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Owen Farrell (Getty Images)
Owen farrell left behind a poor display of goal kicks to shoot the winning penalty as England beat France 22-19 in the ‘sudden death’ extension of a dramatic Fall Nations Cup Final at Twickenham on Sunday.
France, twice ahead by seven points and losing most of their first-choice players, was 19-12 up when England substitute forward Luke Cowan Dickie fought his way for a close-range attempt in the final minute of time. regulatory.
The conversion of England captain Farrell sent the game into two overtime periods of 10 minutes each, with the team scoring the winners first.
Farrell, who saw a penalty on the post two minutes after the ‘sudden death’, hit the winning penalty five minutes into the second part of extra time.
The defeat was harsh in a France match, which challenged a large gap in experience.
His starting team, without players like scrum-half Antoine Dupont and full-back Gregory Alldritt, had only 68 caps compared to 772 for England.
But France defied pregame fears of a mismatch to lead 13-6 at the break after winger Brice Dulin scored the only try of the first half.
France was the only team to defeat Six Nations champion England this year, winning 24-17 in Paris in February.
But Sunday’s French XV had little to do with that side, a pitching deal with the top 14 clubs that limited individual players to three appearances on a team sheet in a rearranged six-game year-end schedule after the coronavirus pandemic.
But concerns that a rookie France would be overwhelmed soon proved unfounded in a match played in front of some 2,000 spectators – the first time fans have been allowed into Twickenham since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Farrell put England in a 3-0 lead, but France responded in the 15th minute just as a chorus of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’, an anthem by England fans now considered controversial due to its associations with American slavery rang around the ground.
England hit in a lineout, with France picking up the loose ball and working the field.
Overhead midfielder Matthieu Jalibert, 22, shrugged off English hooker Jamie George, evaded center Farrell and then launched a magnificent backward pass that sent full-back Dulin, the most experienced player of the French XV with 30 caps . to test in the left corner.
Jalibert converted and France led 7-3.
English winger Elliot Daly, a specialist in long-distance kicks, reduced the lead to one point with a 48-meter penalty.
But France, playing to the rhythm up front, created two more penalty chances for Jalibert, who hit both goal kicks.
At the edge of the break, England rejected a kickable penalty in hopes of scoring a converted try from a close lineout.
But from a rolling maul that followed, a succession of units inches from the line failed to pierce the French defense before English prop Ellis Genge, who only replaced the injured Mako Vunipola on Saturday, struck while trying to put the ball in the floor.
Farrell cut France’s lead to 13-9 early in the second half with a 40-meter penalty.
But the normally reliable kicker missed his next two chances, both within range, and France still led by four points heading into the fourth quarter.
With Jalibert off the field, replacement Louis Carbonel, just 21 years old and playing in his second international game, hit the 38-meter opportunity to put France 16-9 ahead with 10 minutes to go.
Farrell’s penalty in the 73rd minute reduced the deficit to four points.
But England gave Carbonel another chance and his successful penalty put France a converted try ahead at 19-12.
Cowan-Dickie then denied France in the 80th minute before England’s blocking Maro Itoje produced a decisive loss leading to Farrell’s winning kick.
