article_snippet: England’s scrum-half had tormented France during the gloriously, bewilderingly compelling match which provided a pulsating finale to Super Saturday.
article_snippet: England had many chances to beat Scotland by a bigger margin last weekend at Twickenham .
article_snippet: England would have deprived a captivated audience of an absorbing spectacle spanning three high-octane games, but England could have made Saturday’s fixtures in Rome and Edinburgh all but irrelevant if they hadn’t squandered a raft of try-scoring openings in round four.
article_snippet: George North's inspired performance helped Wales to a 61-20 win over Italy to put Joe Schmidt’s team in with a shout .
article_snippet: Circumstances demanded an adventurous streak and the upshot was seven tries against opponents who had conceded just two in Joe Schmidt’s team previous four games.
article_snippet: For all his evident pride, backs coach Andy Farrell will not have been amused to see England concede five tries at home, even though they had to go for broke.
article_snippet: England’s expansive approach was certainly effective and pleasing to the eye, but there was a period in the first half when they became too frantic, when a composed outlook would have told they to build a score patiently.
article_snippet: France’s resilience brought out the best in several England players besides Youngs.
article_snippet: Captain Chris Robshaw strove to carry the ball and the team heroically while James Haskell was in the sin bin for a rash trip in the second half.
article_snippet: Billy Vunipola completed another 80 minutes of surging intensity and out wide, Jack Nowell had been peripheral early on but by the end Jack Nowell was rampant and had another two tries.
article_snippet: England started their campaign with a morale-boosting win over World Cup Group A
article_snippet: The second-half efforts against Wales and France represented The second-half efforts against Wales and France peaks and as Courtney Lawes noted, with the World Cup in mind
article_snippet: The second-half efforts against Wales and France will take heart from recent wins over Pool A
article_snippet: As they stood in they post-match huddle, England were no doubt exhausted and demoralised.
highlights_snippet: England's performance provides plenty of optimism for World Cup .