History of rugby union matches between England and France

The first Anglo-French rugby union match was held on March 22, 1906 at Parc des Princes in Paris.

The traditional name for the annual England versus France rugby union match in the Six Nations Championship as used on both sides of the English Channel is Le Crunch, used since at least 1981.^[1] Games have also been played as Tests and at the Rugby World Cup. England and France have played each other on 102 occasions, England winning 56, France winning 39, and 7 matches have been drawn. Overall, England have scored 1,623 points, and France 1,290.

Summary

Overall

Details	Played	Won by  England	Won by  France	Drawn	England points	France points
In England	48	32	11	5	854	513
In France	51	23	26	2	724	732
Neutral venue	3	1	2	0	45	45
Overall	102	56	39	7	1,623	1,290

Records

Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.

Record	England	France
Longest winning streak	11 (22 Mar 1906–25 Feb 1922)	4 (22 Jun 1995–7 Feb 1998)
Largest points for
Home	55 (21 March 2015)	37 (26 February 1972)
Away	39 (3 April 1914)	35 (21 March 2015)
Largest winning margin
Home	37 (28 January 1911)	25 (12 March 2006)
Away	27 (22 March 1906)	10 (22 June 1995)

Results

No.	Date	Venue	Score	Winner	Competition	Match report
102	19 March 2016	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	21 – 31	England	2016 Six Nations Championship
101	22 August 2015	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	25 – 20	France	2015 Rugby World Cup warm ups	BBC Sport
100	15 August 2015	Twickenham, London	19 – 14	England		BBC Sport
99	21 March 2015	Twickenham, London	55 – 35	England	2015 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
98	1 February 2014	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	26 – 24	France	2014 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
97	23 February 2013	Twickenham, London	23 – 13	England	2013 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
96	11 March 2012	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	22 – 24	England	2012 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
95	8 October 2011	Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand	19 – 12	France	2011 Rugby World Cup	BBC Sport
94	26 February 2011	Twickenham, London	17 – 9	England	2011 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
93	20 March 2010	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	12 – 10	France	2010 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
92	15 March 2009	Twickenham, London	34 – 10	England	2009 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
91	23 February 2008	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	13 – 24	England	2008 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
90	13 October 2007	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	9 – 14	England	2007 Rugby World Cup	BBC Sport
89	18 August 2007	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France	22 – 9	France	2007 Rugby World Cup warm up	BBC Sport
88	11 August 2007	Twickenham, London	15 – 21	France		BBC Sport
87	11 March 2007	Twickenham, London	26 – 18	England	2007 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
86	12 March 2006	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	31 – 6	France	2006 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
85	14 February 2005	Twickenham, London	17 – 18	France	2005 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
84	27 March 2004	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	24 – 21	France	2004 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
83	16 November 2003	Telstra Stadium, Sydney, Australia	24 – 7	England	2003 Rugby World Cup	BBC Sport
82	6 September 2003	Twickenham, London	45 – 14	England	2003 Rugby World Cup warm up	BBC Sport
81	30 August 2003	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	17 – 16	France		BBC Sport
80	15 February 2003	Twickenham, London	25 – 17	England	2003 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
79	2 March 2002	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	20 – 15	France	2002 Six Nations Championship
78	7 April 2001	Twickenham, London	48 – 19	England	2001 Six Nations Championship
77	19 February 2000	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	9 – 15	England	2000 Six Nations Championship	BBC Sport
76	20 March 1999	Twickenham, London	21 – 10	England	1999 Five Nations Championship	BBC Sport
75	7 February 1998	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	24 – 17	France	1998 Five Nations Championship
74	1 March 1997	Twickenham, London	20 – 23	France	1997 Five Nations Championship
73	20 January 1996	Parc des Princes, Paris, France	15 – 12	France	1996 Five Nations Championship
72	22 June 1995	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, South Africa	9 – 19	France	1995 Rugby World Cup
71	4 February 1995	Twickenham, London	31 – 10	England	1995 Five Nations Championship
70	5 March 1994	Parc des Princes, Paris	14 – 18	England	1994 Five Nations Championship
69	16 January 1993	Twickenham, London	16 – 15	England	1993 Five Nations Championship
68	15 February 1992	Parc des Princes, Paris	13 – 31	England	1992 Five Nations Championship
67	19 October 1991	Parc des Princes, Paris	10 – 19	England	1991 Rugby World Cup
66	16 March 1991	Twickenham, London	21 – 19	England	1991 Five Nations Championship
65	3 February 1990	Parc des Princes, Paris	7 – 26	England	1990 Five Nations Championship
64	4 March 1989	Twickenham, London	11 – 0	England	1989 Five Nations Championship
63	16 January 1988	Parc des Princes, Paris	10 – 9	France	1988 Five Nations Championship
62	21 February 1987	Twickenham, London	15 – 19	France	1987 Five Nations Championship
