England finally broke their final-quarter hoodoo on Saturday with a remarkable last-gasp 26-25 win over France at Twickenham.
At the end of a breathless game, Elliot Daly scored with a minute left on the clock to put England to within one point of France with a conversion to come.
Up stepped fly-half Fin Smith in his first start for England, who placed the kick down the middle from just in front of the posts to give his side a much-needed win.
Behind 25-19 with five to play, it looked as though it would be another close defeat for the hosts, but Steve Borthwick’s side kept in the fight and found a way.
It was a dramatic finish to a topsy-turvy encounter.
Under a drizzly, dark sky neither side handled the greasy conditions well with numerous handling errors and knock-ons from the off. While France had plenty of territory early on they didn’t get a reward, either coughing the ball up before they got going, or fumbling the final pass.
While France pushed too hard to score at times, England couldn’t get going in attacking, making for a clunky, tense opening 20 minutes.
It was fitting then that on the half-hour mark, the opening try came after a period of chaos. A blind pass into play from England was scooped up by France and landed in the hands of Antoine Dupont. The France captain got his team on the front foot before handing it off to Damian Penaud, who in turn placed a perfect kick for Louis Bielle-Biarrey to pounce on.
The carnage didn’t subside, but England did respond.
A five-metre scrum allowed them to build pressure on France’s line. They eventually spread it wide for the awaiting Ollie Lawrence to charge through and score under the posts as the sides went into the break at 7-7.
The fumbles continued to start the second half, with France notching up their 18th handling error just after the break, double England’s tally.
Bielle-Biarrey pounced on a knock-on from Marcus Smith just shy of halfway before charging towards the line, but again the last pass didn’t stick and France denied themselves another certain try.
While the mistakes kept coming from both sides, two penalties from the boot of Thomas Ramos allowed France to open up a six-point lead.
With scoreboard pressure building, it fell to England fly-half Fin Smith to create something out of nothing. The 22-year-old went to the air on the right-hand side to find Northampton teammate Tommy Freeman, who got the better of Bielle-Biarrey and dove for England’s second try.
However, France hit back immediately, almost as if they had flicked a switch.
A passage of fluid rugby — that had alluded them all night — came together and stretched England from one side of the pitch to the other. France charged upfield, orchestrated perfectly by Dupont, with Penaud on the end of it all to score in the right corner as the visitors took an 18-12 lead.
As a nervous Twickenham watched on, it felt as though whoever held their nerve would get the result and England struck next.
The hosts were finally able to build pressure from a lineout 10 metres out and Fin Baxter finished the job to the left of the posts. Marcus Smith, who had an off night with the boot, handed kicking duties to Fin Smith, who put England in front with the conversion.
The lead was short-lived and brought back painful memories among the home crowd. Off the back of yet more scrappy play, France forced it wide to Bielle-Biarrey who scored with five minutes remaining. Ramos made the conversion as France went ahead 25-19.
However, desperate not to lose another close battle by falling away in the final 20 minutes, England kept coming and it was Daly who got the try at the death.
A calm Fin Smith, who was awarded man of the match, stepped up and finished the job to get England’s Six Nations back on track.
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