France realised their Grand Slam ambition on Saturday night but they did so in the most uninspiring manner possible, eking out a scarcely-deserved 12-10 victory over England in Paris.
Les Bleus had lit up the Championship with some scintillating rugby in their four previous victories but they turned in a woeful performance in their final game, with the boot of Morgan Parra accounting for all of their points.
England scored the only try of the game, through Ben Foden after just five minutes of play, and it was they who carried the greater attacking threat throughout.
Martin Johnson’s beleaguered side were particularly impressive in the second half, during which they butchered two glorious try-scoring opportunities.
However, while they did manage to draw to within a score after Jonny Wilkinson’s late penalty they ultimately proved incapable of denying France a fifth successive win.
France had begun the game full of vim and vigour, looking as motivated as they had in the opening half of last weekend’s thrilling rout of Italy, and their early endeavour was rewarded with a drop goal from Francois Trinh-Duc.
However, within seconds of the restart they were behind, Foden blazing over in the left corner after a swift and brilliantly-executed cross-field move from England’s much-criticised back-line.
Flood converted from wide on the left and the partisan Parisian crowd were shifting uncomfortably in their seats.
However, the rain then started to come down and that played into French hands. They took it to England up front, particularly in the scrum, and the ever-reliable Parra knocked over three penalties to help the home side into a 12-3 advantage at the break.
A decent lead now established, France looked ideally placed to go on and see the game out in style. That never happened, though, as England had much the better of the second half.
Indeed, they should have scored a second try eight minutes after the restart. Chris Ashton was released wide on the left. The debutant winger had just Clement Poitrenaud to beat and the fullback was still some 15 metres away from him. Ashton should either have backed himself one-on-one or, even better, ran straight at Poitrenaud, and then off-loaded to one of his supporting runners. Ashton, though, opted to immediately kick the ball in behind the Toulouse ace, thus giving himself far too much ground to make up as he attempted to chase it down.
Johnson was visibly exasperated and he was cursing his side’s lack of a killer instinct again just before the hour when Danny Care knocked on whilst France were looking stretched out wide.
Wilkinson entered the fray soon after and although he managed to reduce England’s arrears to just two points with a stunning long-range penalty, he failed to turn the game decisively in the visitors’ favour and France held on to claim a Grand Slam they undoubtedly deserved but did not clinch in convincing style.