Kikau all scoring two tries apiece.
Brandon Wakeham was also on target seven times with the boot, with Italy’s only try coming from Jake Maizen when Fiji were already 48 points ahead.
Kikau opened the scoring for Fiji with a try in the ninth minute, and they opened up a 30-0 lead at half-time. Kevin Naiqama, Apisai Koroisau, Ben Nakubuwai and Taniela Sadrugu all crossed once.
Fiji were well beaten by Australia in their opening game in Group B but are now in pole position to clinch the second quarter-final spot.
If Fiji win their final match against Scotland next Saturday, Italy would need to defeat Australia to have a chance of overhauling them.
Half-time: England 18-12 France
England started so well and it looked like they would absolutely thrash France but they have dropped off. Tomkins admits the England defence dropped off after going three tries ahead.
40 mins: Farnworth collects a pass on the bounce and looks to cut through the France defence around 10 metres out but when he passes it is cut out.
39 mins: Jullien knocks on 20 metres from his own try line, which is not what France need. There is a little bit of squabbling between the two teams, delaying the scrum.
37 mins: England move on the halfway line on the first tackle. By the fifth they are in a good position and Sneyd sends up another dangerous kick but Romano comes to claim.
35 mins: England need to get their discipline back because it has cost them.
TRY! England 18-12 France (Pelissier, 33)
Pelissier goes over the line immediately from the play of the ball in front of the line. The video referee gets involved but the try is given. Conversion goes over. GAME ON!
32 mins: That try has understandably perked up the French and they once again get close to the line but Sangare is tackled by McIlorum a couple of metres out.
TRY! England 18-6 France (Mourgue, 29)
Whenever the kick goes up, the England chase is ferocious and France just cannot make any ground. They do get a second set of six after Thompson fails to get up quick enough. They reach England’s 20-metre line for the first time in the match. A clever early kick from Mourgue is tipped towards his own line by an England player and Mourgue follows the ball to score the try. The conversion is scored by Mourgue his himself.
26 mins: It is all a bit of a procession now for England and they will be looking to keep the scoreboard ticking over to further proof their intent in this tournament.
TRY! England 18-0 France (Thompson, 24)
France get the ball back from a short dropout. They are looking more confident with the ball in hand and cause a few problems until an offload goes array and England collect the loose ball. Radley breaks through the line with some neat footwork before offloading to Thompson who does the rest. Sneyd sends the conversion over.
Updated
22 mins: Hill pushes for the line but ends up a couple of metres short. The ball is thrown out wide and Tomkins tries to sidestep to the line but he taken down. Sneyd sends a kick through and Romano pushes the ball out.
20 mins: England move things out wide early on in the hope of finding space for Hall to run into but it does not work out. They do get another set of six after Watkins’ kick is knocked on by a blue shirt.
18 mins: Burgess loses the ball in the tackle about 10 metres out. The first bit of good news for France thus far.
16 mins: France just cannot do anything with ball in hand. Young collects the latest kick and gets England going up the pitch with little fuss. They move over the halfway line on the third tackle. Sneyd sends a kick up to the corner, Escare catches it but Farnworth tackles him out of play to earn England another set of six.
14 mins: Is there any way back for France? It does not look like they have the capabilities to challenge England at the moment.
TRY! England 12-0 France (Hall, 12)
12 mins: A French touch gives England a further set of six. To make matters worse for France, they give away a penalty for offside on the 20 metre line. England force the issue through Hill and then Burgess. Williams makes the difference with some quick hands to find Farnworth who moves it to Hall to run it into the corner. Sneyd sends the conversion through the posts from the touchline.
Updated
10 mins: England are certainly up for this and the changes are not noticeable. They are straight into France whenever they get the chance to start a new set of six, meaning they are relatively few yards with ball in hand. Their kicking game is coming from deep and being gobbled up by England.
TRY! England 6-0 France (Hall, 8)
Williams throws out a fine pass to Young on the wing, he makes a few yards before being taken down. On the final tackle the ball is thrown to Williams, who sends a crossfield kick, resulting in Tomkins knocking it back and the ball being thrown out to Hall to run it over the line. Sneyd makes the conversion.
Updated
4 mins: England are looking lively here and are gaining more ground during their early sets. Sneyd lifts a kick up for a few England places to chase but it concludes with a knock-on at the try line.
2 mins: France run it back from kick-off but fail to make much ground and Hall gladly grabs the kick to start England’s first set of six of the game, which comes to nothing.
Kick-off
Here we go!
Shaun Wane’s grandson carries the match ball onto the pitch, resulting in a little cry from the England coach.
Here comes the teams … and some pyrotechnics.
When I was 15 I was called up to play for Salford, and then realised I was to much of a coward to play rugby league, but is is nice to see some Salford players represent England.
Shaun Wane: “I was very happy with what we did last week. We have a 24 man squad and some need a game, the rest will play next week. We’ve had a few knocks last week so we are using the squad.”
Dom Young says he has faith in the England squad and thinks they are capable of winning the World Cup. Only time will tell …
Updated
England were in fine form last weekend.
The France team have #Burrow7 on their kit to show their support for former Leeds Rhino Rob.
There’s already been a game today in the RLWC, and it finished Fiji 60-4 Italy at Kingston Park in Newcastle.
Here’s how England got on last week. Ten tries is not a bad place to start.
These are the standards that England – and the rest – must live up to.
The starting teams
England: Tomkins, Hall, Watkins, Farnworth, Young, Welsby, Williams, Burgess, McIlorum, Hill, Whitehead, Bateman, Radley Subs: Thompson, Batchelor, Oledzki, Pearce-Paul
France: Escare, Romano, Langi, Laguerre, Puech, Mourgue, Gigot, Dezaria, Da Costa, Belmas, Jullien, Seguier, Garcia Subs: Pelissier, Sangare, Goudemand, Corentin
Updated
Here's the squads
England 19-man squad: 1. Sam Tomkins, 3. Kallum Watkins, 4. Herbie Farnworth, 5. Ryan Hall, 6. Jack Welsby, 7. George Williams, 8. Tom Burgess, 9. Michael McIlorum, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Elliott Whitehead, 12. John Bateman, 13. Victor Radley, 14. Dom Young, 18. Chris Hill, 19. Andy Ackers, 21. Marc Sneyd, 22. Joe Batchelor, 23. Mikolaj Oledzki, 24. Kai Pearce-Paul.
France 19-man squad: 1. Morgan Escare, 2. Arthur Romano, 3. Samisoni Langi, 4. Matthieu Laguerre, 5. Fouad Yaha, 6. Arthur Mourgue, 7. Tony Gigot, 8. Jordan Dezaria, 9. Alrix Da Costa, 10. Lambert Belmas, 11. Bejamin Jullien, 12. Paul Seguier, 13. Ben Garcia, 14, Eloi Pelissier, 15. Justin Sangare, 16. Gadwin Springer, 17. Mickael Goudemand, 19. Corentin Le Cam, 23 Cesar Rouge.
Preamble
Confidence is high in the England camp after thrashing Samoa in their opening fixture last weekend. France will be a far simpler opponent for the tournament hosts on paper and England will be desperate to build momentum.
A victory would all but seal a place in the quarter finals for either side. France began their campaign by defeating Greece, as anyone would have expected them to do.
France have never beaten England in 31 meetings, a sign of the task ahead of them today in Bolton.
Let’s hope for a cracker!
Kick-off: 5pm BST
