Lewsey try against France 2003

[moabdah9]

back in the day were we were better than france :|

[madandyb]

Teamwork - brilliant!!

[benpicard49]

i dont think there is much difference between the top 5 ranked teams in the world (NZ, AUS, RSA, FRA, ENG), i think at the end of the day it just comes to down to self belief, any of those teams that genuinely think they can win the world cup could do it

[lesviolonsdautomne]

There's a forward pass at 14.00.

But there's also a dangerous tackle à 31.00 probably from Liebenberg (his look... and his style of play) that worths a yellow card.

All in all, at the 80th minute and a 38-9 lead... that doesn't change anything !

England was nearly unbeatable at that time. Probably the best team they ever had.

[assassinsorigami]

Josh lewsey used to go to my school Watford boys grammar school awesome player

[ragerancher]

@assassinsorigami I used to go to that school too :D Saw him when he came and played cricket with the teachers.

[robbie12385]

hello

[Gren4Life]

Two greatest Rugby nations in Europe

[yannoche]

Damm I miss Lewsey!

Wait no, I can't I'm french! :)

Sure this player ranks among my fav roastbeef list with Catt, Dallaglio, Underwoods...

[yannoche]

Damm I miss Lewsey!

Wait no, I can't I'm french! :)

Sure this player ranks among my fav roastbeef list with Catt, Dallaglio, Underwoods...

[tomwalker07]

I was at this game - the french didn't even bother, it was a world cup warm up.

[somerandomer]

awesome pass by greenwood. forgotten how good he was

[Gancia113]

true, they where my favorite team whole time, the 2002-2003 england team is the best :p

[moroll]

just read all of the comments below. To be hounest England and wales are both highly competitive and brilliant teams! thats a fact you can not deny it both teams have had success...it just so happens at the hight of englands success they managed to go an entire year with it! i am talking about the 2003 year. Wales on the other hand have had success of there own. I feel it is only time before the welsh have victory of there own in the world cup!

[motion2005]

England had far more than just 1 year of success. They were at their best in 2001/2002. That team put together 24 wins out of 25 consecutive games. And the 1 they lost was by 1 point in France with their second team out. Wales will only be considered great when they manage to beat Southern hemisphere teams home and away like England did for 9 consecutive games. One off wins against Australia every so often don't count, Wales need to show they are world beaters and are no where near that yet.

[MrGingGongGing]

competely right

and maybe it could be the 2003 year afterall they won the callcutta cup, rwc trophy, six nations grand slam and the triple crown!

but great comment!

[Jimbo77760]

@moroll I think Wales have unfortunately already had their hight of greatness, and that during the world cup, they will always be overshadowed by the strong Southern hemispheres and England (previous world cup winners), and increasingly France. For Wales to be within a hope of winning the world cup, they would have to win the Six Nations with a staggering Grand Slam victory and win all of their tours. Therefore, they need a lot more skill and time. World cup not for now, Welsh fans. Very sorry!!

[Dreadepic]

@moroll Wales had a very good team in 2003 anyway, and I wish we beat France by this much in the semies of the RWC that year.. damn

[Jattpunjabi69]

that tackle that happen around 0:25ish was fukin awsome lol

[moroll]

it was also a completely dangerous unnecessary iligal tackle. but i do agree it looked good!

[MrGingGongGing]

innit!!!!!!!!!

[gazzer994]

shut up you arrogant prick, im guessing u watched the match therefore u shood no that wales completely outplayed england in every part of the game, the difference was that england didnt score 2 tries, wales gave away 2 tries, n england didnt give away a try, wales scored it, get your facts right dikhead

[Jattpunjabi69]

dude gazzer994 got a ponit wales are much much much better the england just to let u no im not from wales

[elgringoborracho]

Wow England 2003 were f****ing brilliant

[GSHOTCOMINGUP]

03 Champions!!

[teanak1]

England are hopeless!

[motion2005]

So hopeless we managed to dump the arrogant Aussies out of the 2007 World cup.

[teanak1]

lol.I live in Aussie,but i ain't aussie.

