France marks out of 10: Nallet and Harinordoquy pick against England

Clément Poitrenaud Full-back – 6 Looked very comfortable under the high ball in the rain for most of the game. Frayed a bit as the game reached the sharp end. Not for the first time … Marc Andreu Wing - 6 Probably France's best back and very certainly their smallest. He really does seem to have a chip on his shoulder about it, such is his determination. Mathieu Bastareaud Centre - 4 Quiet by his standards. A couple of rumbles in the first half. Off early in second. No one seemed to mind when he left. Yannick Jauzion Centre - 4 France's other beast in the centre, he was also unable to get into the game. Even spilled it once, which is not supposed to happen. Alexis Palisson Wing - 5 Very little for him to do on this filthy wet night. Not for twinkle-toe runners like him. Found the odd good touch from penalties, though. François Trinh-Duc Fly-half - 5 Nice drop goal to get things going and he kept France on the front foot early on. Grew ever more invisible after that. Morgan Parra Scrum-half - 5 Some fine goal-kicking, even if he missed his first. Otherwise, the man who has attracted such praise this season faded as much as anyone. Thomas Domingo Prop - 5 France's scrum was where they won the game, an unseemly number of penalties arising. So good there, but little else to report. William Servat Hooker - 6 Solid as always. Regularly spearheads the French driving round the fringes and does it very well. Hungry in defence. Nicolas Mas Prop - 6 The dominant scrummager as far as we could tell, which means he was as responsible as anyone for the win. But it wasn't a great win, was it? Lionel Nallet Lock - 8 A monster from start to finish – wouldn't be a surprise if his influence extended to France's advantage in the scrum. Not captain any more, but a leader. Julien Pierre Lock - 6 Had a fine game in the air and round the deck. Not the biggest reference point in French rugby, but helps fill in the gaps. Thierry Dusautoir Flanker - 7 Took a while to find his feet, but then found them with a vengeance. It has been a vintage championship for back‑rows, and he's up there with the best. Julien Bonnaire Flanker - 7 The quietest of France's fabled back row, but never less than excellent. The Richard Hill of French rugby. Imanol Harinordoquy No8 - 8 One of the players of the tournament and he had another great game until forced off. Always seems to be where the ball is. REPLACEMENTS David Marty 6 (on for Bastareaud 51) Great run in the second half had England in trouble. He wants his place in the starting line-up back. Dmitri Szarzewski 5 (Servat 53) Couple of rumbles. Jean-Baptiste Poux 5 (Domingo 56) Carried on the good work at scrum time. Sébastien Chabal 7 (Pierre 59) Neither here nor there. Julien Malzieu n/a (Andreu 73)