61	15 March 1986	Parc des Princes, Paris	29 – 10	France	1986 Five Nations Championship
60	2 February 1985	Twickenham, London	9 – 9	draw	1985 Five Nations Championship
59	3 March 1984	Parc des Princes, Paris	32 – 18	France	1984 Five Nations Championship
58	15 January 1983	Twickenham, London	15 – 19	France	1983 Five Nations Championship
57	20 February 1982	Parc des Princes, Paris	15 – 27	England	1982 Five Nations Championship
56	21 March 1981	Twickenham, London	12 – 16	France	1981 Five Nations Championship
55	2 February 1980	Parc des Princes, Paris	13 – 17	England	1980 Five Nations Championship
54	1 February 1979	Twickenham, London	7 – 6	England	1979 Five Nations Championship
53	21 January 1978	Parc des Princes, Paris	15 – 6	France	1978 Five Nations Championship
52	1 February 1977	Twickenham, London	3 – 4	France	1977 Five Nations Championship
51	20 March 1976	Parc des Princes, Paris	30 – 9	France	1976 Five Nations Championship
50	1 February 1975	Twickenham, London	20 – 27	France	1975 Five Nations Championship
49	2 March 1974	Parc des Princes, Paris	12 – 12	draw	1974 Five Nations Championship
48	24 February 1973	Twickenham, London	14 – 6	England	1973 Five Nations Championship
47	26 February 1972	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	37 – 12	France	1972 Five Nations Championship
46	27 February 1971	Twickenham, London	14 – 14	draw	1971 Five Nations Championship
45	18 April 1970	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	35 – 13	France	1970 Five Nations Championship
44	22 February 1969	Twickenham, London	22 – 8	England	1969 Five Nations Championship
43	24 February 1968	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	14 – 9	France	1968 Five Nations Championship
42	25 February 1967	Twickenham, London	12 – 16	France	1967 Five Nations Championship
41	26 February 1966	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	13 – 0	France	1966 Five Nations Championship
40	27 February 1965	Twickenham, London	9 – 6	England	1965 Five Nations Championship
39	22 February 1964	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	3 – 6	England	1964 Five Nations Championship
38	23 February 1963	Twickenham, London	6 – 5	England	1963 Five Nations Championship
37	24 February 1962	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	13 – 0	France	1962 Five Nations Championship
36	25 February 1961	Twickenham, London	5 – 5	draw	1961 Five Nations Championship
35	27 February 1960	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	3 – 3	draw	1960 Five Nations Championship
34	28 February 1959	Twickenham, London	3 – 3	draw	1959 Five Nations Championship
33	1 March 1958	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	0 – 14	England	1958 Five Nations Championship
32	23 February 1957	Twickenham, London	9 – 5	England	1957 Five Nations Championship
31	14 April 1956	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	14 – 9	France	1956 Five Nations Championship
30	26 February 1955	Twickenham, London	9 – 16	France	1955 Five Nations Championship
29	10 April 1954	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	11 – 3	France	1954 Five Nations Championship
28	28 February 1953	Twickenham, London	11 – 0	England	1953 Five Nations Championship
27	5 April 1952	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	3 – 6	England	1952 Five Nations Championship
26	24 February 1951	Twickenham, London	3 – 11	France	1951 Five Nations Championship
25	25 February 1950	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	6 – 3	France	1950 Five Nations Championship
24	26 February 1949	Twickenham, London	8 – 3	England	1949 Five Nations Championship
23	29 March 1948	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	15 – 0	France	1948 Five Nations Championship
22	19 April 1947	Twickenham, London	6 – 3	England	1947 Five Nations Championship
21	6 April 1931	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	14 – 13	France	1931 Five Nations Championship
20	22 February 1930	Twickenham, London	11 – 5	England	1930 Five Nations Championship
19	1 April 1929	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	6 – 16	England	1929 Five Nations Championship
18	25 February 1928	Twickenham, London	18 – 8	England	1928 Five Nations Championship
17	2 April 1927	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	3 – 0	France	1927 Five Nations Championship
16	27 February 1926	Twickenham, London	11 – 0	England	1926 Five Nations Championship
15	13 April 1925	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	11 – 13	England	1925 Five Nations Championship
14	23 February 1924	Twickenham, London	19 – 7	England	1924 Five Nations Championship
13	2 April 1923	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	3 – 12	England	1923 Five Nations Championship
12	25 February 1922	Twickenham, London	11 – 11	draw	1922 Five Nations Championship
11	28 March 1921	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	6 – 10	England	1921 Five Nations Championship
10	31 January 1920	Twickenham, London	8 – 3	England	1920 Five Nations Championship
9	13 April 1914	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	13 – 39	England	1914 Five Nations Championship
8	25 January 1913	Twickenham, London	20 – 0	England	1913 Five Nations Championship
7	8 April 1912	Parc des Princes, Paris	8 – 18	England	1912 Five Nations Championship
6	28 January 1911	Twickenham, London	37 – 0	England	1911 Five Nations Championship
5	3 March 1910	Parc des Princes, Paris	3 – 11	England	1910 Five Nations Championship
4	30 January 1909	Welford Road, Leicester	22 – 0	England
3	1 January 1908	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	0 – 19	England
2	5 January 1907	Athletic Ground, Richmond London	41 – 13	England
1	22 March 1906	Parc des Princes, Paris	8 – 35	England

