Wilkinson flatters England's flaw show

England 25 France 17

Virtually every other sport in Britain maybe in the doldrums but you can put what is left of your pension on the Red Rose brigade. England confirmed their ranking as the No 1 nation in world rugby by defeating France in what many considered to be the defining match of the Six Nations' Championship. Less debatable is that only one team win at Twickenham.

The contemporary Anglo-French hegemony of the European championship was swayed towards England yesterday by, surprise, surprise, Jonny Wilkinson. In Paris last March, the young stand-off had one of his most torrid afternoons as he was hounded by Serge Betsen. France registered an invaluable victory en route to the Grand Slam.

Partly to counter a repeat of that performance, Clive Woodward, the England manager, selected a second No 10 here in Charlie Hodgson, who wore No 12 but occasionally popped up at stand-off in a three-quarter line that was designed to wrong foot the French defence. It did not have the desired effect, although it had the result that mattered, England's 19th successive victory at Fortress Twickenham.

France can point to the fact that they outscored their opponents by three tries to one and that had Gérald Merceron been in the form of his opposite number Wilkinson, the boot would have been on the other foot.

As it is, Wilkinson put in yet another immaculate display of goal kicking, landing five penalties out of five, and adding a drop goal and a conversion for good measure. Inch perfect is something he knows all about, his first penalty in the 13th minute from about 50 yards dropping on to the top of the crossbar and bouncing over for the three points. He was not so hit or miss with his subsequent efforts and in all, it was seven out of seven and another 20 points to his name which attracted the accolade of man of the match. Merceron? He scored two points.

Overshadowing everything, was the death on Friday of a Red Rose member, Nick Duncombe, the young Harlequins scrum half. For Jason Leonard, the Quins prop winning his 100th cap, it was a red-letter day worn with a black armband. More bitter than sweet.

The centurion, for once, did not last the course. Leonard came off with an injury to his right leg (which may keep him out of the Wales match next Saturday) in the 33rd minute to emotional applause. Leonard's next assignment will probably be to attend the funeral of a 21-year-old team-mate. The same goes for Will Greenwood, the Quins centre, whose first remark after the game was: "What a load of rubbish."

Greenwood was the creator of England's only try, a decisive score eight minutes into the second half. England, who led 12-7 at half-time courtesy of four Wilkinson penalties, enjoyed a tremendous period of pressure, which ended when Greenwood delivered a heaven-sent pass to Jason Robinson. The delivery, which cut out the French midfield, was taken by the full-back at full pace and he went over at the posts.

Wilkinson, after adding the conversion, banged over another penalty and his magical left foot then slotted a drop goal. Suddenly England had put clear blue water between themselves and Les Bleus, and at 25-7, midway through the second half, it seemed they were home and dry. Not exactly.

England, who missed Matt Dawson at scrum-half, then had to withstand a full frontal assault by the French, who earlier had indulged in purple prose without managing to break completely free. The pattern changed in the final quarter when first the ultra-talented Clement Pointrenaud went over in the right hand corner. Paul Honiss, the New Zealand referee, had not done France any favours up to that point and only he knows why he needed to call for the adjudication of the video referee.

The French had fallen foul of Honiss, particularly in the first half when he penalised their front row for a variety of offences. "How are we allowed to put the pressure on?", complained the veteran hooker Raphael Ibanez. It was after that that Honiss indicated to the French captain, Fabien Galthié, that his side was incurring too many penalties and that the next offender would receive a yellow card.

France had taken the lead after 16 minutes when the Hodgson experiment went badly wrong. Finding himself at stand-off, Hodgson, taking delivery of a slow pass from Lewis Moody, had his clearance kicked charged down by Olivier Magne and the flanker did brilliantly to re-gather the ball with the fingertips of his right hand to crash over, resisting the challenge of Wilkinson.

However, it was only towards the end that France showed their real attacking flair. When Julian White, who had an uncomfortable time in the front row, was finally penalised for collapsing, Galthié made the mistake of asking Merceron to kick for goal. Wilkinson yes, Merceron definitely not. The stand-off duly missed, as he had with a far easier kick in the first half, and belatedly the French, now winning a series of penalty awards in front of the posts, decided to go for broke.

As the match went into injury time, the centre Damien Traille went over in the same corner as Pointrenaud and England's lead was down to eight points.

Martin Johnson, the Red Rose captain, was fortunate to avoid a card of any sort after punching his opposite number, Fabien Pelous. The provocation was that Pelous had been doing some fancy footwork on an English jersey, but it wasn't half as fancy as that performed by Wilkinson.

England, who have not won the Grand Slam since 1995, are going for their third title in four years. Next Saturday evening they play Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Christians and Lions come to mind.

England 25 France 17
Tries: Robinson; Tries: Magne, Poitrenaud, Traille
Con: Wilkinson; Con: Merceron
Pens: Wilkinson 5
Drop: Wilkinson

Half-time: 12-7 Attendance: 73,500

England: J Robinson (Sale); D Luger (Harlequins), W Greenwood (Harlequins), C Hodgson (Sale), B Cohen (Northampton); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), A Gomarsall (Gloucester); J Leonard (Harlequins), S Thompson (Northampton), J White (Bristol), M Johnson (Leicester, capt), B Kay (Leicester), L Moody (Leicester), N Back (Leicester), R Hill (Saracens). Replacements: G Rowntree (Leicester) for Leonard 33, for L Dallaglio (Wasps) for Moody 44, D Grewcock for Kay 85.

France: C Poitrenaud (Toulouse), A Rougerie (Montferrand), X Garbajosa (Toulouse), D Traille (Pau), V Clerc (Toulouse), G Merceron (Montferrand), F Galthié (Stade Français, capt), J Crenca (Agen), R Ibanez (Castres), C Califano (Saracens), F Pelous (Toulouse), O Brouzet (Montferrand), S Betsen (Biarritz), O Magne (Montferrand), I Harinordoquy (Pau). Replacements: S Chabal (Bourgoin) for Betsen 62, S Marconnet (Stade Francais) for Califano 62, T Castignéde (Saracens) for Rougerie 64, J B Rué (Agen) for Ibanez 74.

Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).