PARIS — England ran in three tries to complete its first Grand Slam triumph since 2003 with a 31-21 Six Nations victory over archrival France Saturday.
The visitors produced a powerful display but were ill-disciplined at times, enabling scrumhalf Maxime Machenaud, who scored all France’s points from penalties, to keep his team in contention throughout.
First-half tries by Danny Care and Dan Cole and one more after the break by Anthony Watson, the rest of the points coming from Owen Farrell’s boot, proved enough to give England the win it craved.
“Winning a Grand Slam means you’re the dominant team in Europe,” triumphant coach Eddie Jones told reporters at the Stade de France.
Earlier in Cardiff, Wales routed winless Italy 67-14 to finish second, and Ireland beat Scotland 35-25 for third. France placed fifth, in the bottom half for a fifth straight year.
On a crisp evening on the outskirts of Paris, it sealed its 13th all-time clean sweep, two more than next-best Wales, bouncing back in style from last year’s early World Cup exit to hand new Australian coach Eddie Jones a perfect debut campaign.
England, which made sure of winning the tournament for the first time since 2011 with a win over Wales last week, lost Dylan Hartley for the closing stages.
The England captain left the pitch on a stretcher after a clash with substitute prop Uini Atonio.
France, also rebuilding with a new coach in former Toulouse boss Guy Noves, started the tournament in promising fashion with victories over Italy and Ireland before defeats by Wales and Scotland ended their title hopes.
The two sides had traded penalties when Care escaped from a ruck and sprinted unchallenged to touch down between the posts, handing Farrell an easy conversion.
France flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc then limped off to be replaced by Jules Plisson.
Forward pressure brought England’s second try from Cole and the visitors would have been in control had they not let Machenaud showcase his kicking ability.
England’s defense held tight but did survive a few scares, notably some fine runs from speedy winger Virimi Vakatawa and fullback Scott Spedding.
Stormers hand ACT 1st loss
The Stormers made the most of Josh Mann-Rea’s sending off as they ran in two late tries to beat the ACT Brumbies 31-11 in one of six Super Rugby games spread across five countries Saturday.
The Stormers capitalized on his dismissal with tries by Dillyn Leyds and Vincent Koch consigning the visitors to their first defeat of the season.
The Lions beat the Cheetahs 39-22 in a South African derby in Johannesburg.
At Brisbane, flyhalf Ihaia West kicked a penalty four minutes after time expired as the Auckland-based Blues came from 25-15 down in the last six minutes to draw 25-25 with Queensland. — Agencies
