Replacement Ben Te’o’s last-gasp try on Saturday scrambled defending champions England to a 19-16 Six Nations win over archrivals France on a thrilling opening day in the tournament.
Despite England extending their national record of 15 straight wins, coach Eddie Jones was left bemoaning the “club mentality” of some players after watching France stretch the favorites to the limit in the win at Twickenham.
Lackluster England were in trouble at 16-12 behind after France replacement Rabah Slimani scored the game’s first try on the hour.
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France, edged out by Australia and world champions New Zealand in November last year, again gave up their lead. Te’o’s 71st-minute try, converted by Owen Farrell, tipped the game.
Victory saw the England XV surpass the national best of 14 wins in a row they had shared with the 2002-2003 side that went on to win the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
Te’o’s try had been “fantastic,” Jones said, but told the BBC: “I felt some players were still in their club mentality, so that’s something we need to work on — I don’t think I prepared the team as well as I could have done.”
A scrappy first half that saw England wing Jonny May sin-binned for a dangerous tackle ended all square at 9-9.
Camille Lopez’s three successful penalties for France were canceled out by two from England center Owen Farrell and a huge 48m kick by Elliot Daly.
Another Farrell penalty made it 12-9 before the tries arrived in the closing stages.
France scored a deserved try, with Lopez making a jinking run before flanker Kevin Gourdon sent in Slimani for a score by the posts. Lopez converted and France led by four points.
However, front row Slimani gave away a scrum penalty that set up an England line-out inside France’s 22. Farrell’s pass found Te’o, who had only been on the field a few minutes, and he went in from close range on the overlap.
Farrell converted and England saw out the closing minutes to extend Jones unbeaten run as national coach.
“Now we know what we’ve got to work on, we will get there,” Jones said. “The finishers made a fantastic impact on the game, that is the strength of our team, we have a brilliant 23-man squad.”
“Looking forward, all we are worried about is Wales. We will watch them play Italy tomorrow [yesterday] and take it from there,” the Australian added.
Wales were yesterday to play their first game against Italy in Rome.
In Murrayfield, Scotland, Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw kicked two penalties in the closing minutes as his side opened the Six Nations with a dramatic 27-22 win over Ireland.
Scotland stunned Ireland, who beat world champions New Zealand in November last year, with three tries, two by Stuart Hogg, inside the opening 28 minutes as they surged into a 21-5 lead.
However, wing Keith Earls had already scored one try for Ireland and scored two more in the second half — by lock Iain Henderson and flyhalf Paddy Jackson — to put Ireland ahead 22-21.
Laidlaw’s boot brought composure back to the Scotland camp and their first win over their Gaelic rivals since 2013.
It was Scotland’s first opening-round win in the Six Nations, while Ireland gained the first losing bonus point in the history of the championship.
“When there was one point in it, I think everyone thought it would be the same old story, but we managed to claw our way back in,” Scotland coach Vern Cotter said. “It was a great win and validates the work they have been doing in training.”
“Scotland got a flying start, really impressive, and Vern Cotter has obviously done some great work with them,” Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said.
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