EDGY ENGLAND SURVIVE A SCARE IN SCRAPPY PARIS SHOW

French fall short in end as late Te’o try makes it 15 in a row for Jones

ENGLAND survived a major Twickenham scare to get their RBS Six Nations campaign off to a winning start and maintain their 100per-cent record under Eddie Jones.

The home team needed a late try from replacement centre Ben Te’o to ensure they won their 14th straight game under Jones — a record 15th in total — but France pushed them all the way in a predictably physical encounter punctuated by handling errors and ill-discipline.

England had winger Jonny May sent to the sin bin early on, while their first-half defensive performance will cause defence coach Paul Gustard sleepless nights.

Jones’ men will, however, take the win and head to Cardiff to face Wales on Saturday. But they have much work to do. They lacked fluency in attack and badly missed the ball-carrying prowess of the injured Vunipola brothers, while some of the line-out work was sloppy and their tactical kicking wayward.

At least their spirit shone through and Teo’s 71st-minute try saw them edge an ugly encounter between two teams struggling for fluency.

Owen Farrell kicked 11 points while Elliot Daly enjoyed a fine game on the left wing, but their Australian head coach will work this week after Rabah Slimani’s secondhalf try had threatened an upset.

Jones made five changes to the side who finished the autumn series with a victory over Australia, which completed a 100-per-cent unbeaten first year under Jones.

Daly, sent off against Argentina on his first start in November, started on the left wing ahead of Jack Nowell, while Joe Marler’s recovery from a hairline leg fracture saw him start at loose-head prop.

Maro Itoje started on the blindside in place of injured Chris Robshaw, while Courtney Lawes partnered Joe Launchbury in the second row.

It was France who started stronger, with Fijian-born wingers Virimi Vakatawa and Noa Nakaitaci prominent.

One brilliant Vakatawa offload almost put Remi Lamerat in for an early try before Camille Lopez put the visitors on the scoreboard with a seventh-minute penalty.

England responded when referee Angus Gardner penalised France at the breakdown and Farrell slotted a penalty from the left.

But England were dealt a heavy blow when May was sin-binned after lifting Gael Fickou’s legs above the horizontal and the France centre landed heavily on his shoulder.

England were down to 14 men for 10 minutes and Lopez punished them further by kicking the penalty to make it 6-3.

Lopez kicked his third penalty when Itoje was penalised for a high tackle moments later, following a run from Louis Picamoles.

May returned as Farrell drew England to within three points with a penalty from wide on the 10-metre line.

The English struggled to make dents in France’s defensive line, while seven missed tackles in the opening 25 minutes allowed the visitors to dominate territory.

A sharp Daly break and feed to Ben Youngs down the left alleviated pressure but England’s imprecision clearly angered Jones, who wore a thunderous look in the stands.

Tom Wood was harshly penalised by Gardner for diving on the ball at the back of a ruck but this time Lopez missed his penalty attempt.

Daly did not make the same mistake, drilling over from almost 50metres before France rallied and the England left winger’s despairing tackle on Scott Spedding only just prevented a try and saw the sides go in 9-9 at half-time.

Farrell hit the post with an early second-half penalty attempt before a delayed pass from George Ford put Farrell through a gap and the England centre threw to Daly, who was only denied a try in the corner by a brilliant tackle by Nakaitaci.

But England were growing in confidence and sustained pressure on the line led to another Farrell penalty that put England in front for the first time after 55 minutes.

However, France were not done, and another Picamoles drive set up a great position and when the ball reached Sebastien Vahaamahina, who off-loaded for Damien Chouly to flick on to Slimani, he scored.

Lopez’s conversion made it 16-12 to the visitors with a quarter of the match to play.

England turned down a kickable penalty on 68 minutes, opting instead to go for touch. Itoje claimed the line-out and England sent wave after wave of attacks deep into French territory.

With Gardner playing advantage, the ball was whipped left through Youngs and Farrell, who put Te’o in for the try.

Farrell converted to make it 19-16 with nine minutes left. Twickenham breathed again and England held on. It was not pretty, but it was a win.