England 34 France 12

 England scored 30 points without reply in a one-sided second half to get their Gillette Four Nations campaign off to a successful if unconvincing start with a routine victory over a fired-up France.

Teenage scrum half Richie Myler helped spare England’s blushes with a brace of tries, to add to the hat-trick he scored in their 66-12 win over France in June, but Tony Smith’s men will need a dramatic improvement against Australia next Saturday if they are to avoid a repeat of the 52-4 rout they suffered in their last meeting.

France clearly had plenty to prove after their disastrous World Cup and that 12-try humiliation on home soil and for long periods they looked the better team.

Tries from Vincent Duport and Kane Bentley put them 12-4 up by half-time as they sensed a first win over England for more than 27 years.

It all came good in the end as England ran in five second-half tries to give the 11,529 crowd at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium – the highest for an Anglo-French international since 1952 – something to cheer, although most of them had resorted to a Mexican wave long before centre Jean Philippe Baile was sent off for a high tackle on Myler.

There was little hint of the drama to come when England stand-off Danny McGuire sent his Leeds team-mate Lee Smith over for the game’s first try on 12 minutes.

But the French drew level thanks to winger Duport’s try midway through the first half, courtesy of some trickery from debutant Clint Greenshields.

Thomas Bosc’s conversion went in off an upright to give the visitors a shock lead and it got worse for England when second rower Julien Touxagas intercepted Scott Moore’s wayward pass to set up the position for hooker Bentley to scoot over from dummy half.

Myler duly sparked the fightback, jinking his way over for England’s second try three minutes into the second half.

He grabbed his second from Kevin Sinfield’s short pass on 49 minutes to edge his side back in front and the Leeds skipper accepted Jamie Peacock’s offload to go over for England’s third three minutes later.

And French resistance crumbled when left winger Ryan Hall snapped up Bosc’s pass near his own line and raced unopposed for his 34th try of the season.

Right winger Tom Briscoe also got in on the scoring act three minutes from the end when his collected substitute Kyle Eastmond’s grubber kick for his third try in two appearances.