England had won four of their last five meetings with France and only once in the last 11 Six Nations meetings with the French had England failed to score a try. France on the other hand, were unbeaten in ten matches at the Stade de France, a run stretching back to 2008.

The visitors were forced into making a late change when Charlie Sharples came in for David Strettle who had suffered a chest injury in mid-week. France made a tactical change in switching their half back pairing from Parra and Trinh-duc to Beauxis and Dupuy and England were targeting a clean sweep of away wins in the 2012 tournament, a feat completed only five times before in the Six Nations.

France made the most promising attempt for the line the game early on after Clement Poitrenaud pelted into the English defensive line. Quick ball from Beauxis out wide to Bonnaire allowed the big back-rower to make one final dart to the line for the French before England were awarded a penalty by referee, Alain Rolland.

But England were next to score. France's handling slipped in midfield and Owen Farrell pounced onto the ball, flicking it out to Lee Dickson. The Saints scrum-half played it out wide to Manu Tuilagi sharpish and the Samoan-born centre bulldozed his way to the line, just evading tackle from Aurelien Rougerie.

A penalty from Toulouse stand-off Lionel Beauxis was no match for England's next move. Gloucester bound Ben Morgan was next to impact on the game making a break away from Thierry Dusautoir and made his way into the French 22. As the towering Number 8 came to ground he offloaded to Ben Foden who hot-footed it to the line for England’s second. Farrell’s boot remained reliable again for the conversion but was unlucky ten minutes later as his first penalty attempt of the encounter struck the uprights.

The hosts looked as though the recovery had begun when Julien Dupuy slotted an easy kick from close range to narrow England’s lead to 14 points to 6. Beauxis added an extra before the break and France further narrowed England’s lead to five points with the score at the break being 14-9.

The start of the second half was a little less action-packed than the opening of the first but England got the upper hand when Farrell slotted a penalty goal, however, Beauxis’ attempt minutes later was unsuccessful for his side.

England were required to defend with one man down after Alain Rolland sinbinned new-boy Charlie Sharples fifteen minutes into the half. But England held off any threat posed by the French and remained fairly dominant despite the territory statistic being in favour of the hosts. France began the comeback following Sharples’ return to the field as replacement scrum-half Parra added three to the French tally and Beauxis did the same shortly after.

But England responded in the best possible manner. Brad Barritt played the ball to oncoming Leicester lock Tom Croft. Croft wielded his way around Rougerie and Harinordoquy and sailed over the line to score what looked to be the match winning try. However, France bounced back and Wesley Fofana crossed in the corner, along with Morgan Parra's crucial conversion, England's lead was decreased to just two points with four minutes on the clock.

Trinh-duc had the ideal opportunity to win it for his side but his drop-goal attempt was just short. After one final scrum, Farrell kicked the ball into the stands to confirm a victory for the Red Rose.

France: Clement Poitrenaud, Vincent Clerc, Aurelien Rougerie, Wesley Fofana, Julien Malzieu, Lionel Beauxis, Julien Dupuy; Jean-Baptiste Poux, Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas, Pascal Pape, Yoann Maestri, Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Julien Bonnaire, Imanol Harinordoquy. Replacements: William Servat, Vincent Debaty, Lionel Nallet, Louis Picamoles, Morgan Parra, Francois Trinh-Duc, Maxime Mermoz

England: Ben Foden, Chris Ashton, Manu Tuilagi, Brad Barritt, Charlie Sharples, Owen Farrell, Lee Dickson; Alex Corbisiero, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, Mouritz Botha, Geoff Parling, Tom Croft, Chris Robshaw, Ben Morgan. Replacements: Rob Webber, Matt Stevens, Tom Palmer, Phil Dowson, Ben Youngs, Charlie Hodgson, Mike Brown

HT Score: 9-14
FT Score: 22-24
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)