ENGLAND 26-25 FRANCE: Steve Borthwick’s men left it late but got their first win of this year’s Six Nations, thanks to late change of kick-taker in Fin Smith, who replaced namesake Marcus
England put themselves back in Six Nations title contention with their first win of the campaign, dramatically beating tournament favourites France 26-25.
An 78th-minute try from Elliot Daly set Fin Smith up to win the game for Steve Borthwick’s side, having taken over kicking duties from namesake Marcus. The fly-half turned full-back had missed two kicks in the second half which looked to have been fatal to England’s chances until a late turnaround in the Twickenham rain.
France took a deserved lead in the 30th minute when Antoine Dupont and Damian Penaud combined, sending Louis Bielle-Biarrey through to break the deadlock. But Ollie Lawrence put down soon after to help level the scores at 7-7 going into half-time.
The visitors found themselves six points ahead after the interval when Thomas Ramos scored back-to-back penalties. England responded quickly again, though, as Fin Smith dinked the ball into space and played young Northampton team-mate Tommy Freeman in for a try.
Marcus Smith had the chance to put England in front with a conversion but missed the kick, allowing Penaud to restore France’s six-point advantage. The 25-year-old could’ve made amends from a penalty but failed to hit the target again.
England changed their kick taker for their next opportunity, as Fin Smith stepped up to convert Fin Baxter’s try. Bielle-Biarrey put France ahead once more in the dying embers but Daly’s last-gasp try and the conversion put England in the lead for the first time in the match and it stayed that way.
Man of the Match Fin Smith beamed to ITV: “Happy with it, I felt like a rabbit in the headlights in the first half. But I found my feet in the end, and I am delighted with the win more than anything but this is cool for a first start anyway.”
Will England win the Six Nations? Give us your prediction in the comments section.
After his first win as England captain, a delighted to Maro Itoje admitted: “It was a blur. For large parts of the game we weren’t as accurate as we wanted to be. I will take responsibility for the line-outs not being as accurate as we wanted them to be.
“One thing I love is we’ll fight for each other, and we are going to believe in each other. We were brave – that’s the foundation of what we want to be doing going forward. I am delighted for this team, for the fans, thanks for staying with us. We are going to build from here.
“We need to be consistent throughout the game. We need to be accurate and when we have opportunities we need to capitalise on them, but what I love about this team is we are going to fight. We want this to be the foundation of us, and thanks so much for the support. Allianz [Stadium] was rocking today!”
England have next weekend off before returning to action at home to Scotland on Saturday, February 22.
