England 34 France 10:France's outside chance of claiming the Six Nations Championship were blown out of the water yesterday as Martin Johnson's under-fire side enjoyed a return to form at Twickenham.
The result means that everything now comes down to next Saturday’s clash between Wales and Ireland at the Millennium Stadium.
If this, as had been mooted in some quarters, was ‘Le Crunch’ for Johnson’s regime after five defeats in seven Tests then his players put up their hand this time around.
All the talk of sin-binnings and ill-discipline was forgotten on a glorious spring afternoon as England roared into a 29-0 half-time lead with tries from Mark Cueto, Riki Flutey, Delon Armitage and Joe Worsley.
Flutey added a second shortly after the restart and although France managed two consolation tries through Dimitri Szarzewski and Julien Malzieu the match had long been won by England.
Johnson had reacted furiously in the stands at Croke Park a fortnight ago after England gifted victory to Ireland with a performance of gross indiscipline.
He put the team through boot camp-style training sessions in order to hammer home the message — and it worked.
Johnson had heard his side booed from the field following recent Twickenham performances and he reiterated during the week that England had to give the crowd something to shout about in order to regain their faith.
England did so from minute one. Flutey spotted the perfect mis-match and sliced past Sebastien Chabal before sending Cueto away to touch down the opening try with just 70 seconds on the clock.
Toby Flood extended the lead to 10-0 after Imanol Harinordoquy was ruled offside before a slick attacking move sent Flutey over for a second try.
From the back of an attacking lineout, Flood slipped an inside pass for Cueto to carve through the French line before returning the favour with the scoring pass for Flutey.
France were wobbling and England hammered home the advantage with two tries in the last three minutes of the half.
After Chabal had been stripped of possession by Flutey, England piled forward and pitched camp in the French 22. Simon Shaw’s charge was halted short of the line but Armitage was on hand to provide the finishing touch.
England were now attacking in waves. Harry Ellis chipped ahead and Flood came within inches of the line before slipping but the ball was shipped wide for Worsley to secure England a remarkable 29-0 lead at the interval.
Half-time did nothing to dilute England’s dominance or halt their momentum and when Yannick Jauzion spilled the ball after a brilliant tackle from Ellis, Armitage raced clear on the counter attack and Flutey was on hand to finish a sparkling 75-metre try.
England began to ring the changes and, unable to maintain their complete dominance, France eventually got on the scoreboard with hooker Szarzewski tunnelling over the line after France had earned two penalties deep in England’s 22.
England’s bad habits began to creep back in and referee Stuart Dickinson issued a warning as France cranked up the pressure at the scrum before winger Malzieu was able to saunter over for a simple try.
But England finished on a high with another powerful carry from Nick Easter sending Armitage on another blistering break into the French half.
