France 48-46 England (FT) as it happened: Last-gasp penalty sees Ireland miss out on Six Nations title

France 48-46 England (FT)

At some point there will be a podcast in your feed with myself and Gerry Thornley - who had to stick around in the Aviva in case Ireland had a trophy lift - trying to make sense of all that. Keep an eye out for that and on the Irish Times website for all the Six Nations coverage after a cracking tournament.

Good night all.

No excrement Sherlock... what a player.

That pace is undefendable - four tries in a tournament-winning display.

111 tries in this year’s Six Nations, beating last year’s record of 108.

Rugby is in a brilliant place as a spectacle.

In this year’s Six Nations:

- Scotland lost to Italy in Rome

- Ireland were hockeyed in Paris

- Ireland hockeyed England in Twickenham

- Italy and Wales (ish) ran Ireland close

- Scotland mauled France in Murrayfield

- Italy beat England in Rome

- Wales won their first Six Nations game in over 1,000 days

- England lost four games for the first time in one competition but still should have beaten the champions

- An 83rd minute penalty decided the title

Sport, eh?

Plenty of eyes will look at the late England turnover. They won the ball back at a ruck and Pollock came up the field. Had he held onto it with 30 seconds on the clock...

Instead, a poor pass gifted France possession. Ramos did the rest.

That was a headline moment, but England’s discipline ultimately came back to haunt them. They’ve conceded close to 70 points as a result of cards in this tournament.

Madness.

Ramos the hero. The kick came in the 83rd minute...

They were even showing the game on the big screen in the Aviva. There’ll be no trophy lift for Caelan Doris and co.

England had the game almost won. Only for one late infringement. They were excellent, taking on France up front and bullying them when they had 15 men on the park.

Ultimately, Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s pace and Ellis Genge’s card (a period which saw France score twice) cost England a famous win and Ireland the title.

FRANCE WIN THE SIX NATIONS

Ramos isn’t missing that, is he? He’s the best goal-kicker in the world.

Ireland miss out on the Six Nations title. A Six Nations for the ages gets the thrilling conclusion it deserves.

Full-time: France 48-46 England

The call is a deliberate knock-on. Itoje is now involved making sure Ramos doesn’t steal a yard. He’s being shoved back by Guillard - it’s kicking off now. At some point, there will be a shot at goal.

It’s 15 metres in from touch, just outside the 10m line.

PENALTY FRANCE

It’s 50 metres out but they will have a chance to win the Six Nations. Playing advantage as things stand. This is the last play.

Thomas Ramos will have a kick to win it all. Dupont and Ramos are arguing about the spot of the kick. There are two penalties which is confusing things, Amashukeli is asking his TMO for help picking the mark.

80 mins: WOW. England get a turnover, they could have closed the game out. But they’ve spilled it. France have it back and a knock-on advantage. 30 seconds left.

79 mins: Jalibert and Dupont have combined for a line break.

This is not done yet, France are in drop-goal range...

TRY ENGLAND - TOMMY FREEMAN

77 mins: Freeman is in under the posts! The conversion will be a formality, they will hit the lead. France have fewer than three minutes to try and win back the title.

If they do not score again, Ireland are Six Nations champions.

France 45-46 England

HELD UP

76 mins: Is that the title for France? Cowan-Dickie gets over the line but there are blue shirts underneath him. England hammered away with their forwards but could not get over.

They will, you would think, get one last chance.

France are going to get a card here...

Here it comes. France will finish the game down to 14, replacement tighthead Bamba is gone for an early shove in the maul. France were on a warning.

A lifeline for England and Ireland?

TRY FRANCE - LOUIS BIELLE-BIARREY

66 mins: His pace is going to win France the Six Nations, isn’t it?

Another kick in behind, this one from Dupont into the disorganised English backfield, leads to only one result. LBB is actually taken out before he gets the ball but he still gets to his feet to score. Like Wile. E-Coyote, Jack van Portvliet couldn’t catch Bielle-Biarrey, even illegally.

