Angry Ashton bemoans defeat

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The hosts had been ahead for most of the second half before Sebastien Chabal, the Sale star who had come off the bench, powered through Nick Abendanon and Josh Lewsey to put France on their way to a 21-15 victory.

Ashton said: "You play in a game like that and work incredibly hard to put yourself into a position to win it by opening up three or four opportunities in the second half and you blow every one of them."

He added: "You don't win big games against good sides playing like that. You don't win World Cups playing like that, either.

"It was a very angry dressing room, I hope the messages will be taken on board very quickly and not repeated next week."

Ashton's men face France in Marseille next week - this defeat was their last warm-up at home - and he has hinted at playing his strongest team.

Not even Jonny Wilkinson coming off the bench in the dying moments could prevent defeat. It meant England missed out on five successive home wins under Ashton, following their win over Wales last week.

"I thought we competed in most areas of the game against what was a very strong French side, pretty close to their strongest selection," added Ashton.

"We made a substantial number of changes last week and there was the fear going into the game that it might mitigate against us but I don't think it did.

"We defended very well, it was tougher this week and the forwards battled well. It was just the second-half execution when we got in their final 22, it let us down."