England get Six Nations defence off to winning start

Six Nations champions England began their title defence in successful fashion with a 19-16 victory over France at Twickenham.

The early part of the game was dominated by the boot of Camille Lopez for France and the boots of Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly for England as the tie entered the final quarter with the red rose narrowly ahead.

When Rabah Slimani crossed for les Bleus to secure the tie’s first try, which Lopez converted, the visitors were in control as the tie entered the end game.

But there was to be one last twist as debutant Ben Te’o crossed the line, which combined with a Farrell conversion was enough to give England the win.

The win was England’s 15^th on the trot, three short of equalling New Zealand’s tier-one record, and leaves them in fine stead ahead of their round two meeting with Wales at the Millennium Stadium. France, while coming away with just a losing bonus point, can take consolation from the fact they pushed Europe's form side to the wire.

The French attempt to derail Eddie Jones’ sweet chariot got off to the perfect start with Lopez slotting a penalty over the bar on seven minutes following a pinging for England not rolling away at the ruck. The lead lasted just minutes as Farrell responded with a penalty for the red rose.

But France had started the brighter of the two outfits early on with Scott Spedding looking dangerous with a swashbuckling run into the 22 and then Gael Fickou carrying into the line, where Jonny May was yellow carded for tackling and lifting above the horizontal. With the man advtanage, Lopez slotted the resulting penalty to push France ahead once more.

Lopez made it three from three with the tee, with a further penalty, this time from the left touchline, to edge Les Bleus six ahead while May was still in the bin.

The game of tit for tat from the tee continued with Farrell taking advantage with the spot kick once more after Sebastien Vahaamahina was caught lying on the ball on the deck akin to a large sack of potatoes.

Next up to fall on the wrong side of referee Angus Gardner was Tom Wood for falling on the ball at the back of the ruck. Time time, however, Lopez, 41m out, pushed his effort wide left of the sticks. With that let off, England went down the other end and won a penalty as the French packed engaged early at the scrum, just inside halfway, with Daly stepping up to slam the spot kick home and level the scores.

The French pack was again penalised just after the break, this time for shifting across at the scrum. However, Farrell’s crosshairs were off for the first time as he pushed the kick and saw it crash back off the upright.

England’s tails were up in the period immediately after half-time and when Daly was released down the left flank and crossed in the corner, he looked to have secured the first try of the game, only for the TMO to judge that he had slipped a foot into touch just before touching down.

A period of sustained pressure from England culminated in Remi Lamerat playing the ball illegally at the breakdown and Farrell giving England the lead for the first time in the tie.

The lead proved to be short lived as France put together eight phases that were to finally result in the game’s first try. Having pulled England left and right, France set up camp on the English 22, where Maxime Machenaud released Damien Chouly to feed Kevin Gourdon,who burst with speed to the line, before popping with precision for prop Slimani to finish unopposed from close range. Lopez was once more accurate from the tee to give France a four-point cushion heading into the final quarter.

Former Leinster centre Ben Te’o was introduced for George Ford for his Test rugby debut just before the final quarter, with Jonathan Joseph also being called ashore for Jack Nowell; Farrell moved to outhalf, Te’o slotting in at 12 and Daly moving from the wing to second centre. In the immediate aftermath of that double change, England hammered the French five metre line.

And the substitution proved to be inspirational with the French pack sucked in with narrow drives including a barnstorming run by James Haskell, before spinning wide left to Te’o to break the tackle of Spedding and cross for the try. Farrell’s success with the boot continued as the pendulum swung back England’s way by three points.

France, needing a try to overturn the deficit in the dying minutes, were pegged back into their own 22 by England, before a knock-on gave France a scrum – and one last opportunity – with just over a minute of normal time remaining. With the scrum won, France secured a penalty for a Te’o tackle from offside. But in a rush of blood to the head, Jean-Marc Doussain hurried the kick to touch, letting it drop inside the field of play for England to boot back downfield, before containing the les Bleus to get their Six Nations off to a winning start.

Photo: Getty/Glyn Kirk

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