France coach Fabien Galthié hailed four-try hero Louis Bielle-Biarrey after the team's last-gasp 48-46 victory over England earned them back-to-back Six Nations rugby titles.
Bielle-Biarrey was the star of the show, although Thomas Ramos held his nerve to kick the winning penalty after the final hooter to secure a rollercoaster 48-46 success on Saturday.
The 22-year-old winger set a new record for the number of tries in a single Six Nations – with nine – beating his own mark of eight from last year.
"Lethal weapon, try record, he's been incredibly prolific to date," said Galthié of a player who now has 29 tries in 27 Tests.
"It's difficult to find superlatives for Louis at the moment," added Galthié, who pointed out that France had also matched their tournament record of 30 tries from last year.
"And maybe the player of the tournament. He was player of the tournament last year – he's following in Antoine Dupont's footsteps."
Show of character
France conceded 14 tries and 96 points in their final two games after a dominant start to the rugby tournament in which they threatened to run away with the title.
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In the end, it came down to the last action of the whole tournament to deny Ireland a third crown in four years.
"We started really well with three wins out of three and then we had to battle in each match," said Galthie.
"Every scenario was very complex, very difficult. You see that in this tournament, the stories change every week.
"We saw it again today... it's a tournament with huge sporting value and huge competitiveness – it's monstruous."
Match-winner Ramos said that France's victory underlined the team's character.
"I love it, I love those moments," Ramos told France Televisions. "It would have been so hard to lose the title at home.
"It shows we have character in those moments."
Sluggish campaign
Steve Borthwick's England lost for a fourth straight game but ended a sluggish campaign with a spirited display.
Poor discipline cost Borthwick's outfit for a second time in seven days with Ellis Genge sin-binned, a week on from Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje's misdemeanours against Italy.
During Genge's time off the field, England conceded two tries.
"Our discipline needs to be better, you need to keep 15 men on the pitch," moaned Borthwick, pointing to England's nine cards during the tournament.
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"The teams are so good that when you drop numbers, it makes life very, very hard for you."
But Borthwick did at least end the tournament with a sense of pride, after a thrill-a-minute match that had fans on the edge of their seats from beginning to end.
It was also the third year running that this fixture was decided with the last kick of the match – twice with a penalty in France's favour, while last year it was an England conversion that decided the encounter.
Epic games
"I'm really disappointed for the players and the supporters. Today, the players have all played so very, very well," said Borthwick.
"You desperately want them to be able to leave with a win that makes it feel such a special day. It was so close to being a special day.
"Games against France in recent years have been epic, haven't they?"
And despite losing for the fourth time in a row, including for the first time ever to Italy – after a 12-match win streak – Borthwick insisted that the team is on the right track.
"The team's gone through a tough spell these last few weeks," he said.
"The team has a lot of growth in it.
"We've got some challenges being thrown at us – some we've dealt with well, some we've got to deal with a lot better.
"I believe that this experience, this pain that everyone's feeling now, will be used to make the team stronger in the future."
(with AFP)
