England yet again let big fish off the hook as France strike late

England's hectic Six Nations schedule does not allow the luxury of dwelling on what might have been in Paris. By Thursday afternoon they will be heading north to Murrayfield for a prickly date with Scotland all too aware that their title prospects will be prematurely extinguished should they slip up there. Any margin for error has vanished faster than you can say Maxime Machenaud or Gael Fickou.

There is never any disgrace in losing a gripping, fluctuating Test match in the closing minutes, particularly one this physically demanding. When they do have time to reflect on Saturday’s stirring game, though, England’s youthful side will curse their latest failure to hang on to a hard-earned final-quarter lead. This was an almost exact re-run of their 30-22 defeat by New Zealand in November.

Is it mere coincidence or further evidence of a worrying tendency towards self-harm? Against the All Blacks England also trailed 17-3 inside the first 20 minutes, launched a determined comeback in the middle third to lead 22-20, then blew it with unnecessary errors in the final 15 minutes. This time, from 16-3 down, they found themselves 24-19 ahead with four minutes left, having enjoyed the lion’s share of territory and possession. England are en route to becoming a good side but Lancaster’s players have yet to master the art of landing the big fish once they have been hooked.

The list of “if onlys” stretched the length of the Rue de Rivoli. What if, once again, they had not dropped the opening kick-off? What if they had taken a penalty advantage in front of the posts just before half-time which would have yielded a certain three points? What if a crucial final quarter attacking lineout had not been wasted? What if Danny Care, Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes had not been replaced when they were? Rugby union is an imprecise science but the conclusion here was inescapable: England could have won this game with a bit to spare.

Bad luck
In mitigation they did not always enjoy fortune's smile. Every defence suffers from a cruel bounce of the ball once or twice per season but rarely twice inside the first 20 minutes of their most significant away game of the season. Yoann Huget could scarcely believe his luck as he helped himself to a ridiculously soft brace of tries. Another day the ball might have bounced more kindly for Care in the second-half One more converted try at that juncture and England would surely have won.

Care's pace posed a constant threat and his quick tap had already set up the 36th-minute try for Mike Brown which dragged England back into contention. Had the scrumhalf not been hauled down short of the line the French would have been toast when Luther Burrell surged up on the outstanding Billy Vunipola's shoulder to claim a memorable try on his Test debut.

Broken nose
Things might have been different, too, had Jonny May not had his nose broken inside the opening five minutes or Philippe Saint-Andre not belatedly replaced Mathieu Bastareaud with the 19-year-old Fickou five minutes from time. The latter is blessed with the smooth acceleration and instincts of a Gallic Jeremy Guscott and, once Dimitri Szarzewski had put him into space, his smart dummy and coltish pace enabled him to cruise round behind the posts. Machenaud, from bang in front of the sticks, duly made no mistake. No wonder France's players celebrated the final whistle as if Le Grand Chelem was already won.

The England mood was rather less upbeat, the cloud of intense post-match disappointment broken only by one of the conditioning staff, Paul Stridgeon, who tripped and took a comic tumble in the dressing-room. “That lightened the mood a bit,” Care said. “Sometimes you need something like that. To be so close is frustrating. I think we should have won. In these kinds of games one mistake, or one piece of brilliance from them, can cost you. I don’t think we’ve got a soft underbelly, I think we’re a strong team.”

If Vunipola keeps improving, an English renaissance is far from impossible but Scotland will hope one or two of England's battered forwards take time to recover. France will also be suitably encouraged – "Enfin" read the morning-after headline in L'Equipe – having won just two of their 11 games last season. Saint-Andre was asked if the winning try compared with the one he was involved in against New Zealand during his playing career. "It wasn't a try from the end of the world but it was a try of hope," the coach replied. This is not an invincible French side but inject it with some confidence and there are runners to unsettle anyone.

Whether that translates into Six Nations glory depends on how they fare away from home; they will continue to miss the influence of their injured captain Thierry Dusautoir but Morgan Parra will presumably be back at some stage. Either way, their strained relationship with the French public is beginning to be repaired. If the rest of this Six Nations is half as passionate as this, we are all in for a treat.