Britain humbled by France
9th July 2007by British Swimming
Reigning champions France reminded hosts Great Britain of the work that is required on their return to the European fold and ahead of London 2012 with a 12-6 victory on Day Two of the LEN European Nations Trophy at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.
France captain Frederic Audon - the tournament's leading scorer after the first round of matches and the leading marksman in the 2006 FINA World League - took his tally in the competition to 16 with six goals in the match, including one in the second quarter when France did a 6-1 demolition job on their cross-Channel neighbours.
Lancaster's Tom Curwen scored a hat-trick, including two in a much-improved second-half performance from Britain.
Audon opened the scoring after 38 seconds beating Manchester goalkeeper Ed Scott with a shot to the top corner, and added a second with 1 minute 53 seconds to go. He continued to be the biggest threat to Britain with his outside shooting, but Scott was equal to his efforts on two further occasions. Britain spurned the chance to draw level when they rushed two extra-man opportunities and Scott was in action again, turning a shot from Arnaud Jablonski over the bar.
France extended their lead in the second through Audon's delicate lob. Curwen pulled a goal back when Jean Baptiste Favry was excluded, drilling the ball beyond Jonathan Moriame from the left wing.
Marc Amardeilh scored a bounce shot to restore France's three-goal lead and centre forward Mickael Bodegas added a fifth soon afterwards. Bodegas claimed his second when Britain's defence was caught napping. Quentin Chipotel then scored on the fast break and Yann Vergeade added an eighth with a minute to go in the second period.
Audon scored his fourth when Chris Gilbertson was sent out for a foul on Bodegas early in the third quarter. Audon then grabbed a fifth and then a sixth following Andrew Squires' exclusion.
Lancaster's Scott Carpenter forced the ball under Moriame's arm to pull one back. Carpenter's club mate Squires then fired into the top corner for Britain's second goal of the period. Captain Craig Figes then got in on the act, scoring from the left wing with 1.8 seconds of the period remaining after Yann Clay had received his second exclusion of the game.
Tom Curwen scored his second goal of the game with 2 minutes 20 seconds to go, breaking the fourth-quarter stalemate. Romain Blary scored his first goal of the game for France to cancel-out Curwen's effort.
When Jablonski was excluded with 26.1 seconds remaining Eelco Uri called a time-out for Britain and Curwen claimed his third of the match for the resulting 6-on-5.
Result: 12-6 (2-0; 6-1; 3-3; 1-2)
France: 1 Jonathan Moriame, 2 Romain Blary (1 goal), 3 Arnaud Jablonski, 4 Frederic Audon (Capt, 6), 5 Yann Vergeade (1), 6 Remi Saudadier, 7 Mickael Bodegas (2), 8 Jean Baptiste Favry, 9 Yann Vernoux, 10 Yann Clay, 11 Marc Amardeilh (1), 12 Quentin Chipotel (1), 13 Soufien Riabi
Great Britain: 1 Ed Scott, 2 Sean Ryder, 3 Mark Banwell, 4 Scott Carpenter (1 goal), 5 Craig Figes (Capt, 1), 6 Andrew Squires (1), 7 Alex Parsonage, 8 Tom Curwen (3), 9 Rob Parker, 10 Adam Scholefield, 11 Chris Gilbertson, 12 Matthew Thresher, 13 Matthew Birch