Sloppy England forced to play catch-up after agonising defeat

France were installed as favourites to relieve Wales of their crown after a late converted try, brilliantly finished by the dancing feet of Gael Fickou, inflicted a 26-24 defeat on Lancaster’s men in Paris.

The loss means England must win all four of their remaining games, starting with Saturday’s visit to Scotland, to improve on their two successive second-placed finishes.

A defiant Lancaster reacted to the Stade de France setback by reminding his players that in 2013 Wales were edged by Ireland in their Cardiff opener yet went on to successfully defend their title.

“Wales lost in the first game last year and won the championship, don’t forget that. That’s what I told my players after the game,” he said.

“France will be a tough side to beat, but championships aren’t won in the first round.

“We’re disappointed to have lost and that’s probably a reflection of where we are in terms of our expectation.”

Only three and a half minutes were left when Fickou’s footwork outwitted the cover defence with his route under the posts offering Maxime Machenaud the simplest of match-winning conversions.

Having controlled long spells and dictated the final stages of a chaotic and gripping contest, England were stunned to have slipped behind.

With a trip to Edinburgh looming on Saturday, the challenge facing Lancaster is to lift spirits as quickly as possible.

“It will be difficult to pick the players up initially, but I’m confident of the impact it will have when I show them the tape of the game,” he said.

“We showed great character, but the skill and execution and lines of running were also good.

“We’ll take plenty of positives from that and we’ll be able to get them in the right place because clearly Scotland away is a massive game.”

There was much to praise in England’s performance as they once again drew on their reserves of character to turn a 16-3 deficit into a 24-19 lead, but as Lancaster accepted afterwards, “we need to win big games”.

Lancaster’s own involvement left him open to criticism, however, due to his baffling decision to replace Danny Care with Lee Dickson in the 62nd minute.

Care’s drive and cunning were the heartbeat of England’s attacking game and the alert Harlequins scrum-half fell fractionally short of crossing before kicking a drop-goal.

It therefore came as a surprise when he was withdrawn from the game.

“It wasn’t a pre-determined substitution, but he hasn’t played that many minutes between now and the autumn internationals,” said Lancaster.

“We felt Lee Dickson would come on and bring energy and momentum to our game, and work defensively as well.

“This level is a step above Premiership and European rugby. You see players begin to fade, and then you look at what you have on your bench.”

England were hampered by the ninth-minute departure of wing Jonny May with a broken nose. Adding to their misfortune were the cruel bounces on which wing Yoann Huget capitalised to score twice inside the opening quarter.

But the wounds were also self-inflicted as mistakes in the build-up contributed to both of Huget’s tries, the first of which arrived after just 31 seconds.

England’s fightback was founded on tries from Mike Brown, who somehow outmuscled three blue shirts to wriggle over, and impressive debutant Luther Burrell.

Billy Vunipola blasted a hole through the midfield eight minutes into the second half and offloaded out of the tackle to Huddersfield-born Burrell who had picked a superb line that led him straight over the whitewash.

A try-saving tackle by Billy Twelvetrees on Wesley Fofana kept France at bay, while at the other end a drop goal from Care extended England’s lead to five points.

Substitute Machenaud landed three points and Goode replied in the same vein, and the game had become a cagey exchange of kicks, each side seemingly waiting for the opposition to commit an error.

But it was not a mistake that enabled France to break from their half and snatch the lead with three minutes remaining. Dimitri Szarzewski showed great awareness to delay his pass to Fickou and the wing stepped inside England’s cover and sprinted in under the posts.

Machenaud’s successful conversion left stunned England holding their heads in despair.

“Although the bounce of the ball didn’t go our way on both occasions, we can’t knock-on from the first kick-off and put ourselves under pressure,” said Lancaster.

“We need to be better at starting the game because that’s twice now... it was the same thing against New Zealand last autumn.

“We’ve won a lot more games than we’ve lost over the last couple of years, so I don’t think it’s consistent in our game that we put ourselves in these positions.

“But when you are in the position to win, you want to close the game out and we didn’t do that.”

Lancaster distanced England from reports that an approach has been made for rugby league star Sam Burgess of the South Sydney Rabbitohs with a view to him playing in the 2015 World Cup.

“I can’t comment on it, other than the fact that I haven’t or no one from the RFU has approached the Rabbitohs,” said Lancaster.

Courtney Lawes has been passed fit for the trip to Scotland, but Jonny May has to visit a specialist.

France: Dulin, Huget, Bastareaud (Fickou 74), Fofana, Medard, Plisson, Doussain (Machenaud 57); Domingo (Forestier 48), Kayser (Szarzewski 43), Mas (Slimani 48), Flanquart (Maestri 43), Pape, Nyanga, Le Roux (Burban 41), Picamoles (Chouly 65).

England: Brown, Nowell (Barritt 65), Burrell, Twelvetrees, May, Farrell, Care (Dickson 61); Marler (M Vunipola 51), Hartley (T Youngs 58), Cole, Launchbury, Lawes (Attwood 67), Wood, Robshaw, B Vunipola (Morgan 58). Unused replacements: Thomas, Goode.

Referee: N Owens (Wales).