France flanker Francois Cros pinpointed a sloppy ending to each half, and England’s efficiency in the Les Bleus 22, for a disappointing reverse at Twickenham on Saturday.
France, fresh from a 43-0 rout of Wales, saw their 2025 Six Nations title hopes suffer a setback after they squandered several try-scoring opportunities, captain Antoine Dupont among those knocking on in sight of the tryline in a 26-25 defeat.
France dominated territory and possession in the opening 40 minutes only for England to go into half-time level at 7-7.
It was all a far cry from the corresponding Twickenham edition of ‘Le Crunch’ two years ago when a rampant France won 53-10 — England’s heaviest home defeat.
“We had a lot of opportunities to score in the 10 minutes before the break but our execution was poor. Passes went to ground, not to hand, and it wasn’t what we expect from ourselves,” said France flanker Francois Cros.
“The last quarter wasn’t good for us. We failed to finish in the way we wanted and England kept putting pressure back on to us,” he added. “We missed too many opportunities to score, to win a game and that is down to our control and accuracy.
“England had five visits, I think, in our 22, and they scored four tries. That’s not good for us and it’s way below the standards we expect.”
Harlequins prop Fin Baxter urged England to use the dramatic “marquee win” as a springboard for the remainder of the championship.
Baxter came off the bench to power over for the third of England’s four tries as they revived their Six Nations campaign after an opening 27-22 loss to champions Ireland.
“That roar at the end was incredible,” said Baxter of the reaction of a capacity home crowd of over 81,000 following a much-needed win for Steve Borthwick’s men. “I’m going to remember that for a very long time.”
The 23-year-old added: “This is a marquee win and a win that we’re going to look back on for a very long time, but we’re not parking up after that.
“We’re going for the rest of them and that’s what we’ve been going with since I’ve been part of this team.”
A key feature of Saturday’s victory was the impact made by England’s bench, with Baxter, Daly, former captain Jamie George, Ollie Chessum and Ben Curry all making telling contributions.
Their efforts were in marked contrast to England’s narrow losses to the likes of New Zealand and Australia, where the Red Rose replacements failed to make their presence felt.
“The bench goes on every time trying to make a positive impact, trying to bring energy and a lift. Against France we did that and we brought that lift,” said Baxter, who also marked his eighth cap with a valuable scrum penalty.
© Agence France-Presse
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