England...25 France...17The flags remain at half-mast but England can at least head for Wales this week in full cry. Securing an elusive Six Nations grand slam is their raison d'être and, in every sense, Saturday's opening win was balm to tortured souls, not simply a steely triumph over a French side who clicked too late but a victory for single-mindedness over numbing inner grief.
If tragedy is a word that rarely sits comfortably on the sporting page, there is no other way to describe the death of Nick Duncombe, the 21-year-old Harlequins scrumhalf who overcame a broken neck to win two full caps for his country only to succumb to a shockingly rapid, and as yet unconfirmed, illness in a Lanzarote hospital.
To say his club colleagues were shaken by the news delivered to the team hotel on Friday night by Quins chief executive Mark Evans is a forlorn understatement. Dan Luger, who was particularly close to Duncombe, still had tears in his eyes on the training pitch at 11 a.m. on match day and the England management later revealed his participation had been far from certain.
"He was so upset we asked him if he could handle it," said the assistant coach Phil Larder, confirming Duncombe would probably have been on the England bench had he not been suffering from hamstring trouble. "His reply was that Nick would have wanted him to play and play well and would have wanted us to beat the French."
England are not the sort of team who shrink from settling old scores, whatever the painful distractions. Last season in Paris they were hustled to distraction and defeat by Serge Betsen and his henchmen, with Jonny Wilkinson the prime victim.
Saturday was a different story; Betsen, the man they call Les Secateurs, was ruthlessly blunted, and instead it was France's turn to be dealt a mortal blow by Wilkinson's unerring left boot.
Praise must also go to the England back row, particularly Neil Back, but Wilkinson, not for the first time, made France pay for every tiny indiscretion spotted by the referee, Paul Honiss, whose adjudication of the scrummage was a major bone of Gallic contention.
The outhalf, whose 20 points took his aggregate to 604 in 39 England Tests, began with a long-range penalty that bounced over off the bar, and added five further kicks prior to a smart drop-goal that stretched England's lead to 25-7.
Two things prevented a wider final margin: England, despite their superior fitness, took their foot off the gas and France, rejuvenated by four substitutions, belatedly sprouted wings to conjure two fleet-footed tries in the right corner by Clement Poitrenaud and Damien Traille. The visitors were still pressing in the 13th minute of injury-time.
The Charlie Hodgson midfield experiment was only a qualified success, not so much a consequence of a lack of skill on his part or the charged-down kick that allowed Olivier Magne to put France ahead for 12 minutes in the first half, but the unusually tense mood of several players around him.
"There was a big feeling of fear today," confirmed Larder, suggesting individuals had been "far more nervy and jumpy before the game" than prior to the autumn Tests. "We really want to win the Six Nations title and we learnt last year you can't do that if you lose to France."
The upshot was a soufflé that never quite rose to anticipated heights, not least for Jason Leonard on his 100th appearance. The prop departed early, his hamstring probably having buckled under the weight of pre-match column inches, but the French forwards, unhappy at the scrummaging interpretations that neutered Jean-Jacques Crenca, could not take advantage.
Guardian Service
ENGLAND: Robinson (Sale); Luger (Harlequins), Greenwood (Harlequins), Hodgson (Sale), Cohen (Northampton); Wilkinson (Newcastle), Gomarsall (Gloucester); Leonard (Harlequins; Rowntree, Leicester, 33), Thompson (Northampton), White (Bristol), Johnson (Leicester, capt), Kay (Leicester), Moody (Leicester), Back (Leicester), Hill (Saracens). Replacements: Rowntree (Leicester) for Leonard (33 mins), Dallaglio (Wasps) for Moody (44 mins), Grewcock (Bath) for Kay (80 mins).
FRANCE: Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Rougerie (Montferrand), Garbajosa (Toulouse), Traille (Pau), Clerc (Toulouse); Merceron (Montferrand), Galthie (Stade Francais, capt); Crenca (Agen), Ibanez (Castres), Califano (Saracens), Pelous (Toulouse), Brouzet (Montferrand), Betsen (Biarritz), Magne (Montferrand), Harinordoquy (Pau). Replacements: Marconnet (Stade Francais) for Califano (62 mins), Chabal (Bourgoin) for Betson (62 mins), Castaignede (Saracens) for Rougerie (64 mins), Rue (Agen) for Ibanez (74 mins).
Referee: P Honiss (NZ).
