Valiant England go down swinging in thrilling Six Nations defeat by France (2024)

“Our attack was great but I was very disappointed with the defence. You should not have to score 30 points to win a Test match. Our midfield [was where the problem was] we were missing tackles. We need to sort that out - it was the worst defensive display since I arrived in France.”

On the emotions in the camp...

“I am really disappointed for the players - they worked so hard. I am proud they’ve worked hard to progress.”

On the performance...

“Sometimes you just have to stay in the fight - they boys did well. Ultimately we ran out of time. When you play like that you don’t actually lose, you just run out of time.”

On England’s Six Nations...

“I’ll review the tournament properly, I’ll take my time...but what we’ve shown over the past two weeks is that we can take on the top-four teams. But we don’t just want to compete, we want to win.”

Here are the player ratings from Lyon after a memorable match.

READ: Player ratings: England’s Ollie Chessum takes the fight to France

On the emotions after the defeat...

“Devastating - similar to the last time we were in France against South Africa [in the World Cup]. France showed their class but we are a team definitely on an upward curve.”

On the performance...

“Way we came out after the break we were impressive we put France under a lot of pressure but fair play to them they show their class and fair play to Ramos for slotting that over.”

On the championship...

“We let ourselves down against Scotland. But [today] we gave it a good go, our scrum and set piece held up well. I’ve loved the last seven weeks.”

England cannot win the ball from the restart and France manage to see the game out in the last 40 seconds.

Brilliant match to finish the championship. Both sides contributed to that - bravo to both. France found the reserves to pip England who played some outstanding stuff and finish in third place with their victors tonight in second.

France 33 England 31

Ramos missed the previous kick but he doesn’t miss this - it easily has the legs and France are two points up with less than a minute to go.

France 30 England 31

What hands! Brilliant from Ford - he’s up flat and makes a lovely pass that sucks in the France defence, Smith does equally well to set up Freeman who scores in the corner - remarkable stuff. Ford then makes the conversion from the right touchline and England now have a one-point lead.

France 30 England 24

England shoot themselves in the foot and hand France this score. It’s a line out and it’s thrown long and loose. Ramos is the first to react and kicks long. It falls to Penaud who plays in Fickou who runs over the line unopposed - Lyon is now rocking and France are in front once again. Ramos adds the extras - he’s not missed a thing today.

France 23 England 24

France have possession for what seems like the first time this half. They are on the front foot again, England are under heavywieght pressure and they cannot hold out as having barged holes with the big men they throw it wide and Le Garrec and Ollivon find Barre who goes over from close range. Ramos adds the extras and we now have a one-point game. What a match we have on our hands.

You know how I wrote that England had to bring energy and momentum into the second half?

Well, tipping the game on its head is certainly one way to do that. France are stunned, rattled.

Can England see it home from here?

Changes as the visitors replace their front row - Genge has had a great game.

France need to get the ball and put England under pressure - it’s been all the visitors since the break.

France 16 England 24

Great score as they throw to the back of a line out on half way. They move the ball into the midfield where Genge pops the ball to Early who makes 10 yards or so before passing to an on-rushing Smith who goes over the line for England’s third try in six minutes - what a turnaround! Ford adds the two and the visitors now have an eight-point lead.

France 16 England 17

Decent start from England to the second half, Freeman is set free on the right thanks to a lovely pass from Slade, I think, they then move the ball inside and Ben Earl then breaks free. France just about stop the England No.8 but it only momentarily prevents a score as Lawrence crosses the whitewash for the second time. What a way to start the second 40. Ford adds the extras and the visitors are back ahead.

Salvation. A glimmer of hope for England at the end of the first half.

And boy was it needed. Ollie Lawrence’s score on the stroke of half-time has visibly lifted the English mood, with Steve Borthwick’s charges jogging purposefully down the tunnel. England did significantly disrupt France in that half and did not deserve a 13-point half-time deficit. Thankfully, Borthwick’s side found something.

England navigated the opening quarter successfully, and were good value for their three-point lead. Ellis Genge got an unexpected edge over France’s behemoth tighthead Uini Atonio twice in succession but a sensational, sweeping score from France scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec, with Léo Barré leaving the English backs for dead in the build-up, put the wind in French sails. Thomas Ramos kicked two more penalties to leave England staring down a half-time barrel, but Lawrence got England back in it.

The visitors must take that momentum and energy into the second half. An early French score could give England too much of a mountain to climb but England are right in this. Trailing by six points at half-time in France is no shame but the next 40 minutes are crucial in how the English public judge this Six Nations campaign.

France 16 England 10

This time England create a driving maul, France defend well until they are penalised for being offside - Ollivon and Atonio the culprits.

They again kick for touch, before moving the ball left - it’s just what England needed, and it’s poor French defending as Lawrence goes under the posts, Fickou’s missed tackle will doubtless incur the wrath of Shaun Edwards.

France 16 England 3

The hosts again opt to go for the points and Ramos is looking good - he’s not missed.

And if you hadn’t seen enough of hardened objects crashing into things equally as hard this evening, the spider-cam has just collided with the posts, sending them ricocheting in their stands. Thankfully, there was no toppling.

Back to the rugby and it looks as simple as England needing to score next. French tails are up here in Lyon.

France 13 England 3

Ramos has his kicking boots on today, he slots that through the uprights from near the left flank.

France 10 England 3

That is an incredible score and French brilliance. It starts with them stealing possession at the line out in their own half. They move the ball down the line at pace - it’s turnover ball so England aren’t marking the outside channel and the hosts exploit it brilliantly as they get wide and makes yards with ease on the left. Everyone hits the ball at pace, they then move inside and Le Garrec finishes the move under the posts - lovely score. Ramos adds the extras and the stadium is rocking once again.

