A common occurrence in all their games in the RBS 6 Nations, Les Bleus were unable to impose themselves in the opening quarter, and two tries in four minutes from Manu Tuilagi and Ben Foden gave England an early 14-3 lead.

Saint-André’s side fought back well as Lionel Beauxis and Julien Dupuy punished England’s indiscipline, but another lapse in defence allowed Tom Croft to score a third try ten minutes from time.

Wesley Fofana kept up his record of scoring in every game so far soon after, but François Trinh-Duc’s last-minute drop goal attempt fell just short as Les Bleus faltered.

And Saint-André admits his side still have a way to go if they are to succeed at the highest level, highlighting the ten minutes while Charlie Sharples was in the sin bin as the proof of his side’s weaknesses.

He said: “We were missing too many things to win the match. We started a little better than we have in the first five or ten minutes of other games but we wanted to create and trailed 7-0. We had a poor ten minutes, England showed a lot of vivacity and broke through tackles.

“It was as if we were playing Ireland again. It’s the highest level and we are still lacking technically. I blame myself, we try to do lots of things and we are still not ready.

"We also did not control the game, especially with the extra man. We lacked the patience to force a penalty and end up not scoring a point.

“We had the chance to win with the drop goal at the end, but we aren’t winning games at the death. I’m sure we will be soon. I’m very disappointed and bitter, it’s my first defeat. I’ll accept it. Now we have a huge challenge to deny the Welsh the Grand Slam. It will be our only challenge.”