20 Mar 2016

England sweep Six Nations

1:07 pm on 20 March 2016

England ran in three tries to complete their first grand slam triumph since 2003 with a 31-21 Six Nations victory over arch-rivals France at the Stade de France.

England coach Eddie Jones.

England coach Eddie Jones. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The visitors produced a powerful display but were ill-disciplined at times, enabling half-back 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 they craved.

They sealed their 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, who 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.

Earlier, Wales ran in nine tries in a devastating attacking display to demolish Italy 67-14 and finish a lacklustre campaign on a high.

Ireland put a line under a disappointing title defence with their best display of the championship, beating Scotland 35-25.

-Reuters