France 3 England 3

The hosts are level as Ramos slots the kick from all of 40 yards or so.

France 0 England 3

Birthday boy Ford slots the penalty through the posts and the visitors have an early lead.

The Groupama Stadium might be barely clinging on to Lyon’s city limits, in the outer suburb of Decines-Charpieu, but the nighttime atmosphere is sufficiently intense for the master of ceremonies to be losing his voice already. France have been forced out on the road this year due to the Stade de France’s mobilisation for the Paris Olympics this summer, and there is much to recommend the approach. A memory endures of how loud Manchester was for England at the 2015 World Cup, even for the grisliest of dead rubbers against Uruguay.

On what he’s looking for...

“We want to make sure that the intensity [is there] we want to build on last week’s win.”

On facing France...

“I think we’ve seen progress. We wanted to see how we match up against the best teams in the world and tonight is another one of those opportunities.”

Here’s Charlie Morgan on how England can combat the big French.

READ: French pack is massive – so here is how England should deal with it

Was a humdinger, if you’re French, and haunting if you’re English.

Steve Borthwick’s side were subjected to their heaviest ever home defeat as Les Bleus dominated in a 53-10 victory at Twickenham.The French were simply outstanding, they dominated the breakdown, most of the collisions and everything flowed from there.

This was a peach of a try from Penaud and summed up the France display.

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George Ford continues at fly-half as England keep faith with the side that stunned Ireland.

Steve Borthwick has made only one enforced change, choosing Elliot Daly to replace the injured Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who reported concussion symptoms incurred against Ireland.

Tommy Freeman, on his first international start, will wear the No 14 jersey while Manu Tuilagi makes his first appearance of the Six Nations after taking Daly’s place on the bench. The match will be Tuilagi’s first for England since last autumn’s World Cup bronze medal match, having missed the opening rounds because of a groin problem.

Ford has held off the challenge of Marcus Smith to retain the fly-half duties. Smith kicked the last-gasp drop goal that sank Ireland 23-22 last Saturday and made a telling contribution off the bench, bring extra zip to England’s attack after Ford had pulled the strings effectively earlier on.

A second change among the replacements sees Ethan Roots replace calf injury victim Chandler Cunningham-South.

ENGLAND XV: Furbank; Freeman, Slade, Lawrence, Daly; Ford, Mitchell; Genge, George (capt), Cole, Itoje, Martin, Chessum, Underhill, Earl.

Replacements: Dan, Marler, Stuart, Roots, Dombrandt, Care, M Smith, Tuilagi.

FRANCE XV TO FACE ENGLAND: Barre; Penaud, Fickou, Depoortere, Bielle-Biarrey; Ramos, Le Garrec; Baille, Marchand, Atonio, Flament, Meafou, Cros, Ollivon, Alldritt (capt).

Replacements: Mauvaka, S Taofifenua, Colombe, R Taofifenua, Roumat, Boudehent, Lucu, Moefana.

ENGLAND XV TO FACE FRANCE: Furbank; Freeman, Slade, Lawrence, Daly; Ford, Mitchell; Genge, George (capt), Cole, Itoje, Martin, Chessum, Underhill, Earl.

Replacements: Dan, Marler, Stuart, Roots, Dombrandt, Care, M Smith, Tuilagi.

For England the aim is simple, back up the memorable win against Ireland with another victory and performance to prove that it wasn’t just an unexpected flash in the pan and that under Steve Borthwick they have a template and plan that can regularly beat the world’s best.

One way to do that is make sure any complacency is kicked firmly into touch and that is something not lost on the captain, Jamie George.

“We got some things really right emotionally last week in the build-up and probably a lot of that came from sticking two fingers up to some people who were saying some bad things about us after the Scotland game,” George said.

“Steve [Borthwick] is very conscious of [the complacency]. I learned a big lesson in 2019 after the New Zealand performance around things like emotional highs and lows. Saturday [against Ireland] was probably as emotional a performance as we’ve had since 2019. What I’ve learned is that if you try and convince yourself that you’re fine, you’re going to feel fine, physically you’re going to be fine – then realistically you’re not.”

England come up against a France 23 unchanged for the first time since 2019, after Fabien Galthié resisted the temptation to tinker with the squad that beat Wales last week meaning England know what they’re up against: power.

In Cardiff the France coach picked the big (as in really huge) men and it is the same today for the always much-anticipated battle against the English. Emmanuel Meafou, the 145kg Toulouse second row, is set to win his second cap, scrummaging behind the similarly bulky Uini Atonio. They are likely to be replaced by Georges-Henri Colombe and Romain Taofifénua, who come in at a equally heavy 140kg, will replace them at tighthead prop and lock respectively.

Outside them they have panache to compliment the power. Nolann Le Garrec, Nicolas Depoortère, Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Léo Barré all retain their spots in the XV but after missing the victory over Wales with a chest infection, Posolo Tuilagi misses out on a chance to take on his uncle, Manu.

Galthe is only too aware that their power will be met by a similarly beefy England.

“We are going to encounter an explosive English team. Powerful and solid... with this switching between playing the ball in hand and kicking, this pressure that they put on the opposition,” the France coach said. “We need to be more precise [than we were against Wales] in certain areas, notably defence. We’ll have to be compact and solid in the physical exchanges. England hit hard in the middle of the pitch and we’ll have to be switched on to that, certainly more than we were against Wales.”