England found themselves a converted try away from winning the Six Nations, but ultimately fell short as they conceded five tries in a 55-35 win over against France, ensuring that this year's Championship went to Ireland.
© Getty Images
The hosts, needing to win by 26 points to overtake Joe Schmidt's charges, opened the scoring within the first two minutes as a misplaced forward pass in the middle of the park allowed Jonathan Joseph to charge down the right wing at pace.
The ball was then shipped inside to Tom Youngs, who burst over the line, and George Ford converted to mark a perfect start for England, whose target was set after Ireland beat Scotland 40-10 earlier in the day.
France were able to get back into the game when Ford held the ball for too long, prompting the referee to give the visitors a penalty that Jules Plisson slammed between the posts.
Just moments later, Les Bleus were in the lead as Billy Vunipola's misplaced pass to Courtney Lawes was plucked out of the air and sent to Sebastien Tillous-Borde, who charged down the left wing before crossing over.
© Getty Images
When Noa Nakaitaci bundled over the line in the 17th minute, it looked as though England's Six Nations dreams were in tatters.
Stuart Lancaster's charges, however, rallied round through a Ford penalty and a try apiece for Anthony Watson and Ben Youngs before the break.
This would seemingly set the stage for England to get the 26 points needed to overtake Ireland at the top of the Six Nations, but France had other ideas.
Guilhem Guirado was felled by a crunching tackle as he marauded towards the posts, but Maxime Mermoz collected the ball before crossing over to deflate the hosts.
© Getty Images
The game then descended into an open-ended barrage of tries from both sides as England fans' emotions swayed from hope to despair and back again.
Jack Nowell ran in two tries while Ford and Vunipola scored one apiece, but Les Bleus were always just behind in the scoreline stakes as Vincent Debaty and Benjamin Kayser stopped England from reaching that elusive points target to pip Ireland at the top.
There was to be no fairytale ending for the hosts at Twickenham as France held firm to lose by just 20 points, leaving England to contemplate what might have been as they secured a fourth second-placed finish in the Six Nations.
Giuseppe Labellarte
