England vs. France: Score and Reaction from 2017 Six Nations Round 1

England kicked off their 2017 Six Nations championship with a hard-fought 19-16 victory over a spirited France side at Twickenham, where a late Ben Te'o try salvaged four points for the home outfit.

France fly-half Camille Lopez exchanged penalties with England counterpart Owen Farrell before a Rabah Slimani try put France into a second-half lead, but the Red Rose rumbled on to clinch a valuable win.

Gloucester winger Jonny May was shown a yellow card early in the first half after tip tackling France centre Gael Fickou, but despite scoring six points during his absence, Les Bleus failed to make the most of their advantage. 

The victory sealed a record-breaking 15th successive win for England and got their Six Nations title defence off to a winning start, although The Times' Steve James admitted there's still plenty of work to do:

Despite entering their opening clash as firm favourites for the win, coach Eddie Jones' side started Saturday's duel off in a slump, struggling to come out of the blocks while their opponents had no such concerns.

French fly-half Lopez opened his account with a penalty in the seventh minute before England counterpart Farrell responded to level at 3-3 minutes later, but both teams were struggling to unearth much space in attack.

Scott Spedding dazzled as one of France's most effective running weapons throughout the opening 40 minutes, but it spoke volumes of the tight parameters that his darting run after 10 minutes was one of the highlights:

Les Bleus endeavoured in the ascendancy for long bouts and received an advantage after May was adjudged to have tipped France centre Fickou and was shown a yellow card for his offence.

Some England fans may have called the sin bin call incorrect as RTE Rugby provided an image of the tackle in question, after which May arguably had to be shown a yellow if referee Angus Gardner operated by the rule book: 

Lopez slotted another two penalties before May made his return to the field with England trailing 9-6 thanks to Farrell also adding another three points to their tally.

A long-range boot from winger Elliot Daly pulled the hosts level at 9-9 just before the break, and Gracenote Sports statistician Simon Gleave noted there was cause for England to feel upbeat:

Farrell was unlucky not to add to his penalty count early after the restart and bounced an effort off the posts, with England attempting to take a lead for the first time in the meeting.

The French pair of Spedding and No. 8 Louis Picamoles continued to maul away at England's defence, but it was England who had the first major scoring opportunity of the second half as Daly saw his near miss ruled out after straying into touch.

ITV Rugby provided footage of the Wasps star's missed score, where a left boot just about scraping the touchline meant he was prevented from handing England the boost they so sorely needed:

France recovered, however, and the game started to open up for both teams as stamina came to play more of a factor in proceedings, with Jones' hosts seemingly coping better with the workload.

A 55th-minute penalty from Farrell succeeded in giving England their first lead of the fixture, but it lasted barely five minutes thanks to a barrelling run through the heart of England's defence.

Kevin Gourdon made the indent before spotting Slimani's run and handing off to the Stade Francais prop for the score, taking France into a 16-12 lead:

Te'o replaced George Ford as Owen Farrell moved back to fly-half, while Ben Youngs came off for Danny Care and James Haskell was on in place of Joe Launchbury, a move that saw Maro Itoje shift from blindside flanker to lock.

And Te'o's impact was almost instant, powering his way past French defenders through brute force for a maiden England try, and Farrell's conversion snatched a 19-16 lead as ESPN Scrum's Tom Hamilton praised the initiative shown:

France had just eight minutes to get themselves back in the fixture and trailed by only three points, but England's high press ensured the visiting team could only kick back to the enemy, keeping play in their half.

Both teams appeared far below their best, but Jones will undoubtedly come away the happier of the two coaches as his team displayed the kind of grit upon which championships tend to be built.

The Red Rose have taken some much-needed initiative in dusting off one of the tournament's more prestigious sides in Week 1, but the test of Wales in Week 2 means there's no time for respite.

Meanwhile, Les Bleus will play host to Scotland next Sunday after coach Vern Cotter's men clinched a mighty 27-22 win over Ireland at Murrayfield, leaving the French at risk of suffering successive Six Nations defeats.

Post-Match Reaction

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Many coaches might have felt bitter in leaving Twickenham after such a near miss on Saturday, but France boss Guy Noves was anything but in his post-match comments.

Picamoles' man-of-the-match performance combined with Slimani's late try and Lopez's boot put the guests in contention, but Noves ultimately conceded England as deserved winners, per Rugby World:

England counterpart Jones was similarly complimentary of his opponent and suggested there's more to come from his side after a fixture that could have gone either way, per the Telegraph's Mick Cleary and James Stafford:

“We can’t get much uglier than that. For some reason we sat back in the first half. I have to look at the preparation I gave the team. But we did enough good things in the second half to win it.”

Jones added his bench were also essential to the win: “They [the bench] were terrific Te’o was dominate in defence and strong in attack. We got really good value from the bench. That’s the great thing for us, we can slot Daly in at 13 and it presents a different picture. It’s still ugly but the result is beautiful.”