England withstood the stiffest of examinations from a revitalised France yesterday but, thanks to the goalkicking of Owen Farrell and a try by Manu Tuilagi, emerged 23-13 winners of their Six Nations clash at Twickenham.
For an hour France were unrecognisable from the team beaten by Italy and Wales in their opening games and scored a brilliant individual try through centre Wesley Fofana to deservedly lead 10-9 at the break.
England struggled to make any impact but the superb goalkicking of Farrell punished the dominant French for their indiscipline and Tuilagi took them clear when he scooped up a loose ball to score 15 minutes into the second half.
A rash of replacements worked in England’s favour as they eventually wrestled control in the final quarter and two Toby Flood penalties sealed the win.
England, seeking their first grand slam since 2003, lead the standings with six points from three wins.
Wales are second on four after beating Italy earlier yesterday, with France in last place having lost their first three games.
Captain Chris Robshaw attri-buted England’s victory to an improved defence.
He admitted England had not started well and said: “We were a little bit slow coming out of the blocks. They caused all kinds of problems, we expected that.
“So credit to all the guys, it’s a great win.
“Our defence in the first half was pretty sloppy. Once we sorted that out it was pretty good.”
England coach Stuart Lancaster felt his side became dominant when France substituted the impressive Francois Trinh-Duc to be replaced by the flaky Frederic Michalak.
He said: “I thought we gained ascendancy at that point. As a coach you focus on your own substitutions but you cast a glance at the ones they are making.
“I thought it played into our hands. Our defence just got stronger.”
In Rome, defending champions Wales overwhelmed Italy 26-9 in appalling conditions with man-of-the-match Leigh Halfpenny kicking 16 points.
Fullback Halfpenny missed only one kick in the torrential rain while centre Jonathan Davies and right wing Alex Cuthbert scored second-half tries.
Italian captain Martin Castrogiovanni, taking over from the suspended Sergio Parisse, was sent to the sin bin in the second half after being shown a yellow card for repeated scrum infringements in the front row.
Wales now have two wins from three matches while Italy, who upset France in the first round, have lost twice.
The Italian scrum, normally one of the team’s strengths, failed to contain a committed Welsh eight and they rarely looked like breaching the visitors’ defence.
Flyhalf Kris Burton kicked all their points with three penalties.
Standings
England (3-0-0) 6; Wales (2-0-1) 4; Scotland (1-0-1) 2; Ireland (1-0-1) 2; Italy (1-0-2) 2; France (0-0-3) 0.
Playing today: 15.00 Scotland vs Ireland.