England U20 11 France U20 31

England's grip on their RBS U20 Six Nations title is over after they were punished for their mistakes and given a lesson in finishing by France.

Full-back Djibril Camara's two tries either side of the interval effectively decided the outcome of the game with and hookers Benoit Guyot and Jean Charles Orioli both finishing off a pair of sharply executed attacks.

Harlequins wing Seb Stegmann briefly lit up the second half at Sixways before clubmate George Lowe scored England's only try, with Newcastle fly-half Rory Clegg kicking two first-half penalties.

Stegmann said: "We felt we were playing the rugby in the game and were the more ambitious, but they were just more clinical in the last part of the field and we just did not finish.

"In defence, we didn't deal as well as we might and they got the best of the bounce of the ball.

"A lot of it was down to us not looking after the ball enough.

"Maybe we tried to play too much rugby, tried to force things, whereas maybe we need to increase the pressure on other sides."

There was plenty for both these sides to play for as they attempted to keep up the pressure on unbeaten Ireland, who beat England and France by one and three points respectively in the earlier rounds.

Both started with energy and ambition, England with Eves leading from the front in midfield and France with a dangerous runner from full back in Camara.

Flanker Antonin Raffault was held up over the line when France launched their first major attack but a second TMO decision went in their favour, when hooker Guyot was driven over from close range with Bernard converting to secure the early lead.

Just as they had done against Ireland in Athlone, England created plenty of half-chances, either unable to finish off promising attacks set up by breaks from Eves and Clegg or through some uncharacteristic handling errors.

They created enough pressure to set up the field position for Clegg to kick penalties in the 13th and 23rd minutes, though, while Bernard missed with a more difficult shot 10 minutes before the interval.

But they were punished for a defensive error a minute before the break when Bernard kicked for the corner, two players could not deal with the loose ball and Camara followed up to score with Bernard converting from wide on the right.

France delivered the decisive blow in bizarre fashion five minutes into the second half, Bernard's mishit drop-goal effort deflected over the line in slow motion with the defence wrongfooted to give Camara a second easy touchdown.

The conversion put France 15 points clear with half-an-hour remaining and it took England a while to inch their way back into the game, deploying their replacements early and establishing some rhythm going into the final quarter.

They turned down one simple penalty shot with 20 minutes to go, messed up the attack that followed, but finally generated some irresistible momentum once Stegmann was switched back from the left flank to his more familiar right wing.

His first break took him 50m, Rowan following up to go close with French hooker Guyot sinbinned for illegally stealing the ball, before England moved it wide once more for Lowe to get over in the corner for a second try in two games this season.

They conceded a penalty within moments of the restart, though, Bernard taking France 13 points clear, and switched off late in the game with Orioli following up to score and Bernard's accurate boot putting his side completely out of sight.

England U20: Greig Tonks (Leicester Tigers; Will Hurrell, Leicester Tigers 71); Seb Stegmann (Harlequins), Luke Eves (Bristol Rugby, captain), Tom Casson (Saracens; Freddie Burns, Gloucester Rugby 51), George Lowe (Harlequins); Rory Clegg (Newcastle Falcons), Dan White (Leeds Carnegie; Sam Harrison, Leicester Tigers 47); Ben Moon (Exeter Chiefs), Jamie George (Saracens; Arthur Ellis, London Wasps 55), Bob Baker (London Wasps; Joe Marler, Harlequins 50), James Gaskell (Sale Sharks), Dan Williams (Gloucester Rugby; Peter Elder, London Wasps 65), Jamie Gibson (London Irish), Jacob Rowan (Leeds Carnegie), Chris York (Harlequins; Tom Sargeant, Harlequins 47).

Scorers: Try: Lowe. Penalties: Clegg 2.