by David Nicholson
at Twickenham

THE inaugural Nations’ Cup final will live long in the memory after England eventually won an error-strewn game after it burst into life with sudden-death extra time.

The final weekend of this one-off Covid-19 tournament saw much more entertaining rugby and a final that had a dramatic denouement which won’t be forgotten anytime soon by the fortunate 2,000 spectators privileged to attend.

England captain Owen Farrell kicked the winning penalty three minutes into the second-half of extra-time after missing the chance to win the game in the opening minute of the first half.

Farrell had already muffed a hatful of kicks in an uncharacteristically poor kicking performance, but his nerve held as he made the difficult kick.

A last-minute try in normal time from hooker Luke-Cowan Dickie from a desperate rolling maul gave the English centre the chance to kick the conversion with the clock dead to tie the scores and force extra-time.

But the story of the match was how an inexperienced French side, with less caps than England scrum-half Ben Youngs, had pushed the red and white hard and forced mistakes from the bookies’ favourites.

France had been deprived of more than 20 first-choice players by an availability agreement with their top clubs.

But in a pulsating first half an inexperienced Les Bleus ripped up the script and forced the World Cup runners-up into making multiple mistakes.

The usually sure-footed Maro Itoje gave penalties away and lost the ball in a malfunctioning line-out.

Within 15 minutes, fullback Brice Dulin capped-off some lovely French interplay which breached the English defence for a try.

The home side were kept in the game with the boot of Owen Farrell and one monster penalty kick from Elliot Daly from just within the French half.

The normally unflappable Itoje had a line-out snaffled from under his nose, which led to Sam Underhill conceding a penalty which was kicked to stretch the French lead.

England conceded a further penalty after 33 minutes which was successfully kicked by fly-half Matthieu Jalbert to move Les Bleus into a seven-point lead.

The English forwards camped on the French line for almost five minutes in a herculean effort to level the scores, but a knock-on relieved the pressure and enabled France to go into the break firmly in front.

The home side do not usually go on to win when they go in at half-time behind.

Much of England’s play in the second half was desperate as they threw the ball around to get a score, but the French defended as though their lives depended on it.

Les Bleus defence coach Shaun Edwards has clearly had a huge impact as England never looked like scoring a try until that final rolling maul crossed the French line.

French captain Baptiste Couilloud explained: “We analysed the English game and we were very strong mentally and organised in attack.”

England’s Billy Vunipola admitted after the game that his side had played poorly and modestly said the game had been “quite dramatic.”

“One lesson we have learnt is that we can play like we did and still win,” Vunipola said.

An animated Eddie Jones had danced along the touchline during the dramatic period of extra-time as a score from either side would win the sudden death play-off.

“I was really pleased at the fight we showed. We were not at our best and 12 months ago we would have lost,” Jones said.

Jones told Amazon Prime TV: “Great credit to France, they have a young team but played with no fear.

“We were just 2 to 3 per cent off. We missed a few balls off the ground and were slow on a few clean outs. 

“We needed to sharpen up and the players knew that. Their application was outstanding.”

But the Australian coach will know that his side desperately need an attacking cutting edge if they are to become the pre-eminent side in the world.

However, at the moment they are the Six Nations champions and the inaugural winners of the Autumn Nations’ Cup.