England 19 France 16: Eddie Jones keeps perfect record as Red Rose chief by edging past old rivals in thriller
MAKING history has rarely been so underwhelming.
Eddie Jones, with a black eye from a slip in the shower and a bloodied nose from long periods of French domination, delivered a tense victory in this Six Nations opener – and a new all-time English record of 15 straight wins.
As England trailed by four points heading into the final quarter, Jones emptied his bench and saw Ben Te’o settle this contest with his first international try since switching from rugby league.
The last league convert to turn out for England, Sam Burgess, took far too much of the blame for a shambolic World Cup campaign in 2015.
In contrast, Te’o swiftly earned hero status as he dived over for England’s only try, ten minutes from time, to ultimately settle this contest.
Find out how the players rated in England's narrow win here
Te’o is a citizen of the world. New Zealand- born, a Samoan international in the 13-man game and also eligible for Australia, was swayed by the riches on offer at Worcester.
And Jones was glad of it here as the French finally succumbed to a defeat they scarcely deserved.
The Aussie has personally masterminded 14 of those 15 wins but this was comfortably the least impressive.
Now Jones will hope that this whole afternoon will serve as an alarm call because England will need to be significantly better than this if they are to secure back-to-back Grand Slams for the first time in a quarter of a century.
There can never be much room for complacency in a Six Nations – and anyone who had been blithely expecting an Ireland v England shoot-out for the Grand Slam on March 18 was instantly proved wrong Scotland’s curtain-raising victory over the Irish.
Jones doesn’t tend to do complacency in any case. During England’s flawless 2016, the Aussie head coach was constantly badgering his players to better themselves.
Injuries to four of his first-choice pack, including both Vunipola brothers, handed France a substantial weight advantage and skipper Dylan Hartley was playing his first competitive rugby in ten weeks after being banned for a braindead assault in club action for Northampton.
There was a strangely muted atmosphere around Twickers from the word go; a crowd sitting back and expecting England to entertain them.
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It didn’t quite work out that way – thanks to a toxic mix of doziness and indiscipline from the home side and some eye-catching running rugby from the French.
They had not won a Six Nations match here since 2005 – and only once in two decades - but there was no shortage of Gallic swagger in the early exchanges.
Wing Noa Nakaitaci almost went over for an early opener after a road-runner routine down the right – only to be halted by a borderline-illegal challenge from Mike Brown.
Soon the Earth was moving when France’s 25-stone beast of a prop Uini Atonio collided with Nathan Hughes at juggernaut force.
Camille Lopez and Owen Farrell exchanged penalties before Jonny May was sin-binned for a needless dump tackle on Gael Fickou.
As a result, Lopez restored France’s lead, then extended it to six points after high tackle from Maro Itoje.
England were butter-fingered in possession, botching line-outs and generally a poor secon-best.
Jones was silently fuming to himself about the cloth-eared Pommies who had not seemed to be listening to any of his orders for the past fortnight.
Jones’ compatriot, referee Angus Gardner, was hardly helping matters when he wrongly penalised Tom Wood, Lopez ensuring justice by missing the kick.
After Farrell had punished a dose of French ill-discipline, it was the Elliott Daly show.
First the Wasps wing equalised with one of his trademark long-range intercontinental kicks – and then Daly produced a try-saving tackle on French full-back Scott Spedding.
It was almost certainly England’s worst half of rugby in the Jones era.
And while there were on-field fireworks at half-time, there must have been a few bright orange detonations inside the home dressing-room too.
Whatever Jones said, there was an immediate improvement in England’s intensity levels.
But Farrell hit the post with one kick and even when the hosts finally breached the French try-line, they were thwarted by the TV match official.
Farrell collected the ball from George Ford and burst forward, off-loading for Daly to dive over in the corner only for replays to show his feet had strayed the wrong side of the touchline.
France then celebrated winning a massive pressure-relieving scrum five yards from their line.
And while Farrell gave England the lead for the first time on 55 minutes, the sense of relief was short-lived.
France scored a wonderful try, with Kevin Gourdon surging and off-loading for Rabah Slimani try to touch down on the hour mark, with Lopez converting for 16-12.
But while the scoreline did not reflect it, England were enjoying territorial superiority and they finally broke through on 70 minutes.
James Haskell bulldozed his way through the blue line of resistance before Danny Care slipped a pass to Te’o who sniffed out the opening and hurled himself across the white line.
It was close, far too close for comfort, but on such fleeting moments of brilliance can history be written.