England had won the first of these warm-ups last weekend at Twickenham with a narrow 19-14 triumph.
Advertisement
Well at least there are still four weeks until the World Cup.
Two late tries flattered the visitors, who have one game left before launching their World Cup campaign against Fiji on September 18.
Late tries from Danny Cipriani and Jonathan Joseph brought England close to an unlikely victory.
At half-time we were 7-4 behind on the penalty count and France had scored 15 points without having to work too hard.
France then took their foot off the gas as the clock ticked down and centre Jonathan Joseph made them pay with a try in the corner which Ford converted for 25-20. “We didn’t play well in the first half and gave ourselves too much to do”, said head coach Lancaster.
France’s Yoann Huget celebrates his try against England.
France were aided when George Ford sent the restart straight into touch and England continued to come under pressure, infringing again when Dan Cole entered the ruck from the wrong side and this time Michalak was on target. “It made the last 20 minutes positive for us, but I will not gloss over the rest”. Whether it was rust, or nerves in the first half, I don’t know.
“We gave too many penalties away, but give us credit in the second half we came out and played well but couldn’t quite get over the line in the end”, the flanker added.
Allan’s third penalty put Italy ahead but Pyrgos went over against the run of play late on and Weir added the conversion to seal the Scottish win.
England ended the half with a flourish and although they were knocked back by some thumping French tackles, Ford sent a kick between the uprights to give them some reward.
As the second-half wore on, the playing surface deteriorated with large chunks of the Stade de France pitch being ploughed up.
But it was a dominant forward performance from the French, with the hosts’ pack overpowering their opponents, whose pack could not get a foothold in the game.
Advertisement
A chip from scrum-half Sebastien Tillous-Borde was expertly dealt with by Mike Brown, who plucked the ball from the air beneath his own posts knowing only a flawless catch would be enough to foil Huget.
