France 25-20 England: Red Rose defeated despite late fightback
England mustered as late fightback which fell just short as their preparations for the home World Cup suffered a setback with a poor 25-20 defeat to France in Paris.
Danny Cipriani boosted his selection hopes by sparking a late surge as he stepped off the bench to cross, while Jonathan Joseph also touched down in a lively finish.
But England's tries in an error-strewn clash in Paris merely masked the extent of their inferiority for the previous 70 minutes.
France fly-half Freddie Michalak finished with a 17-point haul and wing Yoann Huget also crossed.
A first-choice England pack endured a torrid evening at the hands of Les Bleus just seven days after being out-muscled, but not out-scored, in the 19-14 victory over the same foes at Twickenham.
The set-piece was once again exposed, with referee Jaco Peyper repeatedly penalising the scrum, while the throwing of Tom Youngs and replacement hooker Jamie George contributed to the mess at the line-out.
The second of two matches against France - Ireland's visit to Twickenham on September 5 completes England's schedule of warm-up fixtures - was billed as an audition for Luther Burrell to secure his World Cup place, but it was a frustrating day for the inside centre.
Scott Spedding landed France’s first three points from inside his own half after Burrell conceded a penalty, and another error, this time from Dan Cole, allowed Frederic Michalak to fire his first of five penalties.
The World Cup hosts had barely entered the French half by the time the home side came close to their first try, with only Mike Brown’s perfect catch beneath his own posts preventing Huget from collecting Sebastien Tillous-Borde’s chip.
Michalak kicked a two more penalties but missed one chance as France moved 12-0 ahead, while a first foray into the French 22 ended with three points for Ford.
Michalak once more found his mark as the penalties continued to accumulate, but England ended the half with a flourish with Ford sending a kick between the uprights to reduce the half-time gap to 15-6
However, the good work was undone in a flash, as Michalak cleverly sent Huget through a large gap, with Robshaw arriving too late to make the covering tackle and the wing expertly rounded Brown and evaded Nowell to touch down under the posts. Michalak duly converted.
Hopes of and England victory were evaporating fast and just to ram the point home Michalak landed penalty number five.
But Stuart Lancaster’s Red Rose mustered a strong finish, and began a spirited fightback by pouncing when a big gap appeared in the French defence, with Cipriani sliding between two tacklers and over the whitewash in the 72nd minute, with Ford converting.
England then rapidly engineered a second try in the corner when Brown sent a racing Joseph over.
The visitors drove forward as the seconds ticked down, with the match entering three minutes of added time as they edged closer and closer, but a mishandled pass was them come up short with one last assault, as France cleared to signal game over.