Rugby, Australian Football: France wrecks Englands Unbeaten Run..

England's long unbeaten record came to an end at the Stade Velodrome as World Cup warm-up opponents France edged a tense encounter 17-16 in front of 60,000 vociferous fans.

Clive Woodward's men were chasing their 15th successive Test match victory - a sequence stretching back to March last year after France beat them in Paris - but it was not to be.

Bath centre Mike Tindall scored a first-half try and fly-half Paul Grayson kicked 11 points, but the Northampton playmaker failed with two injury time drop-goal attempts and France held on.

Full-back Nicolas Brusque claimed the solitary French try, and there were three penalties and a drop-goal from fly-half Frederic Michalak.

England though, who rested several key personnel - including Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Hill and Jonny Wilkinson - have a chance for revenge when the countries clash at Twickenham next Saturday.

And in terms of the forthcoming World Cup, England would appear to have little to worry about from their prospective semi-final opponents.

Damn French . What were those new tops all about? Look bloody stupid!!

Yep i know damm french...

Are we not playing them again this saturday comming at Twickenham??

Clive Woodward's Grand Slam heroes gave England the perfect World Cup send-off at Twickenham on Saturday with an emphatic 45-14 triumph over France - and more importantly the victory was delivered without sustaining any serious injuries.

The major concern for both teams ahead of their second World Cup warm-up clash was the threat of losing key personnel to the rigours of a full-blooded Test match, but thankfully that nightmare scenario failed to materialise as Woodward reported a clean bill of health.

England fielded 11 of the side which accounted for world champions Australia in June and with star duo Jonny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson in action, the potential for disaster was enormous.

But Woodward played his hand brilliantly, hauling off the two jewels in England's crown shortly after Iain Balshaw had guaranteed England's victory with a try 19 seconds into the second half.

The 43 minutes spent on the pitch confirmed that both players were in top form, especially Wilkinson who had lost none of his prolific kicking skills during his lengthy playing lay-off, booting 18 points and missing just one shot at goal.