The French started their title defence in a less-than-convincing manner at the Stade de France when they snatched a 16-9 victory in the dying minutes of their opener with the Scots.

But five days ahead of their match against England, who lost 11-9 to Wales at the weekend, Pelous does not want to press the panic button, although the side have clearly failed to bounce back from their two November Test defeats to Argentina and New Zealand.

We won and thats something we should not forget, said Pelous. Nothing was perfect but in the end we ended up winners.

I dont want to feel down or pessimistic about what happened. We have work to do because we know we did not play well.

We did not attack well but our defence was not that bad, there is no need to panic.

Pelous admitted his side were below par in most areas of the game, but hopes their ability to bounce back will show at Twickenham this weekend.

We were weak and fragile against Scotland, added Pelous. We were sort of scared to do well, I dont really have an explanation.

But France have experienced catastrophic tournaments, but also glorious ones, despite bad starts.

We are now going to put this match to one side and prepare for the England clash. We must produce twice as much than the first clash.