ROSE & FROWNS
| Published date | 17 March 2024 |
| Publication title | Daily Star (England) |
And that all added up to a third-place finish in the Six Nations for Borthwick's men - but they went out on their shields here, scoring four tries. England had not won in France since Eddie Jones' side clinched the Grand Slam in Paris in 2016.
Northampton wing Tommy Freeman got them to within one point after a brilliant flick pass from George Ford had put him over in the corner with four minutes left.
And Ford's conversion made it 31-30 to put England on the verge of a second huge win in a week - then Ramos pooped the party.
Saracens back row Ben Earl put in another colossal shift.
Sam U n d e rhill added to his good form this year and Alex Mitchell continued to add zip at scrum-half, with Ford the brains at No.10.
England were hamstrung by the loss of George Furbank with a calf injury after just eight minutes but Marcus Smith slotted in at full-back where he had played in the World Cup.
Smith added pace as the visitors hit France with the old one-two either side of half-time in the shape of two scores from Ollie Lawrence.
Then Smith added a third try to leave the French reeling at 24-16 down before they hit back strongly.
England's remote hopes of winning the title had already been torpedoed by the time they took the pitch thanks to Ireland's 17-13 victory over Scotland in Dublin.
But with three wins out of four in the bag they were looking to equal their best Six Nations since 2020.
England turned around 16-10 down at the break and had their blitz defence blitzed by the French twice in the first 40 minutes. The first ended up with scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec finishing offa team move and the second was only thwarted by Smith racing back.
In between the boot of Ramos had kept the hosts at arm's length but Bath centre Lawrence gave England a shot in the arm on the stroke of half-time. They had a couple of penalties which Ford kicked to the corner before Lawrence smashed through.
He made it two in quick time on 42 minutes to leave France rocking at 17-16 down .
they were on the canvas when Earl bust the French midfield and fed Smith who sprinted over. England then got caught short-handed in defence as the French stretched them and Leo Barre scored a walk-in try to leave a one-point game heading into the final quarter .
Manu Tuilagi was thrown on but his side were exposed again as Gael Fickou rampaged in.
Borthwick said: "I am really...
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