Thomas Ramos kicked a penalty after the final hooter to give France a 48-46 Six Nations win over a resurgent England on Saturday.
Louis Bielle-Biare scored four times in 13 attempts.
But Ramos’ kick saw France retain the title and deny Ireland and move into pole position by first beating Scotland.
Bielle-Biarrey, 22, scored 29 tries in just 27 Tests for France and finished this Six Nations campaign with nine, beating his own record of eight from last season.
He also extended another record by scoring in his 10th consecutive Six Nations match.
A week after succumbing to a chaotic 50-40 defeat by Scotland, France bounced back, but England also played their part in a brilliantly entertaining encounter, just a week after their first defeat against Italy.
England started well with Elliott Daly grubbers beating France on their 22nd.
But, inevitably, Bielle-Biarrey struck.
Ramos lingered long enough to absorb England’s defense and then proceeded to dash for the flying winger, beating the ball past Caden Murley seven minutes later.
England hit immediately with Tom Roebuck spinning the ball wide for a dive in the corner.
But the visitors hadn’t learned their lesson from the opening try and this time Mathieu sent Jalbert grubber Baille-Biarey over from an angle for his 27th try in as many Tests.
England were unfazed, and soon hit back, as Ben Spencer’s grubber was spilled by Theo Attisogbe and Murali pounced to score.
Two tries each but France lead by four points as Ramos proved more accurate than Finn Smith with the converted tries.
And a penalty from Ramos extended France’s lead to seven before England leveled after Ollie Chessom ran over from close range and Smith got down to convert.
England had not come to Paris to be spectators at France’s title game and were taking on their hosts from the front – and dominating.
Chessom then turned provider, passing inside for Alex Coles to dot down for the bonus point score, Smith again converting from out wide.
And after Smith kicked a penalty in front of the posts, England led 27-17 and by four tries to two.
But there was still time before the break in this wonderfully entertaining ‘crunch’, for France to hit back, with yellow carded Ellis Genge scoring a penalty try after a maul collapsed a yard from the tryline.
Who else?
Within 90 seconds of the restart, the tryline was breached again as Baille-Biary finished a flowing move to land his hat-trick.
With England still down to 14 men, France scored again, captain Antoine Dupont taking a quick penalty and firing a pass to Attisogbe to add Les Bleus’ fifth try of the game and ninth overall.
France were in the mood, throwing the ball around and attacking with gusto, but Chessom picked out Jalibert and ran more than half the length of the field for his second.
The flurry of tries showed no sign of abating and Marcus Smith, scoring England’s sixth goal with his first touch since coming on as a substitute, converted to give them a one-point lead.
Once again the momentum shifted as France turned the ball deep in their own half and Dupont hoofed it long.
Bielle-Biarrey – Who else? – won a quarter for his fourth try – the first time since the Second World War that a Frenchman had scored four tries in a match.
But seven minutes from time, substitute prop Demba Bamba was yellow-carded and Tommy Freeman converted for England’s seventh try – his 13th of the match – to retake a one-point lead under Smith’s points.
But Ramos and France had the last laugh, condemning England to their fourth defeat at the tournament for the first time in the Six Nations era.
(With FRANCE 24 AFP)
(tags to translate)Sport
