Woodward hails 'fantastic' England

13 April 2012

Clive Woodward saluted his "fantastic" England team after another record-breaking Six Nations points spree at Twickenham.  

France were England's fourth successive victims in this season's championship, collapsing to a 48-19 defeat after leading by three points at half-time.

While the French provided easily England's toughest test of the tournament that will see them crowned champions and Grand Slam winners if they beat Ireland in a foot-and-mouth delayed game next season, England eventually resumed normal service.

They racked up six tries, and 18 points for fly-half Jonny Wilkinson as he broke Rob Andrew's record to become his country's all-time highest Test match scorer.

But it did not all go England's way as France overhauled an early 10-0 deficit to threaten a famous victory, yet once England clicked into gear, there was no stopping them.

"I am very proud of our performance this season, but this is a fantastic team with world-class players," said England manager Woodward.

"Our aim is to keep moving everything forward, and we will get together again with a full-strength team whenever the Ireland match is played."

Woodward, though, did admit that he was concerned by first-half events when it took two try-saving tackles from England full-back Iain Balshaw to keep France out.

"There were a lot of concerns, but there was no panic at half-time, and that is a measure of a good team," he added.

"We played too wide, and were trying to be a bit too flash too early. We made so many basic mistakes - the penalty count was too high and the line-out wasn't straight, and our option taking in the first half wasn't as good as it should have been."

Woodward paid tribute to Wilkinson, who became the first England player to top 400 points in international rugby, and also surpassed his own best for most points by an Englishman in one championship campaign.

"Jonny is one of the outstanding players in world rugby, and he is a key part of this team. We're very lucky to have him, and we've now got to keep him healthy for future years."

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