England stun favourites France

And fly-half Jonny Wilkinson was in world record-breaking form, slotting his 29th Test drop-goal as part of a 14-point haul.

Wilkinson also booted three penalties and a conversion after wing Paul Sackey's early try as England dashed French Grand Slam hopes to leave Wales leading the championship, while scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth also claimed a late try.

France captain Lionel Nallet crossed in the first half, centre Damien Traille kicking the conversion, 19-year-old scrum-half Morgan Parra and his replacement Dimitri Yachvili landed penalties, but England rarely lost control of the contest as they repeated their World Cup semi-final victory over Les Bleus last October.

Brian Ashton's men made a positive start and were rewarded with a sixth-minute try when centre Jamie Noon blasted Cedric Heymans backwards through a crunching midfield tackle, and when the ball bounced loose, wing Sackey reacted rapidly, hacking clear and then winning the race to score.

Wilkinson landed the conversion, confirming a dream start for England as they led 7-0 and looked to pile set-piece misery on France. Wilkinson extended their lead after 14 minutes through an angled penalty before France centre Damien Traille missed a 35-metre penalty chance.

England suffered an injury blow after 21 minutes when flanker James Haskell departed to be replaced by Leicester's Tom Croft. And France, although it took them 25 minutes to stir, slashed England's lead through a close-range try for skipper Nallet that Traille converted.

But a second Wilkinson penalty made it 13-7 as the World Cup finalists and Traille missed a second penalty chance as England closed the half out competently, preserving their six-point lead.

Parra showed Traille how it is done with a penalty to reduce the deficit and Wilkinson missed a penalty at the other end before slotted his 29th Test drop-goal, creating a new world mark and hoisting England 16-10 in front with 17 minutes remaining.

Wilkinson completed his penalty hat-trick to make it 19-10. Yachvili narrowed the deficit by booting a penalty six minutes from time, but England finished on the front foot and forced an attacking scrum from which Wigglesworth rounded off incessant pressure to claim a clinching try.