Wake-up call for undisciplined England
Veteran flyhalf Frederic Michalak kicked 17 points as France upstaged England 25-20 in their warm-up match in Paris at the weekend.
France were worthy winners, although they had to endure a nervy last 10 minutes – when England, trailing 6-25 at the time, scored two quickfire tries.
"We lost our discipline really," England captain Chris Robshaw said.
"In the first half we were shocking with our discipline.
"Myself and the other boys just gave too many penalties away and it left us with a lot to do in the second half.
"We didn't react to the referee and it left us with a lot to do in the second half.
"I thought we came out second half, played well and you saw it was all or nothing," Robshaw added.
"Credit to everyone, I thought we came out in the second half and played well.
"There is a huge amount of potential there but you just can't give teams a head start like that.
"By our standards it wasn't good enough."
England back row James Haskell said they will use this as a wake-up call to go away and work hard to improve.
England were undone by a high penalty-count against them in the first half against a strong French team.
"I think the first half was one of our worst performances as a team," said Haskell.
"I think credit to France, they obviously came out on their home ground to do some damage today and I thought they were great.
"Obviously we couldn't get any ball to play with and we spent a lot of time defending. Even though the boys worked hard, you can't give a team like France that many opportunities because they will just keep kicking the points."
He added: "We didn't win the ball, we weren't as direct as we should have been."
The Wasp loose forward said there would now be a period of honest reflection before heading into matches against Ireland in two weeks time (September 5) and the opening World Cup match against Fiji on 18 September.
"I think the boys will use this as a wake-up call and go forward positively. The best thing about this group is we are very honest.
"We have got tomorrow off and then in for a big work week. The boys will put their hand up, we will work extremely hard and we will be very honest."
Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: "It was a disappointing first-half performance to put it mildly.
"I was in a lot better mood by the end but the first 60 minutes wasn't good enough for international rugby and the boys know that.
"I was pleased with the way we came back and kept pushing for a try to win the game but too little too late for me."
Lancaster added that he thought the bench made a "huge difference".
"I thought they added energy. We scored some good tries. Our shape was good, so we will take those positives," he said
