"Heaviest Defeat at Twickenham" 5 Things We Learned From England v France

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Here are five Things we Learned at England v France, including post match reactions from England's Head Coach Steve Borthwick, Captain Ellis Genge and French maestro Antoine Dupont.

France have inflicted England their heaviest ever defeat at Twickenham, with a 43 point margin of victory. This is England's third all-time highest defeat, in a truly difficult match for Steve Borthwick's men.

The only two matches that are worse results for England, are a 76-0 loss to Australia in 1998, and a 58-10 defeat to South Africa in 2007. Borthwick spoke about where the match was lost against France. The England Head Coach highlighted the contact area and Antoine Dupont as definitive difference makers.

"When you play a game and lose the collision, as badly in defence, and giving the opposition opportunity quick ball, offloads, and you lose it in attack, where you not able to generate quick ball in terms of these turnovers at the breakdown. Especially in conditions like that, it's hard to get a foot-hold in the game and that was exactly the case today."

"Dupont playing off that quick ball, whilst we knew that was a threat, we weren't able to stop it. Now, what we're going to do is, we've got different threats next week, and the different threats that Ireland pose. We've got to make sure, that we don't let the opposition to win momentum they way we allowed it today."

A roar erupted when Antoine Dupont was announced to be starting, with the travelling France supporters elated to see their talisman.

Confident when set to clear his lines under pressure, Dupont executed picture perfect box kicks to put the French out of peril.

Ever present at the breakdown, seamlessly starting the French flow in attack.

It didn't take long for Dupont to showcase some of his trademark magic, as he danced around the English defenders and kept the ball alive for Gael Fickou and co to attack at pace.

This was followed up by a pinpoint 50:22 after 25 mins, as England were pinned back close to their line.

Dupont's highlight saw him chip the ball over the backline, and regather after 64 mins. He carried for a few paces, but as he's falling to the ground, the Toulouse star kicked the ball deep into the England corner, forcing Marcus smith to carry the ball over his line for a 5m France scrum. Replaced with 12 minutes to go for Maxime Lucu, Dupont received a resounding ovation.

Dupont discussed his elation for the monumental victory.

"Its incredibly rewarding when the choices you’ve made worked out. The rain could really have been a problem, but we adapted to that as well."

"I remember a game when we came back to 25 each after a 17 point difference, that was always a threat. A perfect day today, a perfect day in Twickenham. And that’s a rare thing for me personally."

A day of very few positives for England, Marcus Smith was a rare aspect of the game, that made England fans smile in the record defeat to France.

Smith's start saw Owen Farrell relegated to the bench, with the Saracen coming on at centre for Henry Slade after 45 minutes.

The fly-half had a superb 'full 80', playing with his heart on his sleeve and a 'I'll do it myself' mentality into the closing moments.

Showing his talent from the boot to begin with, Smith outkicked his opposite man Romain Ntamack, with the French fly half slicing kicks under pressure. Not afraid to express himself, despite the looming presence of Farrell on the bench, Smith carried the ball high to the line, took some big hits early on. Charles Ollivon and his fellow back rowers were salivating at the opportunity for a shot on England's wonderkid.

In the closing minutes of the first half, it took four men to stop Marcus Smith, as the magician regathered a lose ball in the back-field and skipped his way passed a handful of French defenders. He was repeatedly sandwiched in the tackle, but kept coming away unscaved. A pinpoint cross-field kick for Malins 'try that never was', Smith's kicking game was top notch today. Smith also impressed in defence, and made key tackles to keep his side out of danger, and covered lose ball well as well.

Questions will undoubtedly be asked after the heavy defeat, however Smith was one of England's best players today. He deserves to be back in the number 10 jersey for the trip to Dublin.

Ellis Genge has evolved into a true leader for England, since his debut against Wales in 2016.

Today, Genge took the full England captaincy for the first time in his career, with Owen Farrell dropped to the bench in favour of Marcus Smith.

Genge led the Six Nations carry charts heading into the match, yet the prop was disappointed with his side's physicality against France.

"Emotionally, just pretty disappointed. Like Steve's alluded to we've got a lot of work to do, so it shows us where we are at. But yeah, emotionally just quite disappointed."

"Even when we went 20 points down, and going in 20 points down at half time, the message we got was 'we can believe'. And I think the boys genuinely did believe that. As Steve said there, we lost the contact area, and at test level if you lose the contact area, momentum is just a snowball effect, and you struggle. You start chasing your tail, and you struggle to get a foothold back in the game."

Six months ago, Ollie Lawrence was on the verge of redundancy, when his boyhood club Worcester Warriors entered financial administration.

Few would expect the 23-year-old to be nailed on to the number 12 jersey. Once again the preferred centre, despite Tuilagi's involvement in training and Owen Farrell on the bench.

However, Lawrence vacated after taking a knock mid-way through the second half. The injury details are unclear, with Borthwick keeping his cards to his chest when asked for Lawrence's status. Alex Dombrandt moved into the centre, with Borthwick's lack of centre's presenting how heavily he entrusted in Lawrence.

If the injury is substantial, expect to see Manu Tuilagi back in an England shirt for the final round match against Ireland. Lawrence had so far kept the Sale Shark out of the squad, with Tuilagi returning to the England camp this week after serving his suspension. Before going off, Lawrence impressed once again, with hulking carriers that left a bruise on the French defenders.