[schnozz87]

@motion2005 AND smash Australia twice i nthe last 5 months... x

[pugsley141]

The 03 England team was the most dominant team ever to grace rugby.

[crash669]

Was this England's last match before heading off to the World Cup? If it was I was at this match but for some reason (booze) I seem to remember the French scoring more points. This was revenge for the French ending our world record winning streak of 19 matches when they beat England 2nd's by 1 point in France - the All Blacks now hold the record at 22 I think - but it's easy to forget ust how good England were then, easily best in the world and one of the best sides of all time without doubt.

[Harry427]

england have never been as good as this team, and will be very hard to return to this sort of form

[yannoche]

Lewsey creates teh breach and finishes this huge team wave. This player is great. Too bad we don't see him in english team lately.

[RATMfanforlife]

He retired from International.

[rob12192]

did anyone else notice the huge hit on moody at 0:30

[911mattias]

it's neil back, not lewis moody

[rob12192]

ahh yes so it is i just noticed

[mitchyo11]

1.jenkins 2.flannery 3.murray 4.wyn jones 5.o'connell 6.jones 7.williams 8.heaslip 9.blair 10.jones 11.williams 12.roberts 13.o'driscoll 14.bowe 15.byrne

[motion2005]

Ryan Jones? He shouldnt even be on the plane. Blair is over-rated. Shane Williams has had an awful season and is too old. Roberts isn't as good as Flutey. Byrne hasn't been good this season, Armitage is better. Wales ended up 4th in the Six nations and England 2nd, scoring the most tries.

The only welshmen that deserve to be in the test team are Jenkins, AW jones, M Williams, S Jones. Vickery, Shaw, Croft, Cueto, Flutey and Armitage deserve a test spot.

[ali86000]

If you are saying that Williams is too old then why the fuck did you choose Vichery and Shaw??? fuck gay kunt learn how to count

[motion2005]

what does being gay have to do with it

[ali86000]

well your a dick head because you can't count or your english and you don't like the fact that there are so many Welsh players on the team. I thing that your a mix of both an English DIckhead no write back when you can count ; Your english forwards are old farts and your backs and crap England play ping pong rugby against teams like the all blacks that will not work so fuck off

[motion2005]

Unlike Wales, Eng have actually beaten the All blacks. England play ping pong rugby and have crap backs? Remind me who the top try scorers of the Six Nations were, with 16? 15 by backs? Didn't Wales only manage 8? And concede almost as many points as you scored?Oh dear. I think you're a bit embarrassed at finishing 4th in the table, two spots behind England. Too many Welsh Lions. Rees, Adam Jones, Phillips and Powell shouldn't be anywhere near the squad. S Williams, Byrne and Roberts were poor.

[ali86000]

Ok lets put things in thier place ok? Who won in the England Walse match? ok sorry sorry when was the last time the English beat the welsh? Oh yes you scored so many points!!! well done how many off those points were against France in that bad french team? ok just shut the fuck up you dick head and go wank off infrount of you over weight Englsih forwards ok

[motion2005]

When was the last time England beat Wales? When we scored 9 tries against your solitary score. What a humilation that must have been. You remember, it was a few months before England made the world cup final and Wales were dumped out by Fiji, much to the amusement of the rugby world.Out of the 16 tries we scored this year,5 were against France. Ignoring that whole match we still scored 3 more than you. Wales v Eng could have gone either way, but our indiscipline cost us the match.Same v Ireland.

[stroketheboat]

@ali86000 that's a bit nasty. Sounds like you've a chip on your shoulder, mate. Tidy!

[STYLINGman]

@ali86000 england beat the welsh less than a year ago 30-17 i was there at twickenham so dont pretend that we dont beat you

[motion2005]

Mears, Worsley and Croft instead of Haskell.

[53to3]

i can pick 5 lions, Sheridan,armitage,care,croft,m­onye

[cookieboy56]

as good as it gets lets hope for more of this

SWEET!

[Mutzy02]

That try sumed england up in 2003, fast powerful and creative. Absolutely awesome.