Meep meep.

Ramos converts. Josh Brennan - son of Trevor - has just come off the bench for France.

France 45-39 England

63 mins: France win a breakdown penalty inside their own 22 and it’s all kicking off. SUrprise surprise, Henry Pollock is in the middle of it all.

60 mins: Attisogbé’s athleticism to keep that ball in play from an England kick is worth the price of admission alone.

The game that keeps on giving.

TRY ENGLAND - MARCUS SMITH

57 mins: Wow. Just wow. England build through the phases and it’s ferocious stuff. Genge’s battle with nearly every single French forward is something to behold. Every collision risks being... something disastrous.

Eventually, England make enough ground inside the 22 to send Smith over.

Now taking over the kicking duties, Marcus Smith adds the conversion to retake the lead.

Ireland are back on top of the table.

France 38-39 England

Henry Pollock comes off the bench to a chorus of boos. They really don’t like him across the English channel. Marcus Smith is also on.

TRY ENGLAND - OLLIE CHESSUM

51 mins: The big man runs it in from 50 metres out! Jalibert throws the pass, Chessum jumps out of the line and he’s gone. A sprint finish from the halfway line, he just about has the gas to hold off the scramble.

A big moment just as Genge’s card expires. Smith misses the conversion.

France 38-32 England

TRY FRANCE - THÉO ATTISOGBÉ

49 mins: Has Ellis Genge’s card cost Ireland the title? It’s certainly cost England two tries.

Jalibert’s step and offload - spectacularly taken by Ollivon - brings play into the 22. From there, once a penalty comes, Dupont taps and throws a wide ball to an unmarked Attisogbé.

Ramos converts.

France 38-27 England

46 mins: Itoje, wow. France look dead set to score after another stunning offload sequence.

The light blue jerseys are queuing up out wide but Itoje somehow gets a lift on the ball at the breakdown to win a penalty. Special moment.

France make two changes in the frontrow, Mauvaka replacing Marchand at hooker and Bamba coming on for Aldegheri at tighthead.

44 mins: Ah lads. England are pinged for being in front of the kicker at the kick-off. Such a silly mistake.

France scrum which means Bevan Rodd needs to come on to replace Genge. Ben Earl is the sacrificial lamb.

Rodd pulls the scrum down and France kick the penalty into the corner.

TRY FRANCE - LOUIS BIELLE-BIARREY

42 mins: Where do you even start with that? Offload. Offload. Throw another one. 10 more for good luck? Attisogbé nearly sends Ollivon over but when he’s hauled down short, Dupont goes wide and LBB strolls over.

That’s his eighth try of this Six Nations, equalling his own record for the most in a single tournament. Ramos converts from out wide because, well, of course he does.

France 31-27 England

41 mins: Here we go. 40 minutes to decide the Six Nations title - the Ireland lads are watching back in the Aviva in case they have a trophy lift in about an hour’s time.

France are attacking against 14 men for the next 10 minutes, Ellis Genge in the bin.

England have played 82 minutes with fewer than 15 on the pitch in this competition and they have shipped more than 60 points in that time...

France have brought on some size off the bench, Mickael Guillard coming into the pack.

Well I never...

As things stand, with England three points to the good, Ireland are Six Nations champions. Just the 40 minutes for Steve Borthwick’s side to hold on...

Half-time: France 24-27 England

What a belter of a game. This Six Nations has been sensational and it deserves a send-off like this.

When France have the ball and work any sort of space in behind for Louis Bielle-Biarrey to chase the ball, they’re undefendable. The problem for them (not a problem for Ireland) is that down the other end of the park, they can’t defend the English pack.

One-off runners with quick ball make ground every time. The maul is destroying the French tight five. The scrum is going their way too. We will see, though, if the loss of Genge for the first 10 minutes of the second half changes things.

44 mins: They’re checking a potential French penalty try here...

