What did rugby league gain from England's double thrashing of France

As England’s men and women’s teams racked up emphatic victories over France at a half-empty Stade Ernest-Wallon in Toulouse in the only in-season international, the nagging feeling was what was the point and what can be done about it?

Short of moving England to the Pacific Ocean, there isn't a favourable solution. Even then, Australia would find a way to get out of a mid-season Test.

Logistically, England can only play the home nations or France.

Given the strength of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the French are regarded as the best option for a competitive international.

There is an argument that France need regular games against England to improve but the facts suggest it is not a worthwhile exercise for either side.

Even on Saturday, England’s comfortable 40-8 victory extended their winning run against France to 23 matches.

England are not in action again until after the Super League season when they face Samoa in a two-Test series, the first at Wigan on October 27 and the second at Headingley the following Saturday.

In the absence of head coach Shaun Wane, recovering from ankle surgery, England hit back after France had taken a surprise early lead to score eight tries and remain unbeaten against France since 1981.

But even then, it required an intervention from his sick bed from Wane, as stand-in coach Andy Last explained.

"Shaun messaged our analyst at half-time and gave a couple of pointers with regard to some of the things that we needed to do a little bit better,” said Last.

"He wasn’t happy, obviously, with our contact in defence in that first half. We were a little bit loose in certain aspects. That message was delivered to the players at half-time.

"I thought there were periods where we looked really, really strong and periods where we were a little bit off the mark and not quite at the level that we need to be at for England.

"There are lessons to learn. We’ll have a look at it on the video and we’ll certainly be a lot better for that come the end of the season against Samoa."

The winning margin would have been bigger had Wigan half-back Harry Smith not missed four of his eight conversion attempts, but England were made to work harder than the scoreline suggests.

France stunned the visitors by taking a third-minute lead when Fouad Yaha raced on to Arthur Mourgue’s bouncing kick to score a converted try in the corner.

England struggled to get going and when Mourgue converted a 20th-minute penalty to put France 8-0 up, Wane’s side had not created a scoring chance.

But that changed shortly afterwards as England clicked into gear to run in four tries in just over 10 minutes to turn their deficit into an 18-8 half-time advantage.

Jack Welsby touched down in the corner, Ash Handley finished off two moves out wide on the right and opposite wing Tom Johnstone also went over, with Smith landing only one of his first four conversion attempts.

England were forced to defend for the first 20 minutes after the restart before Matty Nicholson ran on to Smith’s clever kick to score, with Welsby going over for his second try five minutes later.

Smith converted the latter and landed two more after captain George Williams had darted over and Johnstone scored his second try to complete the scoring.

Both England’s men and women faced France on Saturday as part of French rugby league’s 90th anniversary celebrations.

In the women’s international, England ran in eight unanswered tries in another dominant display against France to win 42-0 in Toulouse.

Stuart Barlow’s side, who beat France 64-0 when the two sides last met in April last year, went over four times in in either half, while impressive Wigan teenager Isabel Rowe landed five of her eight conversion attempts.

Wigan wing Anna Davies and York’s Georgie Hetherington both scored tries on their debuts, either side of Amy Hardcastle’s touch down, while Zoe Harris also went over in the first period.

Having led 20-0 at the interval, England added another four tries in the second period through Paige Travis, Davies’ second of the match, Eboni Partington and Emily Rudge.

The match was part of a double-header to help celebrate 90 years of French rugby league, ahead of the men’s international.