England conceded three tries in a Six Nations match for the first time since Stuart Lancaster took over two years ago, but the head coach believes they can take a significant amount from their defeat to France in Paris.

England were 16-3 down after 22 minutes but were leading by five points before the replacement Gaël Fickou finished off a counter-attack to give the home side a victory that had seemed unlikely for most of the second-half.

"I am very proud of the effort that was put in," said Lancaster, who picked an inexperienced back division and the youngest pack in the championship. "It was bitterly disappointing to lose at the end after clawing our way back from 13 points down and dominating the middle third, but the positives of the performance outweigh the negatives.

"Perhaps the bounce of the ball did not go our way and credit to France because they created the winning opportunity from inside their own half, but we have to recognise that we need to improve and get certain areas right to win big games. The players will have learned a lot and we are still in contention for the title."

England had won six of their previous seven matches in the Six Nations against France, who finished bottom of the championship in 2013 and won only two matches all year.

The France coach, Philippe Saint-André, put his side's comeback down to the fact that, for the first time, he had his players in camp for two weeks in the build-up to the game.

"It made a big difference and we would have lost this game otherwise," he said. "The next step we have to take is to have a full rest in the summer and for us it is about evolution rather than revolution.

"This was a big win for us, even if we left it late and failed to build on a good start. We know we need to improve but we withstood a lot of pressure from England and had the character to create the winning play. It was a really hard game against a very good England side." Paul Rees