[dartmoordog]

I am English mate, and I hope you are right, I realy do.

[re840]

those were the days if only they played like that on sat the 14th

lewsey and cohen are fantastic players

..... we can only hope to put in a good performance and beat the welsh

[dartmoordog]

No wonder England were unbeatable!..........WE are total shite now. I cannot pick one current player for the LIONS Test team.

[vinsong]

joe worsely must

[shiznykid]

nah. not a chance. with wales and ireland back rows? only person is sackey.

[tkw251070]

Support players all over the place, forwards driving into rucks (in small numbers), quick ball, spatial awarness, structure to the play. It WAS great...

[tomhowes99]

0:31 that shoulder charge on number 7, Moody i think it is, how didnt the french player get penalised for that!?

[stroketheboat]

Those were the days indeed. What they did in those phases was so simple and so well drilled - basic rugby like that works against any team in the World and this is the reason why England went on to win a World Cup.#

Its just a same they try to complicate things so much now and cant do the basics.

Happy days :)

[mkwapower]

The stregnth of the pack.. Too good too experienced..

[UKG0L8EN8OY]

those were the days

[gingerjames86]

wow, we used to be good.

[Sterlingjob]

Notice the QUICK ball by dawson, care likes to look at the ball and point alot!

[simplynutter08]

why the fuck is lewsey still being left out the england squad

[WrightyBoy8]

Because some useless prick with some Nigerian sounding name is playing!!

[vinniechan]

Don't be harsh, he is going through a steep learning curve but he was pretty solid.

Lewsey (along with a few players from Wasps) were suffering from the teams failure at the start of the season.

Sad to hear Lewsey might announce his retirement from test rugby. We need a hard man character like him to give the team a kick

[daluter]

I don't know if any of you sa the videos by Baasleanord. But boy are they are dead on about England's problems

In that video, notice the amount of frenchman in any ruck during this video. You really deserve a big pat on the back if you can find one, because I couldn't. As a result, quickball. And as a result, better attack.

Bring in some forwards who know a thing or two about rucking

[vinniechan]

Exactly wut a fellow rugby fan said below - quick balls. When you hv quick balls going forward, (ie get behind their defence line) the defence don't even have time to work out where to run.

England were much fitter at that time and had the decency to make sure support is around. The first player out of the ruck was confident to read what's in front of him and be the decision maker instead of having and hence to wait for the scrum half to arrive.

[WrightyBoy8]

True but dont think he is the answer!! We need Tait and strettle back in the squad!!

Johnson has no faith in Lewsey which is a shame, although I am a Wasps fan so glad we will always have him around!

[vinniechan]

That depends, when he made that tackle on de Villiers, the form and the character was what can really give England lift.

I love watching Strettle - he's so aggressive always looking to attack and score, precisely the sort of conviction - but he proved to be a bit light weight when up against Rocokoko in NZ.

Stop screwing Tait around, put him in 13. Our Mid field of Wilko-Flood-Tait will be our best option, (this is always a very good defensive mid field)

[vinsong]

a very different england (fast ball)

[oL1iEbOii]

im english but the hit at :30 is a bit high init a mean fukin hell shuld b a red

[Raichu234]

Yer ur right it was high

[jonoschmono]

England Squad-2003 = legendary

[vinniechan]

You can't deny, that England team was the best of the world at that time. God knows how many wins leading to the world cup.

What a team to miss.

[roromi86]

england was better than france in 2003 but not in WR2007...

[byrniemac791]

this is a great drive by england, nice runs by the backs, but nice support by fowards to keep possession too

[yinsu]

i completely agree. Lewsey, great offload!

Wish England can play more like this now days....

[mitchellh0210]

Being the best team doens't necessarily mean you're going to win - New Zealnd have been the best team leading up to almost every world cup, but still haven't won it since the first one in 87

[sheepy90]

I think youl find that it is normally New Zealand who rate themselves as the best team in the world, most of the other rugby nations know that they are rubbish under pressure

[mjameso]

I agree and usually they play 2nd string sides when the northern teams tour down under that's why they got a nasty surprised when they played France at the RWC 2007

[Myself0101]

the english fitness was much better then, the tight 5 were blowing really hard against us (scotland) at the weekend, and at the world cup the forwards looked unconditioned, in 2003 they were something special

[Sharp5686]

Agreed

[Sharp5686]

We were the best team in the world then no question. Of course we were gonna win the WC! Every name in this team was/still is an amazing player

[littlteapot]

Lewsey started it all and ended it all.

