Maro Itoje praises England’s bravery after late Six Nations rugby win over France

LONDON – England captain Maro Itoje praised his team’s ambition and bravery to play after Elliot Daly scored a last-gasp try to

beat France 26-25 on Feb 8,

rescuing a Six Nations match that looked to have slipped away from them.

Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s second try had edged France ahead with five minutes remaining, but Daly, making his first appearance since England’s dramatic Six Nations defeat by the French in Lyon in 2024, scored their fourth try three minutes after coming off the bench.

Man-of-the-match fly-half Fin Smith converted, having taken over the kicking duties from a wayward Marcus Smith, to complete the win.

England’s other tries came via Ollie Lawrence, Tommy Freeman and Fin Baxter, while Damian Penaud’s try was sandwiched by a pair from Bielle-Biarrey. That ended England’s run of seven successive defeats against Tier One Nations and put them back in the Six Nations title hunt after losing their opening game against Ireland.

“(Coach) Steve (Borthwick) told the group to be ambitious, to be brave and try to score tries,” Itoje told reporters.

“Our backs were incredibly brave and ambitious and took the opportunities when perhaps in the past we would have taken the conservative option.

“We wanted to attack and we’re incredibly happy with the result. The team has been working consistently through this period (of defeats) and this is a vindication of that hard work.”

Borthwick has spent most of 2024 facing the media after narrow defeats, so he was not about to get carried away after a win that left Twickenham rocking.

He will know better than anyone that had France not butchered several opportunities through handling errors, then he would have been delivering his usual narrative about tight margins.

“The players have worked so hard to improve and today we managed to push that extra pass at the end, we showed great composure,” Borthwick said.

“I’m pleased for the players – everyone wants that tangible reward to show that there is progress – but I have been saying all along that there is progress. We scored four tries against a very, very good defence.

“France had lots of chances and made mistakes in our 22, but what struck me was how hard the England players were running back trying to save tries.

“It’s not perfect, but that’s not how teams build. The ceiling of this team is very high and unfortunately you take some pain along the way, but this is a growing team.”

This was an especially frustrating loss for Fabien Galthie, who has overseen a France revival since taking charge in 2020 but has won only the 2022 Six Nations title.

“The conditions were damp but it was playable,” he said. “And we found space, so after that there was no reason for us not to score.”

France captain Antoine Dupont, already regarded as an all-time rugby great, was among those who dropped key passes.

And the scrum-half, whose partnership with Matthieu Jalibert in the absence of the suspended Romain Ntamack proved disappointing, said: “We wasted way too many opportunities. We should score at least three times in the first half.”

Earlier on Feb 8, Italy sent Wales spiralling deeper into crisis after triumphing 22-15 and handing their sorry opponents a record-extending 14th consecutive Test defeat in front of delighted fans in Rome. REUTERS, AFP