Dominant France stun sluggish England in Six Nations opener despite late Jonny May masterclass

England were dished up a taste of their own medicine as France rolled back the years to physically dominate the Rugby World Cup finalists and secure their second consecutive victory against Eddie Jones’s side in Paris.

Owen Farrell kicked a last-minute penalty to ensure England took home a losing bonus point in a 24-17 defeat, but two tries either side of half-time from influential French skipper Charles Ollivon and an early Vincent Rattez score did enough to give the hosts an insurmountable lead.

The fact that England were in the game at all fell upon the brilliant Jonny May, who followed up a kick-and-chase effort with a score that will undoubtedly be among the tries of the Six Nations contenders come the end of the tournament.

But that proved the only high point on yet another disappointing day for England, and they have just six days to rid themselves of this very evident World Cup hangover is they are to get back to winning ways in Scotland next weekend.

Jones had vowed to inflict “brutal physicality” on France in a verbal declaration of war ahead of the Paris opener, which will have made it even sweeter for the hosts as they headed in at half-time 17-0 up, having become the first team to nil England in 32 years.

In truth it could have been much worse for England. There were very obvious signs of a World Cup hangover as France completely outmuscled them, so much so that the French players would not have looked so out of place if they had the Springboks badge emblazoned on their chests.

But make no mistake, this was the Stade de France and the passionate atmosphere ahead of kick-off bordered on boisterous, such was the intensity of the home crowd. Individual Tricolor flags engulfed the stadium, and the cheers for Fabien Galthie’s young side were only beaten by the boos and jeers for the England players – something that intensified rapidly when Owen Farrell appeared on the screen. Galthie had made the bold call of reinventing this side as only Gael Fickou survived the cull of the team that suffered a 44-8 humiliation at Twickenham last season, yet they did not play like a side with an average of 14 caps per player. Make no mistake, French rugby has been reborn.

It started from the get-go as solid defence meant that England’s opening chance went begging – a sign of things to come – whereas France made no mistake. Maro Itoje needlessly blitzed out of the defensive line that allowed the magnificent Anthoine Dupont to release Teddy Thomas on his shoulder, and the wing evaded Sam Underhill to put England onto the back foot. A handful of phases later, fly-half Romain Ntamack spotted space on the blindside, and wrapping around the ruck to spread the defence wide, he delivered an inch-perfect snap-back pass to Rattez who beat Youngs to score.

England’s efforts were further hindered when Manu Tuilagi left the field in the 16th minute just as Ntamack knocked over a penalty after Tom Curry entered the ruck illegally, with Jonathan Joseph sent on in his place. Hooked or injured? England would not say but his dejection was clear to see.

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Three minutes later the stadium was rocking again. A Dupont box-kick was challenged by Courtney Lawes and Ollivon, with the ball spilling into the hands of Rattez, who returned it to his captain to score. The entire England defence bar Underhill stopped in their tracks as referee Nigel Owens went to blow his whistle for a knock-on, only to wave play on with the intention to check the play with the TMO. Replays appeared to show the ball ricocheting off both players, but the officials deemed the footage inconclusive and thus stuck with Owens’ decision to award the score.

England were incensed by the decision, and although they managed to find a footing in the game, all four first-half visits to the opposition 22 went unpunished. The gulf in clinical prowess was summed up no better than when Kyle Sinckler spilled the ball to allow the impressive full-back Anthony Bouthier to send a rocket downfield and find touch 90m away from the French line, spurring the crowd on in droves.

England looked stunned at the break as they huddled in the mouth of the tunnel, but the response still didn’t come following the restart. Itoje went close after the French lineout misfired twice, before Joseph went even closer only for the ball to pop out of his hands with the line begging, and whenever England got a sniff of the whitewash, they failed to throw more than one pass per phase as their creativity deserted them.

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They paid the price in the 55th minute as Dupont broke away down the left, beating Sinckler and then Youngs before putting Ollivon over for his second score of the afternoon. His teammates took exception to Luke Cowan-Dickie’s late effort to try and prevent the try, triggering a near-30-man brawl that spilled into the advertising hoardings, but once the dust had settled the gap had stretched to 24 unanswered points.

England looked down and out, only for May’s magical tough to pull them back into the contest. The first came from nothing, with the wing chipping ahead and getting to the ball first to hack it on before touching down.

Having taken 57 minutes to get on the board, the visitors had their second try in the space of six minutes. Quick hands from Elliot Daly freed May in space, and the wing hit the afterburners to beat a recovering Rattez and Ntamack, before cutting inside Bouthier and beating Thomas for pace to score.

The score gave England a sniff of the unlikeliest of victories, but once more their clinical ability just let them down when it mattered most, and when the final penalty opportunity arose and the clock hit red, Farrell wisely pointed to the posts to take home a losing bonus point after a chastening afternoon.