Elliot Daly of England celebrates scoring the winning try against France. Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
A try at the death to replacement Elliott Daly has secured a dramatic 26-25 win for England over France this morning at Allianz Stadium in London. Fin Smith converted to give England the lead for only the second time in the match, completing a massive upset victory.
Earlier, a tight first half saw the sides locked at a try apiece at halftime. France had completely dominated territory and possession, however the wet conditions meant several chances were bombed with the tryline begging.
The match broke into life on the hour mark, with English winger Tommy Freeman scoring a spectacluar try, only for France to hit right back through Damian Penaud.
From there both sides ran the ball in a wild last 20 minutes, first prop Fin Baxter put England ahead with a try in the 70th minute, then Louis Bielle-Biarry looked to have won the game for France with a try five minutes later.
The win reversed a long run of England capitulating at the business end of test matches, and puts their Six Nations campaign right back on track after a first up loss to Ireland last weekend.
See how the action unfolded below with RNZ's live blog:
Team lists
England: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Tom Curry, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Will Stuart, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge
Bench: 16 Jamie George, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Ben Curry, 22 Harry Randall, 23 Elliot Daly
France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 8 Grégory Alldritt, 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 François Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Alexandre Roumat, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Bench: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Hugo Auradou, 20 Mickaël Guillard, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Nolann Le Garrec, 23 Émilien Gailleton
