Despite the convincing scoreline, England struggled early on at Sixways and headed in at the break just 6-3 ahead as Henry Slade’s knocked over two penalties with scrum-half Baptiste Serin sandwiching an effort of his own in between for the visitors.

But the second-half was a completely different story as five minutes after the restart England were awarded a penalty try before No.8 Clifford took centre stage, grabbing three tries with Henry Purdy also getting in on the act with his first England score.

And captain Clifford revealed his England side were on the end of a stern telling off in the midway break, but that it was exactly what the doctor ordered.

“We're delighted to get the win – although the full-time score of 40-10 seemed a long way off at half-time, when we went in 6-3 to the good,” he said.

“I think it's fair to say that the coaches had a few stern words with us in the changing room, but it was needed and it really geed us up to go out and perform in the second period.

“Of course from a personal point of view I'm happy to have scored three tries – particularly as all of my family were in the crowd – but as captain it was the performance I was most pleased with.

“We got on to the front foot in second half and never really looked back. I'm not sure if the French tired but we definitely exploited a few gaps in the last ten minutes and got some good points on the board.”