England thrash depleted France

England warmed-up for the upcoming Four Nations with an impressive 66-12 win over France in Paris this evening.

It was completely one-way traffic in the first-half in which a young England team ran in eight unanswered tries.

Castleford centre Michael Shenton scored the opening try of the match after eight minutes as he touched down in the left-hand corner.

Leeds star Danny McGuire was on fire for England in the first-half and got a deserved try as he made the break from his own half and then finished things off after good work from Shaun Briscoe and Scott Moore.

Salford scrum-half Richard Myler capped off his second game for England with a couple of tries in three minutes. His first try came after a break from Sam Burgess and then a terrific off-load from Jamie Peacock led to Myler scoring his second.

France, who were missing six first team regulars through injury, were all over the place and England scored at will. Peter Fox, Ryan Hall and Briscoe (2) added further tries before the break and with Myler converting six of the tries as England went in with a 44-0 lead.

New France coach Bobby Goulding had a huge task of trying to lift their players for the second-half, but he managed to do this as they came out a different side after the break.

The French scored two morale-boosting tries through Jean-Phillipe Baile and Cyril Gossard, with Thomas Bosc converting both.

It was England though who finished on top as Myler completed his hat-trick, Fox scored his second try and James Roby and Burgess added further tries.