France beat England to seal Six Nations, Grand Slam in style

France won their first Six Nations title since 2010 by defeating England 25-13 in an impressive all-round display at the Stade de France on Saturday.

Victory also gave Les Bleus their first Grand Slam in 12 years and underlined their status as one of the favourites to win next year's World Cup on home soil.

France led 18-6 at half-time after a dominant opening 40 minutes that featured tries from outside centre Gael Fickou and blindside flanker Francois Cros.

England hit back early in the second half thanks to Freddie Steward's converted try before France captain Antoine Dupont's superb score in the 61st minute took his side to the brink of glory.

France team manager Raphael Ibanez, twice a Grand Slam winner as a player in 1998 and 2002, told ITV Sport: "Fair play to England. They tried to break our defence, but I think our spirit and tactics won us the game."

As a crowd of nearly 80,000 celebrated, with the Stade transformed into a disco as music blared out over the public address system, the former France captain added: "I would recommend our players to keep their feet on the ground. This is a major step for this team tonight, and there is more to come."

Defeat for a gutsy but outclassed England, who were without several first-choice players through injury, meant that for the third time in five years they had lost three matches in a single Six Nations.

"We are pretty disappointed, to be honest," said England captain Courtney Lawes.

"We felt like they (France) were getting tired, and we just failed to capitalise, essentially."

England arrived in Paris following a record 32-15 home defeat by Ireland -- a match they played mainly with 14 men after lock Charlie Ewels was sent off after just 82 seconds.

Eddie Jones rang the changes,