This year's "Crunch" rapidly turned into a nightmare for Marc Lièvremont's men, as a fired-up English squad ran riot in France's hapless defence, scoring five tries in the space of 48 minutes.

Desperate to repeat their performance against Wales a fortnight ago, les Bleus found themselves trailing by seven points within two minutes of the start, after Mark Cueto made the most of a Sébastien Chabal error to score England's first try.

Flutey added a second try in the 23rd minute as England's players cut through the French lines with surprising ease. Two conversions and a penalty by Toby Flood gave the home side a comfortable 17-0 lead at the half-hour.

Late tries for Armitage (39 mins) and Worsley (40 mins) compounded France's misery before half time, with the visitors trailing by a record 29 points. In their wildest dreams, England fans could hardly have imagined a more thrilling scenario.

The second half started much as the first had ended, with a ruthless Flutey adding salt to injury with a fifth try.

Visiting fans had to wait until the 55th minute to see their team open the score, courtesy of a try by hooker Dimitri Szarzewski, though flyhalf Morgan Parra then failed to convert.

Julien Malzieu added a second try in the 65th minute, leaving France trailing by 24 points with fifteen minutes to go.

A late surge by the home side eventually came to nothing, but the chanting crowd had already seen more than enough: the final score of 34-10 marks, at last, a return to the days of "Fortress Twickenham".