Before Saturday’s clash in the Stade de France, England had won four of the last five meetings with France.
But Les Bleus turned the tables in quite some style in the latest edition of Le Crunch, holding on for a 22-16 victory that reinvigorates their 2018 NatWest 6 Nations.
Click here for the complete 2018 NatWest 6 Nations fixture list
A penalty try and the accurate goalkicking of Maxime Machenaud and Lionel Beauxis proved enough in the end, although they had to hold off an England fightback in the final moments.
And the scenes in the changing rooms at the Stade de France told you just how much it meant to Jacques Brunel and his players.
“We were all on the same page tonight,” said captain Guilhem Guirado.
“We all had the same stomach for the fight, to give everything for the collective and that paid off tonight.
“What I said before the game was that this match we needed to forget everything else that had come before in the Championship.
“A match against England is more important than the rest and we saw that today. And now we can savour a victory and take great pride in it.”
Yacouba Camara produced another astonishing display in the back row and the Montpellier man is confident the best is still to come.
“It is enormous (to win), and we are very happy,” he said.
“We had to come through some difficult moments in the match and we have to approach every match in this manner.
“We are a team that are growing. We need a bit more time to get to the top but that will come.
“I have always said it will come and we believe it.”
Man of the match Remy Grosso could not quite believe the ending when Beauxis’ clearance failed to make touch, giving England one last shot before Les Bleus finally held on.
“I’m sure there were a few heart attacks watching that ending on TV, we had them too. But what a match but what character we showed to down that England team.”
And the iconic image of the game will undoubtedly be Mathieu Bastareaud celebrating under the posts as the final whistle blew.
“It is just fantastic to win against one of the best nations in the world,” said the Toulon centre.
“No one thought we could win but we did it.
“It was complicated but we stayed concentrated. It was all based on a strong defence today.
“It wasn’t perfect but we got there, and for this group, you need wins like this and I hope we can build on this.”
