Match Report: England 23-20 France

England 23-20 France, Twickenham Stadium

Maro Itoje scored the decisive try in the closing stage as England brought an end to France's Grand Slam hope after beating them 23-20 in the fourth round of Six Nations at Twickenham Stadium.

In an exciting first half, tries from Antoine Dupont and Damian Penaud gave the visitors a 17-13 lead over England, who had Anthony Watson scoring their opening try while skipper Owen Farrell contributed with two penalties and a conversion.

France had a four point lead heading into the final five minutes of the game and that's when Maro Itoje turned the script with his touchdown to help England pull out a thrilling win.

This is England's second win from four games as they move to third place with 10 points while France are at second following their first defeat in three matches with Wales now having a nine point lead over them at the top although they played an extra game.

France dominated the early exchanges and their opening try came inside two minutes when Teddy Thomas chipped over Max Malins to find Dupont as the scrum-half crossed over and Matthieu Jalibert kicked the conversion.

However, England responded back well and went on to level the scores with Henry Slade breaching the defence of France and got the ball within five metres to George Ford, who allowed Anthony Watson to go over the line. Farrell kicked the conversion from wide.

The England skipper also followed it with two more penalty kicks in the 15th and 20th minutes to take the home side to a 13-7 lead at the end of the opening quarter. England eventually went on to concede a penalty in the 30th minute which Jalibert got it right on target that brought the deficit to three points before the fly-half combined with Julien Marchand in creating the second try opportunity for the Les Bleus that was completed by Damian Penaud.

With Jalibert kicking the conversion right, France went into the break with a 17-13 lead.

As Maro Itoje was penalised for not rolling away in front of the posts 25 metres away, France were awarded a penalty in the 50th minute which Jalibert slotted without any mistake to extend their lead to seven points. However, his effort was canclled out by Farrell with a three-pointer in the 54th minute after France skipper Charles Ollivon was penalised for tackling Ewels in the air at the lineout.

The game entered the final quarter with France having a four-point lead and the decisive moment came in the 76th minute when Itoje powered his way over to put England in front with Farrell landing to conversion to complete a thrilling three-point victory.

Team line up:

England: Max Malins; Anthony Watson, Henry Slade, Owen Farrell, Jonny May; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Mako Vunipola, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Charlie Ewels, Mark Wilson, Tom Curry, Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: Jamie George, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, Jonny Hill, Ben Earl, Dan Robson, Ollie Lawrence, Elliot Daly.

France: Brice Dulin; Teddy Thomas, Virimi Vakatawa, Gael Fickou, Damian Penaud; Matthieu Jalibert, Antoine Dupont; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Mohamed Haouas, Romain Taofifenua, Paul Willemse, Dylan Cretin, Charles Ollivon, Gregory Alldritt.

Replacements: Camille Chat, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Dorian Aldegheri, Cyril Cazeaux, Cameron Woki, Anthony Jelonch, Baptiste Serin, Romain Ntamack.