Owen Farrell rued his side’s costly errors after England lost 24-17 to France in the opening round of the 2020 Six Nations.
Les Bleus raced out into a 17-0 lead in the first half and were able to hold on for the win, despite two individual tries from Jonny May in the second half.
Farrell was speaking to Virgin Media Sport following the loss and expressed his frustrations after a first opening weekend loss in the Six Nations for England since 2014.
“We made a couple of mistakes. We know how powerful this French team are and they capitalised off a few of those mistakes. It got them going. They were tough to play against after that.
“We made too many errors coming out of our own half and then when we did get into their half they already seemed to have the momentum.
“We showed a bit more of what we’re about in the second half but it was difficult after they scored that try when they first came out,” Farrell said.
"We made too many errors."
England captain Owen Farrell reacts to their defeat in Paris. #FRAvENG #GuinnessSixNations #VMTVRugby pic.twitter.com/D2ZVwevFcp
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 2, 2020
The French were brilliant in attack but were equally impressive in defence as they managed to hold England scoreless until the 56th minute.
The England captain wasn’t surprised by France’s physicality but believed his team allowed them to impose themselves on the game from early on.
“I think we fed [their brutality]. That was the problem. Not shocked by it. I think the thing was that we fed it for the first, I don’t know, however long. Which is not like us.
“Again, as I said, we showed a bit more of what we’re about in the second half but when we come away to places like this we need to make sure that we hit the ground running,” Farrell commented.
England travel to Edinburgh next to face Scotland in six day’s time but Farrell was confident his side would be able to move on from the loss in Paris.
“Of course they will. It’s a short turn around for us so we’ll go and recover now and make sure we’re in the right place come next Saturday,” Farrell said.
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