PENALTY TRY - FRANCE

Yellow card - Ellis Genge

The French maul was rumbling towards the line and would have scored were it not for Genge hauling the whole thing down. According to referee Amashukeli at least.

They did check to see if the lineout lifters were guilty of obstruction in the maul - Irish touch judge Andrew Brace seemed to think there was - but Amashukeli disagreed and awarded the penalty try.

That’s England’s eight card of this Six Nations.

France 24-27 England

38 mins: More good news for Ireland. England get a penalty in a very kickable position and Fin Smith has his tee. No mistake. England lead by two scores.

France 17-27 England

If the game ended now, Ireland would finish three points clear at the top of the table...

TRY ENGLAND - ALEX COLES

34 mins: The maul is a problem for France and good news for Ireland.

This one sucks in multiple defenders, England continuing to batter France physically. The ball goes wide before France get set after the maul and Coles walks it in.

England have a bonus point inside 35 minutes.

Fin Smith, wow. The ball falls off the tee so he has to drop-kick the conversion. He absolutely nails it from a wide angle. England look good when the pressure is off...

France 17-24 England

33 mins: France are getting bullied up front.

To go with their dominant maul, England have now won a scrum penalty.

What a game.

As things stand, with the scores level in Paris, Ireland are winning the Six Nations.

England are doing their may west to help out.

TRY ENGLAND - OLLIE CHESSUM

26 mins: England are dominant at the maul. This one somehow stops just short of the line but they recycle, play a phase or two and dive over through Chessum.

This time Smith kicks a much more straightforward conversion.

France 17-17 England

23 mins: Ramos knocks over a penalty from straight in front of the posts.

France 17-10 England

Has Jalibert scored? He thinks he has...

22 mins: It was a chip and chase from the Bordeaux 10. He races Murley to the bouncing ball and ends up with it over the line. The only question is if Murley grounded it first and Jalibert subsequently ripped it away?

NO TRY

Both players were in contact with the ball when it was grounded, meaning the defence gets the benefit of the doubt. They go back for an offside advantage, penalty France.

TRY ENGLAND - CADAN MURLEY

19 mins: Now England score with a kick in behind. Not for the first time tonight, Attisogbé makes a meal of a kick in behind. He spills over his own line and Murley wins the race to ground over the line (Bielle-Biarrey was over on the other wing).

Fin Smith misses another touchline conversion.

France 14-10 England

16 mins: England are having a go here. Genge and Freeman put in big carries to get deep into the 22 only for a crossing call to end the attack.

TRY FRANCE - Guess who?

13 mins: Meep meep. The red scrum-capped road-runner.

Off a scrum, France draw up the backfield and then kick in behind through Jalibert. No one is winning that race apart from one individual.

Bielle-Biarrey has 27 tries in as many Tests. He’s 22 years old. Ramos converts.

France 14-5 England

TRY ENGLAND - TOM ROEBUCK

10 mins: Wow. England hit back superbly, going through a number of phases before Fin Smith and Daly combine to send Roebuck in the corner.

Beautiful ball retention.

Smith has a touchliner to level... he’s pushed it to the right.

France 7-5 England

TRY FRANCE - LOUIS BIELLE-BIARREY

8 mins: Tries in 10 consecutive Six Nations games for LBB.

This time, the Ramos kick in behind stays in play and the Bordeaux road-runner beats Cadan Murely in a race to the backfield.

Meep meep.

Ramos converts.

France 7-0 England

4 mins: England get away with one as Thomas Ramos kicks ahead for Louis Bielle-Biarrey to chase into the 22. Sound familiar?

Ramos kicks it out on the full. If that stays in play, with LBB’s pace, try time.

2 mins: England think they’ve scored but there was a spill in the build-up. Fin Smith’s kick in behind causes all sorts of problems, Théo Attisogbé making a meal of it. Seb Atkinson ends up grounding the ball but referee Nika Amashukeli says a white jersey knocked it on in the scrap on the floor.

