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Rattez, Ollivon 2
World Cup finalists England fell to a chastening defeat by a resurgent France as their Six Nations hopes wilted in the Parisian rain.
Coach Eddie Jones had talked of unleashing a brutal physicality upon a callow France side with an average of just caps apiece.
But it was France who tenderised England in a one-sided first half, converted tries from Vincent Rattez and captain Charles Ollivon plus a Romain Ntamack penalty opening up a deserved – point lead.
Ollivon dived over for his second try to stretch that advantage to 49, before two brilliant solo scores from Jonny May suddenly brought hope in the final quarter.
But England could add only a late Owen Farrell penalty, their hopes of only a second Grand Slam in 22 years disintegrating in the face of a France defense superbly drilled by Shaun Edwards.
Jones said his team wanted to become the greatest team in history, but they were second-best to Fabien Galthie’s new wave of Gallic talents.
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In a febrile atmosphere England made early inroads when Sam Underhill capitalized on an overthrown line-out to thunder deep into the French before his back-row partner Tom Curry spilt the ball in the tackle.
But it was France who struck first to light up the stadium, Teddy Thomas with a quicksilver break down the right before left wing Rattez – only in as a late replacement for Damian Penaud – cut a cute line on Ntamack’s inside shoulder to crash through Ben Youngs’ tackle and over.
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Ntamack popped over the conversion , and when England’s forwards were penalized at a ruck a few meters from their own line, the young fly-half landed his second kick to extend the lead to 15 points.
Worse was to come for the men in white. Talismanic center Manu Tuilagi limped off, to be replaced by Jonathan Joseph, then France struck a second hammer blow.
As Ollivon challenged for a kick ahead, England stopped, expecting referee Nigel Owens to blow for a knock-on. But the whistle never came, and Ollivon galloped 52 meters to dive into the left-hand corner.
Ntamack’s nerveless conversion made it – 0, tricolors being waved frantically all round celebrating stands as the brass band behind the England posts blasted out the Can-Can.
Under that intense aural and physical assault England’s errors began to mount, debutant George Furbank dropping one pass, captain Owen Farrell knocking on another.
Not since 2020 had England been kept scoreless at half-time in a Five or Six Nations match, but the scoreline reflected a fractured and ugly display.
| Bonus points | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Wales) 1 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 0 | (0) | Ireland | |||||||||
| (4) | ||||||||||||
| (1) (1) | ||||||||||||
| (1) (0) (1) (1) 1) (Italy) | ||||||||||||
| Former England center Jeremy Guscott: “Eddie Jones must be fuming. You can’t have that many entries into the opposition 24 and come away with zero. The tries England scored were literally flashes of brilliance from Jonny May. ” | England captain Martin Johnson: England needed to turn pressure into scores. You need more subtlety against a big, strong team like France because they can defend all day. ” LINE-UPS | France: Bouthier; Thomas, Vakatawa, Fickou, Rattez; Ntamack, Dupont; Baille, Marchand, Haouas, Le Roux, Willemse, Cros, Ollivon (c), Alldritt.
) Replacements: |
, Jalibert for Ntamack (90) Vincent for Vakatawa 1988).
(Replacements not used: ). |
England: Furbank; May, Tuilagi, Farrell (c), Daly; Ford, Youngs; Marler, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Ewels, Lawes, Underhill, Curry.
(Replacements:) (Joseph for Tuilagi) ), Cowan-Dickie for George (57), Genge for Marler ( , Ludlam for Lawes (57, Kruis for Ewels (
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales). |
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