By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) – England ended their painful losing run with a stunning 26-25 Six Nations victory over France at Twickenham on Saturday as Elliot Daly’s last-gasp try punished the French for a catalogue of handling errors.
Those mistakes allowed England to reach halftime level and 7-7 and although they got their noses in front, Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s second try with five minutes left looked to have earned the French a fourth successive win over their old rivals.
England, however, surged back and replacement Daly blasted through for their fourth try at the death.
Flyhalf Fin Smith, making his first start, converted to send Twickenham wild and reignite England’s championship hopes following their opening defeat by Ireland.
“I felt like a rabbit in the headlights in the first half,” Smith said. “But I found my feet in the end, and I am delighted with the win more than anything but this is cool for a first start anyway.
“We have lost plenty of games and luckily this one went our way today. It was far from perfect but that group fought for it.
“We kept giving ourselves another shot and, we got ourselves over the line in the end. Unbelievable atmosphere, I am delighted with that.”
England’s new-look back three were repeatedly exposed in the opening quarter and they survived only thanks to French handling errors with tries looking easier to score than miss,
The dam burst after half an hour, however, when Antoine Dupont broke clear and slipped the ball to Damian Penaud, whose neat kick was scooped up by Bielle-Biarrey for the opening try.
England had entered the French 22 only once in that period but when the forwards did apply pressure it opened the way for centre Ollie Lawrence to blast over and make it 7-7 at halftime.
FRENCH PROFLIGACY
France’s profligacy continued after the break when hooker
Peato Mauvaka spilled the ball when all he had to do was fall over the line.
They edged ahead with a Thomas Ramos penalty but when England had a chance to match it they kicked to the corner – and duly turned the ball over after another scruffy lineout.
Ramos added another penalty but England claimed a second try when Tommy Freeman rose to catch a pinpoint kick by Fin Smith.
Marcus Smith missed the conversion, though, to keep France a point ahead going into the final 20 minutes.
They quickly stretched that to six when Penaud finished a crisp move in the corner to take his international tally to 37 tries in 54 games – one short of Serge Blanco’s national record which came in 93 matches.
England hit back when prop Fin Baxter barrelled over and Fin Smith took over the kicking duties for the conversion after two bad misses by his namesake Marcus to nudge England a point ahead.
It did not last long with England’s defence again torn to shreds as Bielle-Biarrey scored his second try.
But England, having faded in the latter stages so often during their wretched run of seven successive defeats against Tier One nations, showed real energy.
Driving a lineout maul forward, they sucked in French defenders and Daly, his bright white shirt glowing among his muddied teammates, burst through to score three minutes after coming on.
Fin Smith kicked a straightforward conversion to grab the lead and England dealt with the restart efficiently to secure a precious victory.
They next face Scotland at Twickenham while France visit Italy in two weeks.
“It’s a big disappointment but the championship is not over with a big clash against Ireland,” Dupont said of the showdown in Dublin. “We should have scored more.”
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)
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