Six converted tries and a monumental kicking milestone for the home side were witnessed by a packed Twickenham crowd on Saturday, as England came back from three points down at the break to demolish France 48-19 in a pulsating Lloyds TSB Six Nations Championship encounter.
Despite going in to the break at 16-13 down, Clive Woodward's England showed their mettle both in defence and attack, fending off a rejuvenated France team, who can feel extremely hard done by with the size of the defeat, after posing a real threat for 70 minutes, and having three tries denied by last-ditch England tackles.
At only 21-years-old, Jonny Wilkinson (pictured) earned his place in the rugby record books when his penalty just before half-time sent him past Rob Andrew's 396 England points, making the youngster the most prolific England scorer in history.
England's tries on the day came through an early Will Greenwood effort, then waiting until the second-half for Richard Hill's try. Four more followed, with Balshaw, Greening Catt and substitute Perry sealing a memorable and spectacular win, which poured scorn on howls of predictability and negative rugby often directed at the northern hemisphere's showpiece tournament.
Victorious England captain Martin Johnson spoke after the game of the comparatively poor first-half showing, and the fact that his side will have to wait until at least September to try and complete their Grand Slam, with the outstanding away trip to Ireland already postponed due to foot-and-mouth.
"We were trying to play too wide against a quick defense in the first-half," said Johnson, "We were trying to force that little pass, but we recognised at half-time that if we were in doubt we had to hold on to the ball.
"We were disappointed with the first-half, and the ease which with they got round us, but there was some great defense from Balshaw, and we kept our heads.
"A lot of our guys deserve to go to Australia with the Lions this summer, and hopefully we can finally get to play Ireland in the autumn."
England manager Clive Woodward added: "For any England side to score six tries against France is an achievement, as I remember getting some real hammerings off them as a player.
"It was an amazing turnaround and France played very well in the first-half. I was pleased at half-time with the leadership shown by people like Martin Johnson and Matt Dawson, who said the right things in the dressing room.
"Richard Hill thoroughly deserved his man-of-the-match award, and we will look forward to meeting Ireland now whenever it happens."
France well and truly shed their much publicised mediocrity of previous games in a first 40 minutes which saw the recalled Stephane Glas in combination with wings Bernat-Salles and Dominici continually find gaps in the supposedly water-tight England defence.
It all looked so easy for England though when Will Greenwood touched down a well worked set-piece try, created from the base of the scrum on the France 22, when Dawson spun the ball infield to Wilkinson who in turn found Mike Catt 15 metres out.
Catt shaped up for the short pop to Cohen on the burst, but instead disguised a clever miss pass to Greenwood who had the easiest of run-ins against a perplexed France, who looked prime for a beating, but had some tricks of their own up their sleeve.
A Wilkinson penalty extended the lead to 10-0 for England, but after 13 minutes Bernard Laporte's under-fire side produced a superb flowing try through Biarritz flyer Bernat-Salles, who latched on to a ball from the outstanding Olivier Magne after a quick movement of the ball from left to right, seeing Bernat-Salles in at the corner for the solid Merceron to convert.
With Rob Andrew's all-time kicking record within sight, Wilkinson skewed the penalty which would have seen him as England's greatest points scorer ever -- but it was only a temporary wait.
France though were not reading the script on Wilkinson's big day, as Dominici hared down the left wing, leaving Austin Healey for dead only to be dragged out by Balshaw as he neared the line.
Merceron's boot levelled the scores at 10-10 after 16 minutes, before he put them in front with another impressive penalty just before the half hour mark.
Only a correct decision from the video referee prevented a further extension of the French lead, when Iain Balshaw again came to England's rescue as the last line of defence, scragging Dominici by his shirt in to the corner flag as he touched down in the left corner, with the replay also revealing a foot in touch five metres out.
A further penalty from Merceron gave France a 16-10 lead, as Jonny Wilkinson's big moment finally came. A 41 metre penalty from the England fly-half sailed high and mighty through the posts to cement the 21-year-old's place in the rugby record books as the top England points scorer of all time.
