England give French a pounding

WINGER Jonny May scored a hattrick in the first 30 minutes as a scintillating England ripped through a sorry France for a 44-8 victory at Twickenham yesterday to put them top of the Six Nations table after two rounds.

After claiming an unexpected bonus point victory over Ireland last week, the extra point was in the bag by half-time as Eddie Jones’s team exposed France’s ragged defence again and again with a relentless deluge of kicks of every description.

The irrepressible May bagged the first three and Henry Slade the fourth, with Damian Penaud’s sole response leaving England a remarkable 30-8 ahead at the break.

A penalty try and a try for Owen Farrell chasing his own kick put the game to bed early in the second half as France did not look remotely like mounting any sort of comeback.

England top the standings with 10 points from two bonus-point wins, with Wales – who they face next in Cardiff – on eight after their two opening victories.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend bemoaned a game of two halves as his side slipped to a 22-13 Six Nations loss to Ireland at Murrayfield on Saturday, but has backed the team to bounce back with a win against France in two weeks.

Scotland trailed 12-10 at the break, having created a number of opportunities to score tries in the opening period, but their execution in the second half was poor, especially at set-pieces, contributing heavily to their defeat. “We got a lot of our attacking game into play as well as really good decisions, really good work-rate off the ball, which meant we were finding space in the first half. If we were able to replicate that in the second half, I think we’d be here with a win,” Townsend told reporters.