Ireland retain Six Nations title despite England beating France 55-35

George Ford starred for England at Twickenham Credit: PA

England have missed out on the Six Nations Championship title despite beating France 55-35 at Twickenham.

England led France 27-15 at half-time, but needed a further 14-point cushion to deny Ireland the Six Nations title.

Two tries from Ben Youngs, one from Anthony Watson and 12 points from George Ford gave England slim hope of overturning a pre-match 26-point deficit to Ireland, with Jonathan Joseph in inspiring form.

Sebastien Tillous-Borde and Noa Nakaitaci scored tries for France, who showed their best and worst sides at Twickenham, with fly-half Jules Plisson successful with just two of his five kicks at goal.

Les Bleus took the ball deep into enemy territory before hooker Guilhem Guirado's sleight of hand out of a Joseph tackle allowed Mermoz to score under the posts.

Youngs then brilliantly slid round a ruck, ran into the France 22 and passed inside for the supporting Ford to score. The fly-half added the conversion to make it 34-22.

Replacement Rory Kockott assumed kicking duties for France and slotted over a penalty off the posts.

Spedding conceded a turnover from the restart and England capitalised. Youngs fed Ford whose quick hands freed Jack Nowell to cross in the left corner.

Ford kicked the conversion for a 41-25 lead. England needed to improve their points cushion by 10 more to claim the title.

However, the suffered a blow when Haskell recklessly tripped Plisson and was sin-binned after 57 minutes.

Ben Youngs scored two first half tries. Credit: PA

England's chances suffered a blow when Vincent Debaty touched down for France after 62 minutes, but Billy Vunipola restored parity and the home side edged further in front when George Ford again made no mistake with his kick.

Benjamin Kayser scored try number 11 of the match to make the score 48-35 and, with less than ten minutes remaining, the Six Nations title seemed to be slipping away from the home side.

Ford converted a Jack Nowell try with six minutes remaining to set up a tense finale, but England couldn't find the remaining six points they required despite a spirited effort.