One game gone, one game down. However, England will leave Paris pretty convinced that with Ireland and Wales to visit Twickenham they will still have a big say in the championship.
Much as Wales went 30 points down in half a game last season and still retained their championship, England have – as the cliche goes – plenty of positives to think about, especially the game they want to play and whether they can get Mike Brown and Alex Goode into their starting line-up.
Because of accident and injury, Goode was on from the seventh minute onwards and his arrival helped shape what could be England's tactical A game. With the Saracens full-back and Brown around, England suddenly had a menacing chase game. Whether that can be their A game against Wales, for example, is another matter, but for much of the time it did enough to undermine French thinking.
The other positive to go England's way – and this may sound daft – was going 13 points down after the first quarter. Facing that kind of scoreline, you have only one course, and that's to attack. England did and came very close to winning the game.
As for the new boys, things could not have started worse for Jack Nowell, who dropped the kick-off – Stuart Lancaster had mentioned safety under the high ball as part of the reason for going with the Exeter man – and then had to watch as a ricochet and a kind bounce helped Yoann Huget into the right corner.
That took 32 seconds and Jonny May lasted only a little longer, wobbling off to be replaced by Goode. The best laid plans and all that … or so it seemed. Initially things got worse. Test rugby can be a cruel game, especially when you're nervous and making your debut at one of the noisiest stadiums around and Nowell – and Goode – were caught out by yet another unkind bounce, Huget again benefiting to put France 13-3 up before either side had settled.
There were some signs that the lineout might help England, or possibly the rolling maul, but anything their forwards achieved was nullified in the scrum where Dan Cole twice fell foul of Nigel Owens. However, this England do show signs of being able to locate Plan B when necessary and instead of thumping up the middle, forwards and backs started to move the ball.
Darts by Courtney Lawes and Chris Robshaw relieved the pressure and applied it to France before Danny Care showed why Lancaster went with him, tapping a penalty that set France on the back foot. Billy Vunipola might have gone himself, but the mindset had changed and he left the honours to Brown, on the left for May.
Early in the second half Care might have got a try himself were it not for inconclusive camera angles, but the scrum-half, Brown and Goode started to make sense. The increasing pressure forced Phillipe Saint-André into beefing up his pack even further – something of a victory in itself for a side that had decided to play the mobility card – and went into lead after 48 minutes.
Owen Farrell, who cemented his place as the World Cup fly-half, delayed his pass, Billy Vunipola burst through and England's other debutant, Luther Burrell, scored with France looking defenceless and a side that had given up the gain line.
With Burrell bottling up Mathieu Bastareaud and Nowell starting to play his way back into the game, you would have bet on an England victory, but for once Saint-André beat Lancaster when it came to using his bench. Ben Morgan looked something like the No8 of last season, but the departure of Dylan Hartley, Lawes and Care robbed England of their snap.
Saint-André brought on Maxime Machenaud and, with five minutes to go Gaël Fickou, who responded by winning his coach the game. England's gamble on youth wasn't conclusive either way, but it has to be remembered that two 22-year-old rookies, Jules Plisson and Jean-Marc Doussain, were at the heart of the French team. While Plisson has been very much on Saint-André's mind for some time there is no doubt that the coach will be happier with his (almost) established half-back partnership of Rémi Talès at fly-half alongside Morgan Parra.
Machenaud did well for his coach, but when Parra returns for the third match of the championship – quite how Saint-André was denied his first- choice scrum-half by the small print of his recent agreement with the clubs beggars belief – France will also be a more completeside.