Breakdown

In the World Cup, the teams have played on five occasions, with England winning three and France two; there have been no draws. In these games, England have scored 78 points, and France 64.

In the Five Nations (1910–1999), England have played France on 70 occasions, England winning 36, France 27 and seven matches have been drawn. In these games, England have scored 889 points, and France 775.

In the Six Nations (2000–present), England have played France on 16 occasions, England winning ten, France winning six, and no matches have been drawn. In these games, England have scored 360 points, and France 270.

In other test matches, England have played France on ten occasions, England winning six, France winning four, and no matches have been drawn. Overall, England have scored 241 points, and France have 134.

World Cup meetings

2003 World Cup Semi Final

England had come into the 2003 World Cup as favourites, but up to the semi final their form was steady rather than spectacular. In the quarter final stages, France beat Ireland convincingly, whilst England stuttered to a victory over Wales. These results meant many thought France could spring a surprise and get to their second successive final.

The weather on the day was heavy rain and torrential winds, which experts believed would fancy the English forward-dominated game, rather than the French free-flowing backs game. Jonny Wilkinson opened the scoring with a drop goal within the first ten minutes, before Serge Betsen scored a try after stealing a lineout. The try was converted by Frederick Michalak.

Jonny Wilkinson is going to try a conversion. He scored four drop goals in semi-final in 2003, and did a brilliant performance four years later, again during a semi-final.

The game soon swung back in England's favour, when French winger Christophe Dominici was sin-binned for a deliberate trip on Jason Robinson. Wilkinson added another nine points before half time, to give England a 12–7 lead.

