England had come to Paris on Saturday for a display of intensity, mongrel brute forward dominance, a shock and awe performance to lay a marker down for next month — and that is exactly what they got, only they were on the receiving end of it.
France have emerged from the past two weeks as genuine, credible World Cup contenders. Their past four years have been an unmitigated shambles, they have lost more than half their Six Nations matches and not finished higher than fourth. Suddenly, though, something old and recognisable and extremely competitive has been pulled together. And there can be few confidence boosters more enjoyable for them than smashing the England pack, and not once but twice.
France brought to Paris all the athleticism and power that England had been hoping to demonstrate. However, it was from the very beginning of this game that they were winning the collisions and dominating possession. England could not get the ball; their first meaningful attack was not until the half-hour had been passed.
Why has this transformation happened? According to Philippe Saint-Andre, the France head coach, it is the first time in years the players have had a proper off-season and a really good pre-season. So they are united and physically in great shape. There is no better example of this than Louis Picamoles, the No 8, who has been totemic. France have also proved they have near to two world-class front-rows. And all this with their captain, Thierry Dusautoir, yet to return from injury.
It was their dominance up front that pressurised England into giving away a litany of horrendous penalties. And in another statement of a French team reborn, they had Frederic Michalak not only kicking most of the penalties, but orchestrating with an authority and intelligence that French fans have been yearning for more than a decade to see.
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Michalak did most of the punishing of England’s errors, though Scott Spedding launched the first penalty goal with his long-range boot. France were 12-0 up after 25 minutes. Their try was a thing of beauty with Michalak feeding an inside pass to Yoann Huget, although if Mathieu Bastareaud had a better, quicker pair of hands, they could have had at least one more.
England’s two-try chase made for easy-on-the-eye scores from Danny Cipriani and Jonathan Joseph, but it was too little, too late.
France: Try: Huget (45min). Con: Michalak. Pens: Spedding (3), Michalak 5 (10, 16, 25, 33, 65). England: Tries: Cipriani (72), J Joseph (77). Cons: Ford 2. Pens: Ford 2 (27, 39).
Scoring sequence (France first): 3-0, 6-0, 9-0, 12-0, 12-3, 15-3, 15-6 (half-time) 22-6, 25-6, 25-13, 25-20
France: S Spedding; Y Huget, M Bastareaud (rep: G Fickou, 67min), W Fofana, N Nakaitaci; F Michalak (rep: R Tales 69), S Tillous-Borde (rep: R Kockott, 70); E Ben Arous (rep: V Debaty, 56), G Guirado (rep: B Kayser, 56), R Slimani (rep: Y ATonio, 63), P Pape (rep: A Flanquart, 67), Y Maestri, D Chouly, B Le Roux, L Picamoles (rep: Y Nyanga, 56)