Martin Johnson was disappointed to suffer a narrow loss away to France as the 2010 Six Nations championship came to a conclusion on Saturday evening.
However, England produced what was probably their best performance of the campaign. The visitors scored the only try of the night, Ben Foden going over early on, but three penalties from Morgan Parra and a Francois Trinh-Duc drop-goal sealed a 12-10, Grand Slam-clinching victory for the French.
"Of course we are frustrated, we lost," said Johnson.
"But I said to the guys as France picked up the trophy 'you have played the Grand Slam champions and you took them all the way'.
"A lot of players came of age today. It was Danny Care's best performance for England, Toby Flood as well in the way he managed the game and managed the week after coming in for Jonny Wilkinson.
"It was great to have Mike Tindall back. Ben Foden's counter-attacking, his play under the high ball was great.
"Mark Cueto was outstanding again and (Chris) Ashton handled it very well."
France coach Marc Lievremont admitted that it was a difficult final hurdle for his side to clear in their pursuit of the Grand Slam.
"It is five victories and a Grand Slam but we have to pay tribute to the England team," he said. "It was very difficult and they played their best against us.
"We owe a lot to our forwards and I am happy that Nicolas Mas was named man of the match. No scrum, no win."