England were 16-13 down, but the crowd saluted Wilkinson as the sides went in for a half-time break which was to see England come out with renewed vigour.
Saracens' blindside Richard Hill was the man to do the damage only three minutes in to the second-half, when he latched on to a quick tap near halfway on the right flank. Hill burst on at pace from 40 metres out, and even the chasing Sadourny could not catch him as he touched down in the corner for a try which Wilkinson converted for a 20-16 lead, albeit a nervous one as France continued to get the ball out wide.
A drop-goal from Merceron brought France to within one point as their forwards started to deprive the backs of much needed ball, and their cause was made even more tricky when the England backs once again found the gaps.
Wilkinson received the ball with a standing start 15 metres from the French line, and looked right with the whole backline at his disposal. Swinging a wide miss pass right to Balshaw saw the defence flat-footed, and the Bath speedster raced in to the corner for the try, which Wilkinson converted from right on the touchline.
The drama was not over though as France yet again targeted the England right wing. Dominici got the hard yards in to the 22 and shipped the ball out right to Garbajosa 10 metres out.
This time it was not Balshaw but Matt Dawson who was the saviour, dragging the Toulouse star just in to touch -- with video adjudication needed to finally clear up the heap of bodies, and a tight decision it was as well.
Jason Robinson was brought on to spice up the back line for Ben Cohen, and it was Robinson who created the fourth try for Clive Woodward's side.
In typical style he jinked his way down the left wing 40 metres out, and as he reached the 22 was brought down. Any criticism that League players cannot recycle the ball was ignored by Robinson as he looked up and held his composure, finding Phil Greening with real momentum down the left flank with the pop pass, with Greening diving over in the corner for Wilkinson to convert -- a definitive try of the Woodward regime, with the mobile forwards in tandem with the strike running backs for a 34-19 advantage, and ten minutes left on the clock.
Mike Catt -- after a quiet but effective game then scored a champagne try after Healey struck a deft overhead kick from the base of the ruck 10 metres out. The ball landed in the try area, and Catt on the burst was there before any of the weary defenders to dive on the ball under the posts, leaving Wilkinson the easiest of conversions.
Replacement fullback Matt Perry came off the bench for clubmate Iain Balshaw and was almost immediately touching down the sixth try of the afternoon, jogging down the left flank unopposed after Wilkinson's timely lay-off, for a try which Wilkinson -- on his record breaking day -- had no bother in converting from the touchline yet again.
It was a gala day eventually for English rugby, and it was a grafting solid showing from a side not believing too much in their own publicity, and despite France showing that they still possess explosive runners out wide, and a potent pack, their inconsistency in selection leaves them perhaps a year or two behind the English as the flag-bearers of northern hemisphere rugby.
The Teams:
France: 1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Abdelatif Benazzi, 5 Lionel Nallet, 6 Olivier Magne, 7 Christophe Milheres, 8 Fabien Pelous (c), 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Xavier Garbajosa, 13 Stephane Glas, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Jean-Luc Sadourny
Reserves: David Auradou, Alessio Galasso, Fabrice Landreau, Thomas Lievremont
Unused: Philippe Carbonneau, Thomas Lombard, David Skrela
England: 1 Jason Leonard, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Julian White, 4 Martin Johnson (c), 5 Steve Borthwick, 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Will Greenwood, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Iain Balshaw
Reserves: Kyran Bracken, Martin Corry, Matt Perry, Jason Robinson, Dorian West, Joe Worsley, David Flatman
Attendance: 75000
Referee: Tappe Henning (South Africa)
Touch Judges: David McHugh (Ireland), Nigel Whitehouse (Wales).
Points Scorers:
France
Tries: Bernat-Salles P. 1
Conv: Merceron G. 1
Pen K.: Merceron G. 3
Drop G.: Merceron G. 1
England
Tries: Catt M.J. 1, Greening P.B.T. 1, Greenwood W.J.H. 1, Hill R.A. 1, Perry M.B. 1, Balshaw I.R. 1
Conv: Wilkinson J.P. 6
Pen K.: Wilkinson J.P. 2
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