England prove they can deliver

After all the screeching tension, words were hardly necessary. While almost every England player did his best to convey the importance of the last five tumultuous minutes, it was like listening to the champ making no sense on a big fight night. Everything that mattered had already been triumphantly expressed.

In Cape Town and Sydney, no doubt, the result will cause some predictable amusement - "Hey, guys, isn't it a bit late?" - but looking into the eyes of Clive Woodward, Matt Dawson and the rest on Saturday night was to glimpse an England team which had finally steered its sweet chariot down the path to enlightenment and had been unshackled from its myriad disappointments.

Not only did England win in France for the first time since 1994, they drilled through the heart the notion that they could not deliver when it really counted. This may sound overblown for a side who failed to score a try and were clinging on near the end with just 13 men but this occasion was rather less about rugby than about cleansing the soul.

For all the contrasts Paris can offer, not least between the Stade de France's site in the grim industrial suburb of St Denis and the city's traditional attractions, nothing could match the transformation in England's demeanour from the dark day last October when they lost here to South Africa in the World Cup quarter-finals.

This time Woodward, who won in France twice with England as a player, could face friend and foe with head high, knowing he, his fellow coaches and players could not have done more in their country's name. France may have been unlucky to lose two out-halves in the preceding days and were denied a glorious try which nine referees out of 10 would have waved ahead, but England's phenomenal physical effort deserved its reward.

"I've been involved in rugby for a long time but I've never been more proud," admitted Woodward. "To be in that changing-room was something I'll never forget as long as I live." What had particularly thrilled him was the way his younger players, not least Jonny Wilkinson, adhered to his fast and furious rugby philosophy despite the pressure and the rain which, in contrast, sapped the French of all their vitality.

"We're coaching a much younger group of players now and they're not scared about what we're talking about. One or two people, looking back, might have been a bit: `Is this guy off his rocker or not?"' If Wilkinson's pile-driving tackle on Emile Ntamack just before halftime is destined for Anglo-French legend, his five penalties from six attempts were rapier thrusts to compare with his seven successful kicks in the 21-10 Twickenham win over the same opposition last year.

The contrast between his heavy-hitting display and the lightweight efforts of the hapless Thomas Castaignede and Richard Dourthe was glaring but the day's biggest letdown was the collapsed souffle masquerading as the French pack.

Against Wales they had looked formidable, but after just 20 minutes of attacking what appeared to be a giant white sponge, the entire eight were bent over with exhaustion, wheezing like a pensioner with a 50-a-day Gitanes habit.

The French coach Bernard Laporte admitted his pre-match fears about England's superior fitness had been borne out, but will be just as concerned with the flawed late decision-making which cost his side a fourth successive loss at the Stade.

Even after Dourthe's 75th-minute attempt to drag France back to 15-12 had ended with the full back slipping and banging the back of his head on the turf, opportunity still knocked. Simon Shaw had just been sin-binned for killing the ball and when Austin Healey followed him on a touch-judge's intervention in the third minute of injury-time, France were briefly camped five metres out with a two-man advantage.

On another day, Lawrence Dallaglio's blatant offside at the height of the melee might have yielded a penalty try but, instead of staying cool, the French blew it. The chance to scrum against a depleted English pack was ignored, two tap penalties led nowhere and Mike Catt duly walloped a turnover ball into the stand to spark the celebrations.

"The last five minutes epitomised what sort of team I want to play in," said a delighted Matt Dawson. Phil Vickery used rather saltier, unprintable language, having spent the entire 80 minutes mocking medical opinion which suggested a training-ground calf injury would rule him out.

France: R Dourthe (Dax); E Ntamack (Toulouse), D Venditti (Brive), T Lombard (Stade Francais), C Dominici (Stade Francais); T Castaignede (Castres), F Galthie (Colomiers); C Califano, (Toulouse), M Dal Maso (Colomiers; R Ibanez, Perpignan, 73min), R Tournaire (Toulouse; P De Villiers (Stade Francais 73); F Matiu (Biarritz; T Lievremont (Perpignan, h/t), O Brouzet (Begles-Bordeaux), A Benazzi (Agen; Betsen, Biarritz 63), O Magne (Montferrand), F Pelous (Toulouse, capt).

England: M Perry (Bath; I Balshaw, Bath 63); A Healey (Leicester), M Tindall (Bath), M Catt (Bath), B Cohen (Northampton); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), M Dawson (Northampton, capt); J Leonard (Harlequins), W Greening (Sale), P Vickery (Gloucester), G Archer (Bristol), S Shaw (Wasps), R Hill (Saracens; M Corry (Leicester 76), N Back (Leicester), L Dallaglio (Wasps).

Referee: S Dickinson (Australia).