England defeat France at Twickenham

Antoine Dupont dotted down inside the opening two minutes, collecting a clever chip-and-chase from wing Teddy Thomas, and handing the visitors an ideal start at Twickenham. Matthieu Jalibert added the extras.

England responded rapidly however, and setting up camp inside the French 22, they went through multiple phases of hard carries before a breakthrough on the nine-minute mark. Quick hands and smart running lines saw the ball shipped to Anthony Watson in space on the right flank, and on his 50th Test, the Bath man duly ran in his fourth try of the tournament. Farrell’s conversion levelled the game.

Captain Farrell gave England a six-point lead courtesy of two straightforward penalties inside the opening quarter, but Les Bleus stayed in reach, snuffing a promising English attack close to their line before a Jalibert penalty narrowed the deficit, and a converted Damian Penaud try put them back in the ascendancy - making it 13-17 at the break.