1 min: Here we go then, can England do Ireland a title-winning favour? Fin Smith kicks off for l’Angleterre.

These blue kits are nice but they don’t half clash with England’s white strip.

Anthems are done, La Marseillaise really is a belter. I’m a big fan of dropping the music to let the crowd do the work. The Aviva should try it some time.

The players are out at the Stade de France. They really do know how to make an entrance and build an atmosphere there.

Am I the only one who thinks they’re pushing out this much trophy content to remind everyone that they are capable of transporting it without the thing being burned?

Something to keep an eye out for tonight. Thibaud Flament does not get noticed to the same extent as Monsieurs Ramos, Dupont, Bielle-Biarrey, Jalibert et al, but he’s had a cracker of a tournament. His secondrow partnership with Meafou should have a significant influence tonight.

What do we make of these commemorative jerseys France are wearing tonight, marking 120 years since the first iteration of this fixture?

There was an interesting moment in Rome last week when Maro Itoje shouted at his outhalf. Fin Smith clearly thought England should kick a penalty to the corner but his skipper disagreed, to the point where the ref mic picked up Itjoe shouting “Don’t argue with me!”

Smith has been speaking to ITV prior to tonight’s game and he’s looking to explain that incident which caught the eye.

England have made just one change to the side that lost to Italy last week.

Tom Curry was supposed to start that but pulled up lame in Rome during the warm-up. Sam Underhill got a go at seven but he’s now on the bench. Guy Pepper shifts from six while Ollie Chessum comes into the backrow.

Here are the teams prior to Le Crunch, kicking off in just over an hour’s time. France have responded to defeat in Murrayfield by adding beef to their mix, Manny Meafou getting the start in the secondrow. Temo Matiu also gets a debut in the backrow.

Toulouse’s Josh Brennan, the man with a Kildare accent when speaking English - he is the son of Trevor - gets a run on the bench.

If outhalf Matthieu Jalibert gets an assist tonight, he draws level with Stuart McCloskey for the tournament lead.

The upshot (if that’s the right word) of all this is that if England lose tonight (without any bonus points), they will finish level on points with Wales.

The Wooden Spoon is still heading to Cardiff, though, given Wales’ points difference of -82 and England’s tally of +4. England would have to lose to France by 87 points to drop below their neighbours and into bottom spot.

Wales have just beaten Italy, a first half blitz blowing away the visitors in Cardiff.

Based on their resolute display in Dublin last week, perhaps that isn’t overly surprising. Albeit the nature of Italy’s drop in performance after beating England is a bit of a shocker.

It’s a huge result for Wales, their first win in the Six Nations in over 1,000 days.

There’s a joke to be made here about avoiding another mishap in transit. For reference, the original Six Nations trophy is no more after a fire burned it while being transported in a vehicle. Whatever you see in the Stade de France tonight (or indeed back at the Aviva if England do Ireland a favour) is a replica/a fake.

Let’s cut straight to the chase. If you’re reading an Irish Times live blog, it’s because you’re paying attention to this for parochial Irish Six Nations title interest. Here are the permutations, with Ireland and France the last two contenders for the trophy.

As things stand, Ireland lead the Six Nations on 19 points. France have a much better points difference (+41).

Ireland will win the Six Nations IF

- England beat France. Even if the French get two losing bonus points (losing by fewer than 7 and scoring 4 tries), they will end up on 18 points in the table, one behind Ireland.

- France draw with England WITHOUT scoring four tries

France will win the Six Nations IF

- France beat England

- France draw with England and score four tries. In that case, Ireland and France are both on 19 points but a superior French points difference will see them home.

Allez les Blancs?

We are back. Super Saturday continues after Ireland beat Scotland to the Triple Crown, doing their bit to keep title ambitions alive ahead of this contest between France and England in Paris.

Nathan Johns here to guide you through all the action as we build-up to kick-off at the Stade de France at 8.10pm.