I have just found this great press photography showing Equipe de France before playing against England, on April 13. 1914 (a high res pic is available on Flickr)
They are at the Stade de Colombes, home of the Racing Club de France (cf the RCF letters on the door behind the players).
The guys at www.planet-rugby.com wrote a few words about this early "Crunch" last year, highlighting the terrible impact of WW1 on this generation of players ("Of the 30 players who played in this match, 11 were killed in World War I")
France scored first and were right in the game till half-time when England led 13-8. But England ran away with it in the second half and won 39-13.
England won the Grand Slam. France and Scotland did not win a match and they did not play each other because Scotland were angry with the behaviour of the Paris crowd the year before.
Ronnie Poulton scored four tries that afternoon. One of the great three-quarters of his day, he changed his name to Poulton-Palmer to inherit some money. He was shot by a sniper in Belgium in World War I. His last words are said to have been: "I shall never play at Twickenham again."
Cyril Lowe, a wing considered by some to be too small to play, scored a hat-trick of tries. He played in 25 consecutive matches for England and was at one stage England's most capped player. During World War I he was a fighter pilot. He is inspired a poem by PG Wodehouse, entitled The Great Day.
The crowd were vocal in their hostility to England.
There were no more matches for six years after this one, as World War I broke out..
Of the 30 players who played in this match, 11 were killed in World War I.
England: James Watson, nicknamed Bungy, who was drowned when a submarine sank the HMS Hawke on which he was a surgeon, Ronnie Poulton, Arthur Dingle, a schoolmaster whose nickname was Mud, Francis Oakley, who was drowned as a submariner, Arthur Harrison, who fought in the Battle of Jutland and was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his part in the action at Zeebrugge, and Robert Pillman, who was a brother of Cherry,
France: Marcel Burgun, who was shot down, Jean Larribau, Emmanuel Iguiniz, Felix Fauré, and Jacques Conilh de Beyssac.
Full stats of the game are available at scrum.com
The team line-ups were :
France: J-L. Capmau, M. Burgun, J-J. Conilh de Beyssac, J. Larribau, F. Forgues, F. Faure , J. Caujolle, E. Iguiniz, R. Lacoste, M-F. Lubin-Lebrere, L. Besset, M. Leuvielle (Captain), G. Pierrot, P. Bascou, G. Andre
England: J.E. Greenwood, F.E. Oakeley, A.R. Sykes, F.le S. Stone, W.R. Johnston, H.C. Harrison, C.N. Lowe, S.E.J. Smart, J.H.D. Watson, R.L. Pillman, R.W. Poulton (Captain), L.G. Brown, A.J. Dingle, A.L. Harrison, W.J.A. Davies
I also have a photography of the game in poor condition but worth being displayed...
Technorati Tags: rugby, france, rcf, ww1, colombes
I have seen these pictures on the web....but where, very nice image of the French team, was this taken in the stadium.?
Posted by: John | 16/12/2006 at 22:29