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Guinness Six Nations Player of the Match Watson praises England’s togetherness

Anthony Watson is presented with the Guinness Six Nations Player of the Match Award after the game 13/3/2021
Anthony Watson hailed England’s togetherness over 80 minutes as the defending Guinness Six Nations champions fought back to end France’s Grand Slam bid at Twickenham.

Anthony Watson hailed England’s togetherness over 80 minutes as the defending Guinness Six Nations champions fought back to end France’s Grand Slam bid at Twickenham.

The England winger was named Guinness Six Nations Player of the Match after scoring a try as the hosts recovered from 20-13 behind to triumph 23-20 against Les Bleus.

France went into the game unbeaten and looked in good shape to extend their perfect record thanks to scores from Antoine Dupont and Damian Penaud before the break.

But Watson’s own first-half try was followed by Maro Itoje crossing in 77th minute to help England to victory as they bounced back from losing to Wales last time out.

And while it was a special occasion for Watson, who was making his 50th Test appearance for England, he was more concerned with the result than any individual accolades.

Alldritt: No excuses for England defeat

“Coming on the back of losing that Wales game and losing here [Twickenham] against Scotland, to come back here and get the win is the most important thing,” he said.

“All the other stuff [try and 50th cap] I’m happy with but this is the most important thing. I’ve said it all week I just want to be back out here with the lads and get a win.

“I think the pressure was more about what we put on ourselves. We knew we hadn’t performed to our standards, there were areas of our game we weren’t happy with.

“Particularly the discipline against Wales and the attack against Scotland, so we wanted to put it all together and show everyone what we’re really about.

“I think you could see the togetherness of our squad across the full 80 minutes and that’s what we’ve been striving for. We’ve set the benchmark there and we’ve got to get better.”

Dupont put France ahead inside the opening two minutes before Watson responded with his fourth try of this year’s Championship in a thrilling end-to-end start to the contest.

Itoje strikes late to steer England past France

But a Matthieu Jalibert penalty and a brilliantly worked try for Penaud saw Les Bleus take the lead again as Fabien Galthie’s side established a 17-13 advantage at the interval.

Further penalties were traded after the restart before Itoje’s late try clinched England’s second win of the Championship – and Watson reflected on a breath-taking game of rugby.

“There were some phases in the first half where I was absolutely hanging, I think everyone was pretty tired, but it was a great game of rugby to be involved with,” he said.

“France threw everything at it, credit to those guys they played a great game of rugby as well and it was just a joy to be a part of.

“We won’t be happy with how we started that’s for sure but like I said it shows the togetherness of the squad that we were able to bounce back from that and come away with the win.

“Scoring a try in the last five minutes to put us in the lead and the way we controlled it in the end was the main thing, and we’re pretty happy with that.

“I don’t know how to respond to it [getting 50 caps], I just try and take each game as it comes so it might be something I reflect on maybe tonight or the end of this campaign.”