England recovered from a rubbish first half to defeat France in the Four Nations opener in Doncaster, partly dues to French indiscipline.

Richie Myler

Lee Smith opened the scoring for the hosts, but tries from Vincent Duport and Kane Bentley gave France a 12-4 half-time lead. The second period and England realised they had a game to win and two early tries from Richie Myler settled the nerves, before Kevin Sinfield added another. An interception try from Ryan Hall made it 28-12 before a Kyle Eastmond grubber put Tom Briscoe over late on, giving England 30 points to nil in the half and the final score of:

England 34-12 France

Teams

England: S Briscoe, T Briscoe, Smith, Shenton, Hall, McGuire, Myler, Morley, Moore, Peacock, Ellis, Burgess, Sinfield.

Replacements: Eastmond for S. Briscoe (54), Graham for Morley (25), Roby for Moore (21), Westwood for Peacock (27).

France: Greenshields, Duport, Raguin, Baile, Pelo, Bosc, Wymm, Ferriol, Bentley, Casty, Elima, Gagliazzo, Fakir.

Replacements: Sadaoui for Ferriol (30), Billggas for Bentley (50), Touxagas for Casty (20), Martins for Fakir (26).

Sent Off: Baile (79).

Att: 11,529

Ref: Leon Williamson (New Zealand).