There was inevitably disappointment for France but Charles Ollivon insists they must not let their heads drop after defeat to England with their Championship ambitions still in their own hands.
Les Bleus’ hopes of a Grand Slam were ended by Maro Itoje’s try four minutes from time as England emerged victorious from a thrilling Test match 23-20.
That loss leaves France nine points behind Wales in the standings, having played a game less, ahead of next week’s clash with the leaders in Paris.
And Ollivon wants his team to learn from the Twickenham defeat as they look to put an end to Wales’ own Grand Slam ambitions.
He said: “There is disappointment, of course, because we put a lot into this all week and today. We fell three points short.
“We still have our fate in our hands, we are motivated for the next match, we’ll prepare for it, we’ll move onto our preparation and really want to move on to that, while still using the little errors, the lessons from today.”
Les Bleus got off to the perfect start in their bid for a first Guinness Six Nations win at Twickenham since 2005, Antoine Dupont crossing after barely a minute.
England fought back but Damian Penaud’s try had France in front 17-13 at the break.
They still had that four-point advantage going into the final five minutes, but Itoje’s score off the back of a rolling maul proved decisive.
For coach Fabien Galthié, there was still a great deal of pride, despite the disappointment at failing to see out the game.
He added: “I think the team produced a great game, and we have to digest the end of the game, because once again it came down to the final minutes. Overall we can be proud of the players, proud of the unity. I think it’s a game that will help us grow.
“We felt that we could win. There are two or three important moments, key moments, where we could have made it more comfortable at the end, even though late on there was a series of penalties that meant that we went backwards, we dropped balls and lost possession. We will learn, the team will learn.”