[comedyloz]

What a team me had then. In 4 years, it will be the same again :D

[bathrugby13]

That pass from greenwood to the second row was immense.

[okainio]

yeah i know! made him go for the intercept and get out the way!

[vinniechan]

I love how positive England was.

Over the stoppage time and they didnt look to kill the play.

OMG, Lewis Moody was good even back then

[cameroncj118]

that had really good communication

[macker4690]

this wasnt in the world cup this was a few weeks before they went

a warm up match if u will

they met france in the semis and it was much closer because of shit weather

[stupid0150]

it was the semis.

[DJDavidColin]

wow I had know idea they got this smashed..explains why they became champs later. This is what we did to arg, and then we became champs

[dangerdave18]

Nice team effort there

[richienakamura]

You can watch that Greenwood pass at 00:38 over and over what a legend

[TheMoneyKing12]

Dirty bastard at 00:30 nearly knocked moodys head off that should have been a send off right there.

[RichieLocks]

France vs England World Cup Match. Think it was semi-finals or quarter

[ejth20]

great try. we need more of this. last night was nice and tight but lacked cutting edge. this is where we need to go from here - high tempo, quick ball, sensible offloads, intelligent rugby. hopefully ashton can conjure something up with some new faces. bring on the six nations.

[NobodysHero818]

Exactly. There were signs this was happening in the Six Nations with some of the newer players - Harry Ellis, David Strettle, etc. but during the world cup we were hampered by so many injuries. With the side back at full strength by the Six Nations the time is right for the 6N championship to return to us, possibly with a Triple Crown or Grand Slam in there too.

[NobodysHero818]

In fact if i remember rightly Ashton was the attack coach under Clive Woodward for this England team, the England team reknown for, and i quote, 'scoring tries for fun', such was their devistating finishing. Hopefully with Ashton as head coach he can conjure up the old magic again.

[boothie2006]

it is perfect rugby, 3 weeks ago England were no way as good as that. Now they are...an amazing turn around. Go England!

[Tagikakibau]

Well done Josh for today as well!!!

All these negative comments! Where was the belief? We're gonna be world champions again!!!

[ChrisRead7]

is this before of after the world cup?

[smoothie008]

perfect rugby! why can't we play like that now!

[anyfekinnamewilldo]

read your words and weep!

[desman31]

No genius, but impressive power and organization. The feeling that you can't stop them from moving forward. Thanks for thoses images of the "All Whites".

This year NH squads look so poor...

[EggingCheese]

they were the days when we could beat france.....

[anyfekinnamewilldo]

oh ye of little faith

[mmmcaketlh]

I almost cried when I heard the name Greenwood... the backline miss him so much.

[jcopper13]

the was the dogs bollocks

[jonnywislon]

This video epitomises why England won the world cup. We knew how to play as a team and our spacial awareness was superb.

It is something that Ashton will never be able to replicate

[niceface99]

37 secs - Greenwood's amazing pass. Love it, just like vs France in 2003 for Robinson's try

[wombles0980]

shows just where we were and the way we retained ball and released good quick bal to the backs!!!! we have 3 tests in august coming up against wales and france twice! come on boys give us a spingboard to the world cup!!!!!!!

[EggingCheese]

This is a message from the futur.............. we trashed the welsh 65-5 or something and lost to the french both times

[hippyking13]

nice hit by the french guy on england no 7 at 30 secs

[capok]

anyone have that 2003 england v NZ when we packed down 6 v 8 on our own 5 metre line?

[usersm6762]

cheeky sod just you wait till september youll see

COME ON ENGLAND

[edthered26]

Fantastic build up play. Back when England could play rugby!!!