England’s captain, Jamie George, said his team are on the verge of an exciting future despite a last-gasp 33-31 defeat by France in their final Six Nations fixture. England were beaten by a long-range Thomas Ramos penalty reminiscent of the Handrè Pollard kick which enabled South Africa to edge their World Cup semi-final in Paris last autumn.

Steve Borthwick’s team had previously surged back from 16-3 down to lead 24-16 early in the second half and George felt the last two weekends have underlined what his side are capable of. “I believe we have the players to do something very special things with this English team and that’s a really exciting place to be,” said George, who was winning his 90th cap.

“I think we’ve made huge strides. We spoke before the tournament about reconnecting with fans, putting a smile on their faces and we’ve certainly done that. Ultimately, we’re going to be disappointed as we came into this tournament believing we were going to win it. We’ve shown in parts we’re a good enough team to do that. Overall I’m so excited about what the future holds for English rugby.

“I just think we’re on an upward trajectory. There’s a lot of talk about our attack and scoring tries and all that kind of thing but not many teams come and front up to the set piece of France like we did. The set piece is in a really good place. The attack is building nicely...and defensively it’s coming together nicely. We didn’t find a way to win tonight and that’s got to be something we look at going forward but we can be really happy with the way we’re going.”

The final act of a thrilling match, however, brought back uncomfortable memories of England’s 16-15 loss to the Springboks in October. “Fair play to France for coming back and getting that penalty at the end and fair play to Ramos for knocking it over,” said George. “There was a bit of deja vu from the Pollard penalty a few months ago. That’s always going to be tough to take but there’s so much to be proud of over the last few weeks. We genuinely feel like this team is on and upward curve and we’re going somewhere.”

Borthwick praised his players’ spirit and willingness to stay in the fight: “I think the players have been incredible – they played really well tonight and I’m really disappointed for them,” the head coach said. “We didn’t get the result we wanted – but look at the players and the fight and intensity they have. I don’t think these boys are ever beaten, they just ran out of time. We are all disappointed we didn’t get the win but we have started competing with the top teams again. We don’t just want to compete, we want to win, but we have made steps in the right direction.”

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France’s captain, Grégory Aldritt,believed the result would benefit France’s confidence after a disappointing start to their Six Nations campaign. “We are really happy,” he said. “England played a great game but to lose tonight would have been tough for us.

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“We are working hard, we have a team full of character and we want to get back to the top of the rankings. We had a fantastic atmosphere in Marseille and Lille but we weren’t able to give our fans the victory. We are happy to do so here.”