England edge France in thriller

Outscoring the French by three tries to one, England recorder a 19-14 win at Twickenham on Saturday.

Had it not been for a lack of discipline – with two of England's debutants speeding time in the sin bin – then the margin may well have been much bigger.

However, the penalty count and poor set pieces allowed the visitors to stay in touch and then launch that late raid that almost secured them a win.

In the end Anthony Watson's two tries proved to be the difference for the World Cup hosts.

The Bath wing flew over for his brace in the first half and Jonny May added another in the second period as Stuart Lancaster's men just managed to hold off a brave effort from the visitors.

Home supporters would have arrived hoping to witness a repeat of last March's thrilling 55-35 win which saw England triumph over their French rivals in the Six Nations.

It was just a try too little to lift the Six Nations title, which Ireland won, but it showed England could play attacking, try-scoring rugby when they put their minds to it.

France's players, at least those who played in that game, would have been motivated to put the record straight while also throw down their own World Cup gauntlet with the competition getting underway on September 18.

But with World Cup places on the line it was always going to be a night when tension and nerves, plus a little rustiness, would show through.

"It's good to start the three warm-up games with a win, especially at Twickenham," said England skipper Tom Wood.

"We knew France would come looking to give us plenty of problems and it was as tough as I thought it would be."

France were led by hooker Dmitri Szarzewski, who missed the Six Nations, winning his 80th cap while scrum-half Morgan Parra and flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc renewed their halfback partnership.

England led 12-9 at the break but it was the visitors who made the stronger, more positive beginning, pushing their opponents on the defensive and threatening to strike the first blow.

They almost made a flying start when centre Brice Dulin raced onto a kick through, and sprinted for the ball with left wing May.

Dulin just failed to manage to get his hand on the ball as it bounced across the dead-ball line and the chance went awry.

But the pressure still paid off when Parra made England pay with a penalty. 

Rugby League man Sam Burgess, making his debut at inside centre, failed to roll away after a tackle and Parra slotted his kick with ease.

Yet, it took just England's first assault on the French line for the hosts to get the Twickenham supporters on their feet with a try in the corner.

Watson shrugged off Dulin's attempted tackle far too easily, stepped down the flank and dived over. Owen Farrell converted for a 7-3 lead.

France had hardly got their breath back when England surged down the right wing again and the impressive Watson took another pass in his stride, and finished with ease in the corner without a defensive hand touching him.

Burgess then made a hefty hit on opposite number Alexandre Dumoulin which caused the Frenchman to drop the ball.

Parra gave France a lift by kicking a second penalty when England were guilty of standing up in a scrum under pressure.

Powerful Louis Picamoles produced a fine side step to waltz passed England prop Mako Vunipola and surge downfield putting his side on the attack.

And another outstanding French scrum allowed Parra to send his third penalty sailing through the posts.

Burgess was sent to the sin-bin for deliberately obstructing Parra as the French scrumhalf tried to take a quick tapped penalty.

England raced out of the blocks at the start of the second half and a sublime high cross kick from Alex Goode was inch perfect for May to chase, catch and touch down for his side's third try. Farrell converted.

A yellow card for flank Calum Clark, who grabbed replacement France hooker Guilhem Guirado around the neck and clearing dangerously from a ruck, saw England reduced to 14 men again.

The French took full advantage as their pack took command and helped stage a  fightback with flank Fulgence Ouedraogo bull-dozing his way over at the bottom of a driving maul.

"We are disappointed because we came here to win. We had our chances and we had a lot of pressure on their line. But we did not finish them off as well as we should have," said Ouedraogo.

The two sides meet again in Paris next Saturday.

Man of the match: Vincent Debaty ran some wonderful lines for a big unit. Louis Picamoles also had a blinder for France. Owen Farrell made a big statement. Calum Clark also had a big game. Jonny May scored a great try and assisted in another. However, our award goes to England wing Anthony Watson, who scored two brilliant first-half tries – which in the end proved to be the difference.

Moment of the match: The two Anthony Watson tries were very valuable, but the best moment was the Jonny May score in 45th minute – a sublime  cross-field kick by Alex Goode that put May over.

Villain of the match: The game was played in a good spirit and even Calum Clark's neck grapple was more clumsy that nasty.

The scorers:

For England:

Tries: Watson 2, May

Cons: Farrell 2

For France:

Try: Ouedraogo

Pens: Parra 3

Yellow cards: Sam Burgess (England, 35 – professional foul, not retreating 10 metres), Calum Clark (England, 54 – foul play, grabbing a player around the neck)

Teams:

England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Burgess, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Tom Wood (captain), 5 Geoff Parling, 4 George Kruis, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Rob Webbber, 1 Mako Vunipola.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 David Wilson, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.

France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Sofiane Guitoune, 13 Remi Lamerat, 12 Alexandre Dumoulin, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (captain), 2 Vincent Debaty.

Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Uini Atonio, 19 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 20 Loann Goujon, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Gael Fickou.

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)    

Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Leighton Hodges (Wales)    

TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)