England stun France with energetic 34-10 victory

It is very rare that a rugby match's turning point arrives after 69 seconds, but when Mark Cueto trotted joyously under the posts after just over a minute had been played at Twickenham yesterday, there was a palpable sense that the England performances of recent weeks would not be repeated.

Martin Johnson and his team have suffered fierce criticism from most (myself included) and yesterday's game will have been a welcome cathartic experience after a long run of matches in which they regularly showed just enough potential to tease their fans, before imploding in a potent mixture of penalties, sin-binnings and directionless play.

England's incredible first half performance against the French contained almost none of those hazardous ingredients, a fact that Johnson will no doubt draw to his players' attention repeatedly in the run-up to their final game of the Championship against Scotland. The crowd were instead treated to a superb display of flowing attacking rugby that pleasingly left the French supporters around us in a stunned silence, perhaps wondering if les bleus weren't in fact wearing white today.

The first try was about as easy as they come at international level, a reminder in an era of watertight defences that a good old mismatch is sometimes all you need. Riki Flutey began an outstanding afternoon in the centre by dancing around a rooted Chabal to break the line, before offloading to the supporting Cueto who ran in unhampered.

The French, shocked into action, attempted to return fire. England's defence looked impregnable for a while, but eventually the hulking Bastareaud brushed off a weak tackle from Armitage and threatened the try-line before he was brought down and the attack collapsed.

Perhaps with the words of his U16 French coaches ringing in his ears (Armitage was told he was "too small and too skinny" to play international rugby when he lived across the Channel), the England full-back immediately recovered from his early mistake by soaring to catch the high ball. He went on to clock arguably his best performance in the full-back jersey, and emphatically proved a point to his former doubters - his numerous breaks showed a pace and agility that was completely lacking from any of his former countrymen.

With England absorbing everything France threw at them, Croft and Worsley formed a dream back-row pairing. While Worsley prevented the French from getting any momentum with another exhilirating tackling display, his Leicester counterpart scrapped tirelessly at the breakdown, helping the men in white to 13 turnovers by the end of the match.

England's confidence in defence, combined with Borthwick's assured display in the lineout, provided the perfect attacking platform, and good field position just outside the French 22m line led to the second England try. Nick Easter's pass behind dummy runner Worsley found Toby Flood, who deftly hung the ball back inside to Cueto on his right shoulder. Worsley's run had (perhaps illegally) created enough space for the winger to burst through the line, who returned Flutey's earlier favour by drawing the full back and popping to the Wasps man for another score under the posts.

The French fans in the crowd felt they were being a little hard done by, and while you felt they had a right to be a little aggrieved by a few of the referee's decisions, they were also their own worst enemy, making sloppy handling errors and offering precious little threat in attack. England on the other hand were buoyant, and with two tries before half-time leaving them 29-0 ahead, they went into the changing room to rapturous applause from the Twickenham crowd.

They made the French wait out on the pitch before the start of the second half, as they had done before the kick-off, and again it seemed to have the desired effect. The French were caught napping as Armitage raced through their defences, and sensibly looked inside to Flutey who was on his shoulder. He didn't quite have the pace to escape the desperate last-ditch tackle of the recovering defender, but cleverly used his momentum to roll over the line for his second of the afternoon.

The loss of Toby Flood to a shoulder injury at the end of the first half meant Andy Goode had taken over at fly-half, and England predictably lost some direction. Goode kicked lots of ball away as aimlessly as he did against Italy, and he couldn't get the backline moving in the same way that Flood had.

With the result effectively sealed, the French had little option but to run with the ball and, good players that they are, eventually began to cause some problems, especially with the regular supply of free ball from Goode. England held them out for a while, but eventually the heavy French pack burrowed over to prevent what would have been a very embarrassing whitewash. A fairly long period of pressure from the Blues ensued, with the fresh legs brought on by both sides changing the dynamic of the game somewhat. France scored again with a clinical move from a scrum deep in England's territory, but knew they had been played out of the match long ago.

With the final whistle looming, England fans were baying for another score to create the perfect ending for what had already been a fantastic team performance. The clock ran over eighty minutes, and with France conceding a penalty the crowd roared louder than it had done all afternoon, willing their team to one more try. Several phases and one or two half-breaks got them into a promising position, and by keeping the ball in hand another score looked on the cards - it wasn't to be however, as Goode attempted a needless chip that was badly struck, and allowed the French to put themselves out of their misery.

England's early score filled them with the confidence they needed after weeks of under-performing and the subsequent criticism, and with each try that followed they clearly loosened up, shaking off the weight of nerves or expectation that had clearly been hampering them. As long as the new-found freedom to play quick, clean attacking rugby continues next week, Johnson will be a happy man.