LONDON (AP) — Fin Smith's match-winning conversion of the last-gasp try he set up lifted England over Six Nations title favorite France 26-25 in a Twickenham thriller on Saturday.
The score changed three times in the last 10 minutes of a frenetic match.
England led for the first time in the match in the 70th through replacement prop Fin Baxter's try. Smith converted for 19-18, taking over the goalkicking from Marcus Smith, who badly pulled his last two goalkicks.
Five minutes later, France retook the lead after Antoine Dupont and Damian Penaud counterattacked from deep to give Louis Bielle-Biarrey his second try of the match. France led 25-19.
Then England forced a lineout in France territory, mauled it, and Fin Smith fed replacment wing Elliot Daly in a huge gap to charge over beside the posts in the 79th. Fin Smith's conversion completed a remarkable fightback.
Falling to Ireland in Dublin last week meant England dropped six of its last seven matches. This was England's first big win since last year's Six Nations when it beat Ireland. Since then, England has drawn deserved criticism for blowing winning positions in the last quarter.
It finally finished the job with a bonus-point four tries against France and has joined the title race with Scotland visiting next in two weeks.
“We have lost plenty of games and luckily this one went our way today,” Fin Smith said. “It was far from perfect but that group fought for it.”
Bold call to start Fin Smith
Giving flyhalf Fin Smith his first test start was a bold call by coach Steve Borthwick. His seven previous caps totaled 122 minutes of test rugby. But he's better at sparking a backline than Marcus Smith, whose maverick brilliance was trusted at fullback.
The bench also delivered, notably former captain Jamie George, Ollie Chessum, and Daly, who was recalled for his first test in a year.
After a shaky first half, Fin Smith grew into the game like England did and was named man of the match.
“I felt like a rabbit in the headlights in the first half,” he said. “But I found my feet in the end. This is cool for a first start.”
France gets the yips
France has just started a three-match road trip that goes to Italy next, then defending champion Ireland. This setback was harder to digest for France because it should have buried England by halftime despite wet conditions underfoot.
France shelled so many try-scoring passes that not even captain Dupont was immune.
"We got the oopsies, didn't we?" France defense coach Shaun Edwards said. “Every time we got near the try-line we seemed to just drop the ball. I've never seen that happen before. The French lads are normally magnificent handlers of a rugby ball.”
It took 30 minutes to get Bielle-Biarrey over, only for England to hit straight back in a sign of things to come. Somehow, despite a dropped pass behind Tom Curry and Fin Smith spilling the ball, England got it to midfielder Ollie Lawrence to score and make it 7-7 by halftime.
Thomas Ramos penalties made it 13-7 and England should have gone ahead in the 58th when, in the same movement, winger Tommy Freeman caught Fin Smith's restart then caught his cross-field chip to score. But Marcus Smith bombed the conversion.
Bielle-Biarrey came off his wing to give Penaud his 37th test try, one short of France's record held by Serge Blanco. France led 18-12 going into the last quarter, and Nolann Le Garrec was sent in, moving Dupont from scrumhalf to flyhalf. But Dupont was who England targeted in a lineout peel for the Baxter try that launched the madcap last 10 minutes.
“We were brave — that's the foundation of what we want to be doing going forward,” Maro Itoje said after his first win as England captain.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
The Associated Press
