Steve Borthwick insisted that England were beaten by the clock and not France in a thrilling 33-31 loss to Les Bleus in Lyon.
England so nearly completed their Six Nations campaign with a fourth win for the first time since 2020, stealing a late lead when George Ford converted Tommy Freeman's try.
Thomas Ramos landed a penalty from the halfway line with the game's penultimate play though, thwarting England at the death.
England were unable to add another last-gasp win to last weekend’s 23-22 victory over Ireland, but still ended the tournament in impressive fashion.
The Red Rose men ran in four tries and battled back a number of times in a turbulent encounter. Borthwick hailed England for making tangible progress across the competition.
"We didn’t get the result we wanted – but you look at the players and the fight they had, and the intensity they have," said Borthwick.
"I get the sense with these guys that I don’t think they’re ever beaten and we weren’t beaten tonight, we just ran out of time.
"We saw the way they went back at it to try to find another score. The fight these boys have, I don’t think these boys are ever beaten, they just ran out of time."
Ollie Lawrence scored twice for England at Groupama Stadium, with Marcus Smith and Freeman also crossing. England outscored France by four tries to three, but Les Bleus edged home in the end.
Captain Jamie George insists that England can look forward to a bright future, having finished third in the Six Nations.
"Of course I'm gutted about the result, I feel like we deserved a lot of the game because of the way we attacked the game and went after it," said George.
"There was a lot to be very pleased about and very proud of. Fair play to France for coming back and getting that penalty at the end and fair play to Ramos for knocking it over.
"There was a bit of Deja vu from the [Handre] Pollard penalty a few months ago [in the World Cup semi-finals].
"That's always going to be tough to take but like Steve said there's so much to be proud of over the last few weeks.
"We genuinely feel like this team is on an upward curve and we're going somewhere."
