England snatch late Six Nations win over France in Twickenham thriller

England’s Ellis Genge celebrates after the Rugby Union at the Six Nations Championship versus France, Twickenham Stadium, London, Britain on Saturday – Action Images via Reuters

LONDON (Reuters): A late Maro Itoje try secured England a 23-20 victory over France in a sparkling Six Nations game full of high-speed, enterprising rugby at Twickenham on Saturday to leave the championship wide open but with Wales in pole position. 

England were trailing by four points with four minutes left when Itoje stretched over from a maul and was awarded the try by the TMO after the referee initially ruled that it had been held up.  Owen Farrell nailed the difficult conversion and England held out. It was a dramatic end to a superb match, particularly in the first half, as France led 17-13 at the break with tries by Antoine Dupont and, a brilliant one, Damian Penaud, with Anthony Watson replying for England. 

The second half was a tighter affair but just as France seemed set for their first championship win at Twickenham since 2005, the defending champions found a way over.  The result was ideal for Wales, who top the standings on 19 points after their demolition of Italy in Rome earlier and will be crowned champions with a Grand Slam should they triumph in Paris next week. With a 24-points difference advantage, they could easily still win the title with a defeat as France are likely to need bonus-point victories in that game and in their rearranged match against Scotland to have a shot at their first title since 2010.  France and England have 10 points. Ireland, who visit Scotland on Sunday, have seven, with the Scots on five. 

“We thought France would come out hard early,” said England coach Eddie Jones. “They haven’t had a game for a while and they were fresh. We had to be with them at halftime — that was our big job. We thought we would get them in the second half and we did.”