England loss to France hands Ireland Six Nations title

PARIS: A revitalised France beat an uninspired England 22-16 yesterday to claim a rare victory over their arch-rivals whose defeat handed the Six Nations title to Ireland.

Les Bleus, who had lost nine of their last 11 meetings against England in the Championship, prevailed through penalties by Maxime Machenaud (4) and Lionel Beauxis and a penalty try, while their opponents scored two penalties and conversion by Owen Farrell, a penalty by Elliot Daly and a try by Jonny May.

Ireland top the table with 19 points from four games after securing a 28-8 bonus-point victory over Scotland earlier, meaning they cannot be caught by England when the two teams meet at Twickenham next weekend.

France, who narrowly lost their first two matches against Ireland and Scotland, defended furiously throughout and it became obvious that England, who needed a bonus-point win to keep their title hopes alive, would not score the four tries they needed.

It was England’s second defeat in a row after they lost to Scotland in the previous round of matches.

Two tries by Jacob Stockdale set up Ireland’s victory over Scotland which was also Ireland’s 11th successive win.

Joe Schmidt’s side will go to Twickenham next weekend with only their third ever Grand Slam tantalisingly within reach.

“It’s special because we won it at home,” Schmidt said. “It’s bizarre again because we won it watching a game over which we didn’t have any control over but we managed to control enough of the things that we were involved with to get the 19 points on the table that we needed.

“It was a great performance for France. They made it really tough for England to get any fluidity. We’ll have a look at England now and try to strike out again next week.”

Ireland will be wary of their visit to Twickenham, especially as it was they who denied England the Grand Slam last season in identical circumstances.

“It’s been in the back of our minds and it’s something you always dream of,” Murray said of the possibility of emulating the 1948 and 2009 feats.

“It’s taken a lot of hard work to get to this point.” – Reuters