England 26-25 France
by David Nicholson
at Twickenham

ENGLAND confounded their critics to win a pulsating Test match at Twickenham at the weekend as they ended France’s Grand Slam hopes.

Both sides made multiple errors in a tense game that was decided in the 79th minute.

England’s rolling maul made ground for Elliot Daly to race through to bring the home side within one point of France, Fin Smith slotting the conversion for a one-point win.

A victory over a very good French side will do coach Steve Borthwick’s men’s confidence no end of good.

England captain Maro Itoje said: “One thing I love is we’ll fight for each other, and we believe in each other.

“We were brave — that’s the foundation of what we want to be doing going forward.”

But France’s handling errors kept the home side in the game, as Les Bleus butchered multiple scoring opportunities.

The ball must have been dipped in oil as both sides made handling errors, with even the World’s best player Antoine Dupont guilty.

French defence coach Shaun Edwards said: “We got the oopsies, didn’t we? Every time we got near the try line, we seemed to just drop the ball and, I’ve never seen that happen before.

“The French lads are normally magnificent handlers of a rugby ball,” Edwards said.

But make no mistake, this was a tense game that England managed to claw their way back into after it seemed to have slipped away from them as France eased into a six-point second-half lead.

The lead swapped hands three times in the final 10 minutes as replacement prop Fin Baxter's try put England in front, only for France winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey to score a lovely try.

Marcus Smith had a dreadful day with the boot after he was put at full-back, with Fin Smith taking the flyhalf role.

The No 15 missed two relatively easy attempts at goal and handed over kicking duties to man-of-the-match Fin Smith.

The young flyhalf said: “I think we just really backed ourselves. We knew we couldn’t go into our shells.

“The French are an awesome outfit, and I felt like they let us off the hook in the first half.”

This was no day for faint hearts at Twickenham as both sets of forwards tried to wrestle superiority up front.

The English forwards led by captain Itoje held their own in the scrum but misfired at the line out until Jamie George replaced Luke Cowan-Dickie.

That was key to the match-winning try, as George’s final line out throw went arrow-straight to secure possession to set up the rolling maul.

A sleight of hand by Fin Smith allowed substitute Elliot Daly to roar through for the try to bring England within one point.

The conversion was duly slotted by the flyhalf and England had their nose in front by one point and the match.

The relief for Borthwick was palpable as he said he was pleased for his squad.

“I am very proud of the players, and we scored four tries against a very good French defence and worked hard to win that game.

“We will enjoy the result and then I will review the performance and get the team ready for Scotland,” he said.

England host Scotland at home in a fortnight, and a victory in the Calcutta Cup fixture would set the side up for a home game against Italy.