France survived a late onslaught from England to edge the World Cup holder 24-21 on Saturday and win the Six Nations Grand Slam.
After a scoreless first 20 minutes, Imanol Harinordoquy and Dimitri Yachvili both scored tries and the scrumhalf added 11 points.
Ben Cohen replied with a try in the second half and two Olly Barkley penalties cut the French lead to 10 points. Then Josh Lewsey's converted try four minutes from the end took England to within three and set up a thrilling finish before a record crowd of 79,906.
But Bernard Laporte's team, already winners over Ireland, Italy, Wales and Scotland, showed no sign of letting England in again and fully deserved an eighth Grand Slam and fourth in seven years.
"I'm very very happy because we want to win against the best team in the world," Laporte said after his team's 14th Six Nations championship. "I think we played well during the first half but in the second half we played not very well.
"The [World Cup] semifinal is finished. The semifinal England was better than France. I thought we were very good in defense, very good in scrum, very good in lineout. I think that the best team in the world is again for me England."
For England, it means two losses in three games for Clive Woodward's men, who also lost 19-13 at home to Ireland.
The Six Nations has shown that Woodward's World Cup winning team appears to have backwards instead of forwards even accounting for the absence of Jonny Wilkinson and international retirement of Martin Johnson.
"The Six Nations was always going to be difficult after the World Cup, we knew that," the England coach said. "I thought they competed very well today. I'm very proud of the whole side.
"It's been a difficult time from the World Cup. You've got to know how to lose and how to win. It's disappointing, no more than that. Got to move on."
Ireland survived a Scottish scare to win an elusive Six Nations Triple Crown while Wales gave outgoing coach Steve Hansen a memorable sendoff with a six-try, 44-10 crushing of Italy.
Gordon D'Arcy, the player of the championship, scored two of Ireland's five tries at Lansdowne Road as his team outscored Scotland 37-16 having been held 16-16 just after half time.
After beating England 19-13 at Twickenham and Wales 36-15 at Lansdowne Road, the Irish overpowered the Scots who wound up with the "wooden spoon" in last place after five losses.
The victory, Ireland's fourth in a row in the championship, earned a seventh Triple Crown but first since 1985.
"It is the day we have been waiting for years," D'Arcy said. "We knew [Scotland] were going to fight every step of the way. The whole city, the country, is going to go nuts. It is a great honor for the whole country."
Winger Geordan Murphy, David Wallace and scrumhalf Peter Stringer also crossed the Scottish line. Three second half conversions by Ronan O'Gara made it 21 unanswered points.
Scotland replied with a try by back row Allister Hogg, two penalties and a conversion by captain Chris Paterson and a drop goal on his first start by Australian-born fly half Dan Parks.
At the Millennium Stadium, wingers Rhys Williams and Shane Williams scored two tries each as Wales overwhelmed Italy in Hansen's final match in charge.
Gareth Thomas also scored a Welsh record 34th try as Wales captured fourth place in the Six Nations to make sure Italy failed to gain its first away victory in five years in the championship.
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