Unconvincing England battle past France in gritty Six Nations opener to make it record 15 wins in a row
England 19 France 16: Ben Te'o's late try was just about enough for Eddie Jones' side
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Your support makes all the difference.Much as England’s supporters revelled in the unbeaten glories of 2016, they knew it had not always been plain sailing and it took a familiar surge of obduracy and keeping cool until the final whistle to see off a resurgent France and open the 2017 Six Nations Championship with victory here at Twickenham.
Last year’s Grand Slam champions were under the gun when replacement prop Rabah Slimani’s try at the end of the third quarter put France 16-12 ahead.
But a rapid response from substitute centre Ben Te’o extended England's run of wins under Aussie head coach Eddie Jones to 14.
The early scoreline stood at 3-3 after a penalty by Camille Lopez replied to by Owen Farrell, before the first in a worryingly cluttered series of mishaps for England – some of them unfortunate, some self-inflicted.
Jonny May went to the sin bin in the 13th minute when the Gloucester wing lifted the leg of a pirouetting Gael Fickou in the tackle and flipped the centre onto his shoulder.
May’s fellow wing Elliot Daly swapped to the right in a reshuffled of England’s backs and was a on his wrong foot as a result when he chipped the ball dead to scupper a good attack begun by a French line-out overthrow and Tom Wood’s charge into the midfield.
Wood himself twice conceded penalties for diving off his feet – the second of them drawing a lecture on the ruck laws from Australian referee Angus Gardner to England’s captain Dylan Hartley.
There was also a cock-up of a line-out when move and call failed to coincidence and Hartley lobbed the ball onto Courtney Lawes’s back.
A penalty against Maro Itoje for an innocuous challenge on Louis Picamoles was another kicking opportunity for Lopez, who converted three of his four penalty shots in the first half.
It appeared Picamoles, who plays for an English club at Northampton, ducked into Itoje’s tackle as the collision occurred but players worldwide have been warned clearly enough over anything that starts high and rides higher.
One of the reasons Jones gave for selecting Daly was his long-range goal-kicking, and the Wasp duly delivered a typically monumental 50-metre success three minutes before half-time, when the French scrum – a stone a man heavier than England’s – were whistled up for pushing early.
The strong feeing England would be relieved to reach the interval level at 9-9 was reinforced when France missed a great chance for an opening try. Scott Spedding and Virimi Vakatawa had already made a couple of eye-catching breaks when they found clear water again, and set Lopez up for a crossfield kick. Fickou leapt on the right-hand touchline and batted the ball down perfectly for his fellow centre Remi Lamerat but a moment’s hesitancy with Noa Nakaitaci waiting for the scoring pass was enough for England’s scramble defence to do its job.
Farrell opened the second half with a penalty from 35 metres that hit a post, before the feats of Daly’s feet were under the microscope again as England came within the scrape of a boot on the touchline of a try.
Daly, a centre by preference with his club, started on the wing for England against Argentina last November and was sent off after five minutes for a tip tackle. This time he was sent racing to the left corner by a line break and quality pass from Farrell but could not keep infield as Nakaitaci made the cover tackle.
Referee Gardner made an amusing admonishment of the two hooker-captains Hartley and Gulihem Guirdao – “You haven’t gone head on head before so don’t start playing silly buggers now” – as England conceded a scrum penalty for the first time, with France having sent on their replacement props.
Farrell kicked his third penalty for Lamerat not releasing after a tackle on Nathan Hughes, to nudge England to 12-9 after 54 minutes. But one of the new faces, the Stade Francais tighthead Slimani, soon made a stunning mark with his third Test try in his 32nd cap.
The French were playing with an advantage for another marginal high tackle as Lopez made a dart in the England 22 and, after a recycle, the lively flanker Kevin Gourdon made the link to Slimani from a deft pass out of a tackle by second-row Seb Vahaamahina. The easy conversion by Lopez gave France a four-point lead with 20 minutes remaining.
A losing bonus point under the system newly introduced into the Six Nations Championship was never going to be on England’s wish list, and as James Haskell came on for his first Test of the season, and Itoje moved up into the second row, they searched urgently for a second wind.
There were more changes as George Ford and Jonathan Joseph made way for Ben Te’o and Jack Nowell, and Farrell switched into fly-half with Daly in the centres and Nowell on the wing.
And within two minutes of his Six Nations debut Te’o – the New Zealand-raised former rugby league centre of Samoan extraction – had his first England try on his fourth appearance overall. Nowell and Haskell were prominent as the home side attacked from a line-out in the French 22, and held their nerve by keeping possession and shape through a slew of penalty advantages, until Te’o pummelled through a gap from Farrell’s superbly-timed pass.
Farrell converted for 19-16 and after some nip and tuck that never carried a threat of a result-altering score there was a final turnover forced by Haskell and Itoje – two partners in crime from England’s Grand Slam and summer tour wins last year, and returning in fresh triumph now after they missed the autumn series injured.
Scorers:
England: try: Te’o; conversion: Farrell; penalties: Farrell 3, Daly.
France: try: Slimani; conversion: Lopez; penalties: Lopez 3.
England: M Brown; J May (sin bin 13th min-23), J Joseph (rep J Nowell 69th min), O Farrell, E Daly; G Ford (B Te’o 69), B Youngs (capt; D Care 66); J Marler (M Mullan 66), D Hartley (capt; J George 55), D Cole, J Launchbury (J Haskell 64), C Lawes, M Itoje, T Wood, N Hughes.
France: S Spedding; N Nakaitaci, R Lamerat (Y Huget 72), G Fickou, V Vakatawa; C Lopez (J-M Doussain 72), B Serin (M Machenaud 57); C Baille (X Chiocci 46), G Guirado (capt; C Maynadier 72)), U Atonio (R Slimani 46), S Vahaamahina (A Iturria 72), Y Maestri, D Chouly (L Goujon 64), K Gourdon, L Picamoles.
Referee: A Gardner (Australia).
Official attendance 81,902.
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