Games like the one England triumphed in at Twickenham on Saturday can not only turn your whole season as an international head coach, but also your entire career.
This can and must be lift-off for Steve Borthwick and his team. Last season, England also beat Ireland on home turf by a single point, but after that didn’t kick on.
There cannot be a repeat of that this time around. It was an unbelievable game. I want to send my massive congratulations to Steve and the players.
What should excite this England team the most is that they won a game they really should have lost. I’m still not quite sure how France didn’t come out on top!
They blew six or seven tries. This is a massive, massive setback for French rugby and a dark day for them because there is no way they should have tasted defeat.
But that is why international sport — and Test rugby — is so good. England were very good defensively and scored some very nice tries.
England beat France 26-25 with dramatic last-gasp try in the Six Nations at Twickenham
This was a huge result for England head coach Steve Borthwick after last week’s loss to Ireland
England must build on victory over France, after failing to kick on from beating Ireland last year
The one which won them the game in the final minute, finished off by Elliot Daly, was first-class attacking play under immense pressure. That’s what we want to see from this England team.
Hats off to Fin Smith. On his first England start, he was exceptional at No 10.
Pre-match, I was convinced he would have no problem slotting into that starting role after his previous appearances came from the bench, because everything I’ve seen from him with Northampton suggests he’s a very calm, phlegmatic player. And so, it proved.
I don’t think Marcus Smith had his best game having been moved to full back. He also missed a couple of kicks at goal, leading to Fin taking over.
Fin Smith was immensely composed. That is to his eternal credit and is a really, really promising sign for England moving forwards.
I would keep the Smith-Smith axis in place now for Scotland in round three because I think Fin can only improve from here and Marcus will certainly have better performances.
England hung in the contest really, really well.
Sometimes you make your own luck and Borthwick and his players were probably due a change of fortune. Another key point to mention is that by scoring four tries, England recorded a bonus point win, which is no mean feat against France.
Fin Smith, making his first start for England, was exceptional and immensely composed
Marcus Smith did not have his best game at full back but England should stick with this axis
Before this game, I talked about wanting to see positivity from England with the ball and an attacking mindset to score.
France were always going to score at least 20 points because they are so good going forward. And while it is clear they should have won because of the number of opportunities they bombed, they were outscored by England four tries to three.
All the focus pre-match was on Antoine Dupont and rightly so because he is a fantastic player, undoubtedly one of the best of all time and arguably the best.
But England got to him, if only on occasion. Still, that was enough. In the end, France ended up a bit of a mess with Dupont at No 10. France should and must be shattered.
They have a truly great team, but they have now lost a World Cup quarter-final on home soil from the position of favourites and somehow contrived to be beaten by England.
As head coach, Fabien Galthie has to look at himself and his decision-making. His replacements were all over the shop and his team were not clinical.
Led by Fin Smith, England were pretty composed by contrast.
Against Ireland, I thought Marcus Smith had too much on his plate. He was all over the place, appearing in rucks, making tackles and even being yellow carded.
Fin Smith pictured after Saturday’s game posing for photo with parents Andrew and Judith
His kick assist for Tommy Freeman’s try was straight out of Northampton Saints’ playbook
England got to Antoine Dupont, centre, on occasion and France will be shattered by the loss
Captain Maro Itoje, pictured, and Ben Earl were the two England forwards to really stand out
Fin Smith looked to the manor born at No 10. He just did the basics of the fly half job very, very well and I thought the use of his cross-kicks was executed perfectly. That was summed up by the Daly try.
It is clear Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman have a great connection as friends and team-mates with Northampton and that was shown in this game.
Fin’s kick assist for Freeman was straight out of the Saints’ playbook and a brilliant example of how simple attack can be. All over the field there were big England performances.
I thought in the forwards, Maro Itoje and Ben Earl really stood out.
And in contrast to their narrow losses which have come in their last seven meetings with tier-one sides, England managed to close the game out.
Their bench had a strong impact and that was best summed up by the fact the two late tries which won the game came from replacements in Fin Baxter and Daly.
Galthie will wake up this morning with a serious headache and a whole heap of criticism to deal with. Borthwick’s first act will be to pinch himself and see if he feels it.
Deep down, he will know he and England played their get of jail free card and won. But Test rugby is a results business and England came out on the right side of the encounter.
Now, they must move forward and capitalise, continuing with Smith and Smith as the heartbeat of the side.
