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ENG vs FRA

Six Nations

Allianz Stadium (Twickenham), London

England

vs

France

26
FT
25
Action
Lineups
All
Facts Only
All
Full-Time: 26 - 25
France will be bitterly disappointed to have come so close and fallen short, but they will come away with the losing bonus at least. England take the full five points from this clash thanks to that last try from Elliot Daly. England are home again next weekend when they play host to Scotland, and they'll be desperate to break the losing streak they are currently on against their northern neighbours. France head back to the continent where they take on Italy in Rome.
Despite the dominance on-field, England only hit the front on the scoreboard for the first time in the game with less than 10 minutes to play. For all the flaws in France's game, it was the visitors who struck first on the scoreboard in the 30th minute, only for England to hit right back a few minutes later to level the scores going into the break. France went back into the lead after the break with a couple of penalties in the second half, and while England had a shot at hitting the lead earlier on when Freeman went over for his try it was the missed conversion that kept Les Bleus ahead. But the two sides traded tries from there until the final whistle, with the final conversion from Fin Smith ultimately proving to be the winning points.
England also managed to put good pressure on France with some great kicking. While there were long kicks too, there were plenty of little dinks and chips here and there that were very contestable and they managed to force a couple of knocks with that tactic. France also used short kicks in their strategy, but found a fairly solid English backline underneath them for the most part.
France had so many opportunities that they left out on the pitch. There were at least three knocks deep inside England's 22 that would otherwise have been surefire tries for the visitors and would have put huge scoreboard pressure on England. But the French flair was just the wrong side of messy today, and for the most part it wasn't even defensive pressure on them, just sloppy passing and handling.
Heartbreak for France in the dying minute! Without doubt England looked the stronger side throughout the game. Their scrums put huge pressure on France at times and they set some great rolling mauls, but also just their passing and stepping seemed to find gaps in the French defence that shouldn't have been there. They found themselves scrambling quite often, with England managing to make great metres with ball in hand as a result.
80+1'
Short restart well chased by France, but it's secured by England! They slow it down on the floor and then send it back to Smith who smashes the ball into the stands for the final whistle!
80'
Smith raises the flags to put England in front, but he hasn't run down the clock and there will be a restart!
26-25 F. Smith
Conversion
80'
80'
Lineout set up halfway up the 22. Chessum brings the ball down into the maul, and it's inching forward here... France pile in to halt them, and Mitchell spreads it wide through the midfield and out to Daly who hands off the defence to dive over right next to the posts!