France resist England challenge to complete slam

Reuters

GRAND SLAM: Thierry Dusatoir the France captain lifts the Six Nations Trophy.

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A dogged France resisted a brave England challenge to do just enough to win a bruising encounter 12-10 and complete their first Six Nations grand slam since 2004 this morning (NZ time).

The French forgot all about flair, wearing down their opponents in the scrums and mauls and relying on the accurate boot of scrumhalf Morgan Parra on a rainy night on the outskirts of Paris.

England started in promising fashion, scoring the only try of the match when fullback Ben Foden finished off their best move of the tournament.

They kept pressing and got within two points with a superb penalty by substitute flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson, but France, with an early drop goal by flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc and three Parra penalties in the first half, did just enough.

"We did not control many things tonight, maybe because we were afraid to win, and we needed a lot of courage," France coach Marc Lievremont told France 2 television.

Ireland's surprise home defeat by Scotland earlier in the day had already given France their first title 2007 and their Paris victory secured their ninth grand slam.

SPLENDID TRY

Trinh-Duc put them on the scoreboard early on with a drop goal in the wake of the first scrum after four minutes.

England, however, responded almost immediately with Toby Flood and debutant wing Chris Ashton launching Foden to mark his first international start with a splendid try. Flood converted to put the visitors 7-3 up.

Rain then started to pour down and France recovered in a rough affair with plenty of spectacular tackles to earn three penalties that Parra passed to allow France to change ends leading 12-7.

The 80,000 crowd, feeling that a memorable achievement was within reach, starting singing the French anthem, the Marseillaise, just before halftime.

They were less bullish in the second half though as France defended, largely in their own half, until talismanic flyhalf Wilkinson, who suffered a blow to the head in a 15-15 draw with Scotland last weekend and had only just come on, slotted an angled penalty from over 50 metres after 67 minutes.

England, who wasted two excellent try-scoring opportunities in the second half through poor decisions, maintained their pressure but the French kept cool heads to hold out.

"I thought the coaches did a great job of calling the game, we knew we could get outside (Mathieu) Basteraud, if we had the hands and just backed ourselves," England manager Martin Johnson told the BBC.

"We scored the try with it then the rain came down and there were a few times the ball just skidded out.

"But to have the penalty count against us and still be in the game at halftime was fantastic."

Johnson, whose team finished third behind Ireland, rejected the suggestion that he could have made his selectorial changes earlier in the tournament.

"It wasn't a team transformed; we said all the way through that if we get our execution right it's there and those chances on the outside have been there all tournament," he said.

"We played the majority of the second half in their half, I thought some guys really came of age today."

Stand-in captain Lewis Moody added: "It was certainly improved (England's performance) but so frustrating. "We were there, we should have finished them off.

"Fair play to France, they've been the most consistent team in the Six Nations and are probably deserved winners of this championship but I'm bitterly frustrated...Jonny came on and kicked that penalty from halfway to put us in touching distance at the end but we just missed it."

- Reuters