England end losing run with dramatic win over France

LONDON :England ended their painful losing run with a stunning 26-25 Six Nations bonus-point victory over France at Twickenham on Saturday as Elliot Daly’s last-gasp try punished the French for a catalogue of handling errors.

Those mistakes allowed England to reach halftime level at 7-7 and although they got their noses in front, Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s second try with five minutes left looked to have earned the French a fourth successive win over their old rivals.

England, however, surged back and replacement Daly blasted through for their fourth try at the death.

Flyhalf Fin Smith, making his first start, converted to send Twickenham wild and reignite England’s championship hopes following their opening defeat by Ireland.

"I felt like a rabbit in the headlights in the first half," Smith said. "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.

"We have lost plenty of games and luckily this one went our way today. It was far from perfect but that group fought for it."

England coach Steve Borthwick, who has spent most of the last 12 months explaining away narrow defeats, was delighted to be on the other side.

"You want things to happen instantly. This England team is going to be a good England team and there's a lot of talent. Today you saw something improve," he said.

"(We showed) bravery and courage with the ball. We scored four tries against a brilliant French defence and restricted them to three tries."

Borthwick would have been anything but happy in the opening exchanges as his team survived only thanks to French handling errors with tries looking easier to score than miss,

The dam burst after half an hour, however, when Damian Penaud chipped for