England 55 France 35: Agony for England but coach Lancaster remains optimistic

That will not ease the pain of finishing runners-up for a fourth successive year but, having rattled off a record 55 points against a France side that had conceded just two tries all tournament, it is one of many positives they must glean as the review begins today.

The upshot of a truly dramatic final day of the championship was that England, playing last on Saturday evening, had to defeat their Twickenham visitors by 26 points or more to clinch a first title under the former Leeds chief’s stewardship.

With three sides locked on six points, Wales had initially put themselves on top with a stunning 61-20 win in Rome, meaning Ireland then had to defeat Scotland by 21 points at Murrayfield.

They duly won by 30 to take pole position leaving England –leaders in the morning – with that formidable target.

They came so close to reaching it, a driving maul featuring almost their entire side in the final moments, just falling short as the hosts critically infringed at the crucial moment when a converted eighth try would have handed them the trophy.

With so much drama, typically, even that was open to debate.

“It was all happening at a million miles an hour at that point,” reflected Lancaster, when asked who the offender was.

“My perception was that the ball was over the line, for whatever reason there was no call made, then one of our players picked and went and someone went off their feet at the ensuing breakdown.

“That was my perception but I have to be careful what I say.

“The crowd were fantastic. They gave us energy from minute one and never lost heart or belief even when we went down.

“You literally felt in that driving maul that there were 82,000 people pushing them over the line. It wasn’t quite enough to convince the referee unfortunately.”

Lancaster was, rightly, proud of his players’ efforts with two-try scrum-half Ben Youngs particularly exceptional sniping away as they sought from the first whistle to run France ragged.

There had been some doubts about whether they had enough firepower in their arsenal and a willingness to express themselves so vividly to chase down that hefty target.

However, with winger Jack Nowell also adding a brace, his second in the 75th minute setting up a gripping finale as they got within touching distance and continually pressed, those arguments were silenced.

“You can see the development of our attacking game across the field,” added Lancaster, with centre Jonathan Joseph purring yet again and fly-half George Ford expertly pulling the strings, scoring a try and kicking 20 points.

“Where we need to be tighter is key moments, whether it is defensive error or set-piece turnover. We’ve conceded more tries in this Six Nations than last year.

“But at the end I just told them what a courageous performance it was. Chris (Robshaw) backed me up on that and we had to use the pain as strength for the World Cup campaign.

“The boys are absolutely gutted in the changing-room.”

Understandably so.

In a bizarre and thrilling contest, England were never actually 26 points in front as France – playing like they had not done all tournament – frequently came up with major plays to claw back.

In fact, though Youngs scampered over after just 96 seconds to instantly fire the Twickenham crowd into action, Les Bleus went on to lead 15-7 midway through the first half as they ruthlessly capitalised on some English handling errors to score tries via Sebastien Tillous-Borde and Noa Nakaitaci.

Lancaster admitted: “At that point, we had just to win the game and finish the tournament with four wins.

“We scored some fantastic tries and to go in at half-time 27-15 was huge – as was the moment they scored at the start of the second-half.”

A try from Anthony Watson and Youngs’s second had regained that control before the break but Maxime Mermoz rumbled over after 43 minutes to dent England once more, Vincent Debaty and Benjamin Kayser also crossing.

Of course, the big assignment is the World Cup in the autumn when England need to peak.

The head coach believes they are more capable of winning that now given the experiences they have tasted during the Six Nations.

“There has always been a huge sense of belief that we are going in the right direction,” he added.

“From what I see in training I see a tight connected group who are improving all the time.

“Clearly we are still a bit young, light on experience, particularly in the back line. That will improve with the likes of Brad Barritt, Owen Farrell, and Manu Tuilagi being available. We can definitely win it. We’ve beaten Australia, Wales, put 55 points on France and New Zealand before so, absolutely.”

Every player will have enhanced their chances of selection for the World Cup aside from James Haskell whose litany of handlings errors and a needless yellow card in the second half.

No 8 Billy Vunipola excelled, scoring a 64th-minute try as England kept on hunting but Lancaster would not be drawn on at which point they essentially lost this tournament.

“I don’t think it’s fair to pick one out,” he insisted.

“You can go back through the chain of events in every game. It’s down to six points. It could be (Scotland’s) Stuart Hogg not scoring at the end (v Ireland).”

For many Englishmen, blaming a Scot would certainly offer some solace but they need to get to the point where they don’t require anyone to hold responsible.

On this evidence, they are getting there.