Castaignède praises Back

The France back row arrived here with a fearsome reputation. They left – in the case of Serge Betsen a trifle prematurely – with their joint escutcheon certainly tarnished, if not a little dented.

The dominance enjoyed by Messrs Betsen, Imanol Harinordoquy and Olivier Magne in Paris last season was history thanks to the hard work of the England pack in general and the Red Rose back three in particular. Even the loss of Lewis Moody early in the second half with a shoulder injury could not disrupt them. Lawrence Dallaglio joined Richard Hill and Neil Back in as seamless a substitution as you could have.

It was a messy match at times, and in the messiest of areas, the breakdown, it was the Englishmen, Back in particular, who got their hands mucky. It earned praise from one of their opponents, Thomas Castaignède, who is familiar with the English game as a member of Saracens. He said: "They are the best back row on the world. They made it hard for us all around the pitch.

"Neil Back was all the time on the ball, it was almost as if there was glue on the ball when he had it. It was very hard to get it off him, and for me he was the true man of the match."

The Leicester flanker, so often written off this season as being too old, was also singled out by his back-row colleagues. Dallaglio said: "Back is very good at the breakdown and certainly came up with the ball on a few crucial occasions for England." Hill added: "Backy was certainly getting involved a lot."

His club-mate Moody agreed saying: "Towards the end of the game the French were getting tired, but Backy was still in there getting his hands on the ball, nicking possession. We never let the French back row get into the game."

Recalling England's defeat in their previous Six Nations' encounter, Hill admitted, "The French back row has performed very well over the last year and we were under a bit of pressure because we knew we had underperformed last year in Paris. But this time, I think, as a unit, things went quite well for us."