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SCMP Reporter

CHRISTOPHE Lamaison scored a match-tying try and conversion and then kicked a winning penalty as France produced an astonishing fightback, coming from 20-6 down with 30 minutes remaining to beat favoured England 23-20 at Twickenham yesterday.

    In the day's other match at Murrayfield Scotland were dominant in the second half as they beat Ireland 38-10.

   But the main action was at Twickenham and the result there virtually clinches the Five Nations title for the French. Only freak results in the final matches in two weeks time can stop the French winning the title.

  France have won three out of three and are on course for a Grand Slam by beating Scotland in Paris May 15 while England, two wins from three games, visit Wales.

  The victory was the reward for a standout French fightback in the second half after England had outplayed them in the first half.

  Lawrence Dallaglio's first-half try and Paul Grayson's accurate kicking gave England a 20-6 lead by the 52nd minute. But Laurent Leflamand replied with a try in the 62nd and Lamaison tied the game up 10 minutes from the end. Three minutes later, the centre kicked a penalty from 25 yards to complete a first French victory at Twickenham since 1987 but a third in a row over the English.

  France beat England last season in Paris and at the 1995 World Cup in South Africa. But they did it yesterday they had nine regular players missing through injury against a full-strength England lineup.

  Lamaison kicked his team ahead in the third minute before Grayson turned the game around with three more penalties.

  A French offside gave the fly half the chance to tie the score after five minutes from 25 yards and he kicked England ahead three minutes later for a French offside. Another infringement by the visitors gave Grayson the chance to extend the lead and the fly half kicked England 9-3 ahead from 40 yards.

  Lamaison had a chance to cut England's lead to three points with a 40-yarder in the 25th minute but pulled his kick against the left hand post.

  But Lamaison made it 9-6 when he scored with a curling drop goal in the 34th after a spell of French pressure deep in the English half.

  The first try came half a minute before half-time. England centre Phil De Glanville turned to feed Dallaglio with a short inside pass and the back row forward powered through a gap in the defence and outpaced five Frenchmen in a 30-yard run to the line. Grayson missed the conversion but England led 14-6 at the interval. The fly half stretched England's lead to 11 points with a drop goal from 30 yards six minutes into the second half after some impressive surges by the pack, who pushed the French back to their own quarter of the field.

  By now England were playing with confidence and style and more slick inter-passing and powerful forward play forced a French offside in front of the posts in the 52nd minute. Grayson kicked his team 20-6 ahead.

  The French forwards tried to pull their team back into the game with some strong and enterprising play and Fabien Pelous and Olivier Merle were halted by some desperate English tackling only inches from the corner. But it was a kick ahead by Lamaison that set up the French try in the 62nd minute. It set up a straight head-to-head confrontation between Leflamand and English winger Tony Underwood, both running towards the English line.

  The bounce just favoured the Frenchman and Leflamand grabbed the ball as Underwood tried to grasp it and he crossed for a try which Lamaison expertly converted from close to the line to make it 20-13 with 18 minutes remaining. The French suffered a blow a minute later when captain Abdelatif Benazzi went off with a rib injury.

  But Lamaison brought them back with a stunning solo run through the English defence in the 70th minute.

  After England clumsily lost possession close to their own line, Lamaison collected a pass, ran towards the corner and then checked back to dart between Will Carling and Tim Rodber for the score. He then kicked the conversion it was 20-20 with 10 minutes to go.

  Lineups England: Tim Stimpson; Jonathan Sleightholme, Will Carling, Phil de Glanville, Tony Underwood; Paul Grayson, Andy Gomarsall; Graham Rowntree, Mark Regan, Jason Leonard, Martin Johnson, Simon Shaw, Lawrence Dallaglio, Tim Rodber, Richard Hill. France: Jean-Luc Sadourny; Laurent Leflamand, Christophe Lamaison, Stephane Glas, David Venditti; Alain Penaud, Philippe Carbonneau; Christian Califano, Marc Dal Maso, Franck Tournaire, Olivier Merle, Hugues Miorin, Abdelatif Benazzi, Olivier Magne, Fabien Pelous. Associated Press 



Lamaison stars as French battle back