England Rugby League

Replacements:

Replacements:

England warmed up for the World Cup with a powerful second-half performance on a balmy evening in Toulouse to sweep aside a woeful France 8-56.

Coach Tony Smith was hoping for encouraging signs ahead of the trip to Australia at the end of the season and he saw them in abundance in this Gillette international at the Ernest Wallon Stadium.

Warrington Wolves centre Martin Gleeson, whose place in the side had been under threat, responded with a hat-trick of tries while Hull KR winger Peter Fox touched down on his debut.

There were also sparkling displays from stand-off Leon Pryce, who was named man of the match, and loose forward Kevin Sinfield while the French simply had no answer to the rampaging runs of front-row forwards Jamie Peacock and Adrian Morley.

France, with nine players in their ranks from engage Super League high fliers Catalans Dragons, were second best in most departments but scrambled well enough to keep the visitors in check by half-time, when England’s lead was restricted to 16-8.

But, after scoring 97 points in their last two home games against Wigan Warriors and Warrington, the Catalans players were handed a taste of their own medicine by conceding seven tries without reply in the second half.

The writing was on the wall for France when England wingers Ade Gardner and Fox both had touchdowns disallowed in the first 12 minutes by the two video referees yet the visitors were stunned by a ninth-minute try from Toulouse scrum-half James Wynne.

France were able to apply some pressure after two successive penalty awards and Wynne, an Australian who qualifies through residency, wrong-footed Peacock to cross for a soft score.

Thomas Bosc, the free-scoring Catalans half-back, added the conversion to put the French 6-0 ahead but England drew level after 14 minutes when Sinfield put James Roby into a hole and Pryce was on his inside to finish off the slick move.

Sinfield added the goal and England went in front five minutes later when a crossfield move stretched the French defence and Gleeson took Pryce’s pass to grab a second try.

Sinfield missed the kick this time and France cut the deficit to two points with a Bosc penalty before Bradford second rower Sam Burgess stretched out for the line only to be denied by the video referees for an obstruction.

England were clearly the more dangerous team but they were given a scare when Pryce’s attempted clearance kick was charged down by substitute prop Remi Casty, who re-gathered to set off for the line, but the St Helens stand-off made amends by getting back to make the tackle.

The visitors eventually made their superiority count six minutes before the break when substitute Maurie Fa’asavalu took Sinfield’s inside pass to romp through a gap for a third try and the Leeds skipper kicked his second goal.

England continued to dominate in the second half, with Gleeson twice illustrating his threat with penetrative runs down the right flank.

On the other side, left centre Keith Senior knocked on in a promising position but he made amends after 48 minutes when unselfishly offloading to Fox to enable the Hull KR winger to mark his debut with a try.

Substitute Danny McGuire was involved in the move after coming on to replace his club captain Sinfield while another Leeds Rhinos man, Rob Burrow, took over the goalkicking and failed with the difficult conversion.

Senior then demonstrated his awesome power when running onto Pryce’s pass to romp 40 metres for a try and Burrow kicked the first of his three goals.

Gleeson then beat his opposite number to claim his second touchdown and completed his hat-trick with 61 minutes gone after taking Senior’s long pass and cutting inside to deceive the back-tracking defenders.

The Warrington man took a well-deserved rest but the scoring continued, with second rower Jon Wilkin crashing over from close range and McGuire taking advantage of a slick pass from Sinfield to touch down before providing the pass for full-back Paul Wellens to score England’s 10th try.

Sinfield finished with five conversions in front of a crowd of 8,326.