Sensational Croft lands knockout blow on French

By Chris Hewett

One of the great England victories in Paris? Let us draw breath and say: "Yes, damn it. Absolutely." It was not a majestic win of the runaway variety of the early 1990s but there is another kind of greatness – of resilience in the face of extreme adversity. Stuart Lancaster's team brought their spirit of togetherness to bear on their hosts and reaped a just reward.

Much will be said and written about the contribution of Tom Croft, the Leicester flanker, who finally proved beyond reasonable doubt that his exceptional performance in a Lions shirt against the Springboks three years ago was no fluke. Yet this was a victory forged in the fires of the set piece by a front-row trio for whom this was a rite of passage. Alex Corbisiero, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole will move onwards and upwards from here. Until the last few minutes England led the try count by three to nil. Then, the brilliant Wesley Fofana touched down in the corner. Parra nailed the conversion, France were back to within two points and all hell was breaking loose.

Another try looked certain, especially when Imanol Harinordoquy found himself in possession on the 22-metre line. Enter Owen Farrell, with the most important tackle of his career to date. The young Saracens midfielder forced the French into attempting a drop goal from a greater distance than they had planned. François Trinh-Duc underclubbed his attempt.

England were 11 points to the good by the end of the first quarter, thanks to tries from Manu Tuilagi, who set sail down the right after Chris Ashton's rush-tackle, and the full-back Ben Foden, who stretched over the line following a full-bore rampage and back-flip offload from Ben Morgan.

Already on the board through a penalty from Lionel Beauxis they further closed the gap when Croft and Ashton were penalised and Julien Dupuy chipped over the three-pointer. Then on the stroke of half-time Beauxis smacked over from distance.

England led 14-9 and, although Farrell slotted another penalty, the contest became tighter still when Sharples was yellow-carded and Parra and Beauxis scored further penalties to bring France within a single score.

It was then that Croft sensed that Farrell's long pass had opened up possibilities in a wide channel. He cruised away from Harinordoquy, all the way to the line. Farrell added the extras from the touchline.

That control soon evaporated thanks to Fofana's fourth try in as many internationals, but there was still just enough of it left to see the visitors home.