England continued to dominate in the second half, helped by an out of sorts Michalak missing his third penalty. Betsen became the second French player to get sin binned after a late challenge on Wilkinson, who converted the subsequent penalty. Shortly after Wilkinson made it a hat trick of drop goals. England wrapped up the game with another two penalties from Jonny Wilkinson and a final score of 24–7.^[2]

The win put England into their first final since the 1991 World Cup, where they would play the same opponents Australia on their home ground. Afterwards, French captain, Fabien Galthie conceded that "England adapted to the weather better than us", whilst his English counterpart Martin Johnson said "we needed passion and it was a great display".^[3]

2007 World Cup Semi Final

Before the 2007 World Cup began, both defending champions England and last time semi finalists France were considered outsiders to win the tournament. England had stuttered through the group stages, losing 36–0 to South Africa but ended up second in the group. In the quarter finals, England caused a major upset by beating arch-rivals Australia 12–10, despite many pundits writing off their chances before the game.

France also qualified a disappointing second from their group, after losing to Argentina. The French were also underdogs for their quarter final against pre-tournament favourites New Zealand. France ended up winning thanks to a disputed winning try by Yannick Jauzion.^[4][5]

Despite beating the Wallabies, the English were still heavily tipped to lose, mainly because the French were expected to challenge more upfront. Five victories in the last six matches also meant that recent track record was in favour of France. England had not won in Paris since 2000. The game began 21:00 local time and within two minutes a box kick by English scrumhalf Andy Gomarsall was not dealt with by French full-back Damien Traille and Josh Lewsey capitalized with a try. Jonny Wilkinson missed the conversion to the left. Two penalties before half time by Lionel Beauxis gave the French a slender advantage.

Shortly after half time, Beauxis scored his third penalty to give France a 9–5 advantage. Minutes later, Wilkinson scored his first successful kick of the game to bring it back to one point. Wilkinson could have given England the lead, but his drop goal could only hit the upright. France also had a chance to score, when Vincent Clerc looked certain to score a try; however a last-ditch tap tackle by Joe Worsley prevented him from crossing the try line and kept England in the match.

In the 75th minute, Wilkinson slotted in a penalty to give England the lead. Only three minutes later he scored another three points, this time through a drop goal, to give England a 14–9 lead, with only two minutes left. Despite heavy pressure from the French, England managed to hold on.^[6]

After the game, England's manager Brian Ashton commented, "these guys won't give up. People talk about a British bulldog spirit and it is very much here in this group". The England captain, Phil Vickery also praised the team by saying, "to beat France, in France, in a World Cup semi-final is a huge effort from everyone". The French manager Bernard Laporte rued the missed try opportunity, noting "if we had scored that try we would have won the match, but we didn't".^[7][8]

2011 World Cup Quarter Final

France 19–12 England.

France had many difficulties during the pool stage. Indeed, the team of Marc Lièvremont, lost two matches, against New-Zealand and Tonga. So England was probably the favourite before the beginning of the match. But rugby as a sport is very difficult to predict, and what happened on the field this day was unexpected. The first half was very difficult for England. France played very well and we did not see that since 2010 and the Grand Slam during the 6 nations. Dimitri Yachvili scored two penalties and Vincent Clerc scored the first try after many missed tackles by England (22e). Dimitri Yachvili did not convert the try and France led by 11 points to nil. But it was not yet half time and Maxime Médard scored another try (30e). At the break, France led by 16 points to nil because Yachvili failed, again, to kick the conversion.

The second half was totally different from the first minute. The men of Martin Johnson came back on the field with a different spirit. Indeed, Ben Foden scored the first points for England with a try (54e), converted by Jonny Wilkinson in his last match with England. This conversion was his last points for his country. The French team did not play as they had during the first half of the match and they scored only three points via a drop goal from François Trinh-Duc (73e). Mark Cueto scored a late try (76e) but it was too little too late, the difference being too great between the two rivals. As a symbol, Wilkinson failed the conversion, and France won the quarter-final by 19 points to 12.

References

1. The Irish Times, May 27, 1981, page 27.
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/rugby_world_cup/3264435.stm
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/rugby_world_cup/3263021.stm
4. http://www.rugby-world-cup.net/results.php
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7030471.stm
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7043225.stm
7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/7043535.stm
8. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7043591.stm