England ‘would have lost Autumn Nations Cup final last year’, says Eddie Jones after win over France

Six Nations champions add one-off tournament to their triumphs this year but were forced to dig deep by an inexperienced French side that were seconds away from a famous upset victory

England fought from behind to win the Autumn Nations Cup final against France (EPA)

A “proud” Eddie Jones believes England could celebrate a result that they would have lost 12 months ago after snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in the Autumn Nations Cup final against France.

Owen Farrell overcame a poor day from the kicking tee to land a penalty in sudden-death injury-time, ensuring England added the one-off trophy to their recent Six Nations title and make it eight wins from nine since losing the Rugby World Cup final.

But the hosts were forced to dig deep into the reserves as Brice Dulin’s first-half try, plus penalties from young fly-half pair Matthieu Jalibert and Louis Carbonel, looked to have secured an inexperienced French side a famous upset victory against an England side that boasted nearly 12 times the number of international caps.

Replacement hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie scored in the final minute of regular time, allowing Farrell’s conversion to tie the scores at 19-19 after he and Elliot Daly had added four penalties between them, and although the England captain missed an early chance to seal victory in sudden-death, he held his nerve to kick a 95th-minute winner.

“I was really pleased with the fight we showed,” Jones said. “We weren't at our best today for whatever reason and we had to find a way to win that game.

READ MORE: England beat France in extra-time to win Autumn Nations Cup

“They had a lot of momentum and a lot of things going for them at certain stages of the game.

“At half-time onwards, our ability to find a way and find the best of ourselves individually and as a team was outstanding. We wouldn't have won that game 12 months ago, we'd have lost it. That's a good learning for us.

“We're still not playing as well as we'd like to play. There are a number of reasons for that and some of them are outside our control. We'd like to play better but I couldn't be more pleased with the players.”

England looked destined for a second final defeat in the space of 13 months when replacement fly-half Carbonel knocked over his second penalty in the 72nd minute to put the visitors seven points in front, but a brilliant touch-finder from George Ford gave England a five-metre lineout from which they converted the pressure into the points needed as Cowan-Dickie peeled off a driving maul to score.

“I was confident in what we were playing,” said captain Farrell. “I thought we grew throughout the second-half. Obviously it only takes one mistake and thankfully we played the way we did in the second half and got better and better as the went on.

“We were pressing at the end. It took a couple of chances but we got there in the end.”

Farrell missed four of his eight kicks at goal in an uncharacteristically poor performance from the tee, which included an effort to win the match just three minutes into the second half after French No 8 Selevasio Tolofua was somewhat controversially penalised for going off his feet as he attempted to turnover Cowan-Dickie.

“I back myself, obviously I missed some that I definitely, definitely shouldn't have missed and made that game go on longer than it should have,” added Farrell.

“The way that boys attacked the second half and really went at it, kept putting ourselves in positions to win it I thought I was outstanding. Obviously there's stuff to get better about. There were a lot of chances to win that game which was my fault that we didn't take them but the boys kept going at it.”

Several decisions appeared to go against France in the closing stages, with Tolofua’s infringement added to by a Billy Vunipola knock-on in the lead up to Cowan-Dickie’s try that was missed by the officials.

Luke Cowan-Dickie scores England’s 80th-minute try to draw level with France (EPA)

Head coach Fabien Galthie was understandably proud of his side following a performance that promises great things from the pool of players at his disposal, given he was without 25 front-line options due to their unavailability, but he rued the decisions of referee Andrew Brace that went against his side.

“The players honoured the France shirt,” said Galthie. “It’s a defeat, we must accept it. We concede the defeat but it’s also frustrating.

“The game was lost on details but also on (refereeing) decisions, it’s very frustrating.”

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