Never play poker with French coach Bernard Laporte. The deadpan expression with which he put forward the notion that his team could win yesterday's Six Nations match at Twickenham when he addressed them at the interval could only be a bluff, couldn't it? After all, France trailed 17-6, but more disconcertingly from a French perspective had been the abject nature of their performance in the opening 40 minutes.

They were a liability to themselves in possession, wracked by conservatism and error, seeking refuge in the boot. The body language suggested that an internal feud was simmering under the surface, with accusing glances cast back and forth.

Laporte asserted: "At the interval we knew we could still win the match because we gave them 14 points from two individual mistakes. When Dimitri (Yachvili) kicked that penalty to make it 17-12 I knew that we could do it, especially after we got possession back right away."

His England counterpart, Andy Robinson, probably wished that he had enjoyed Laporte's insight into the denouement to yesterday's match, as the former international flanker could have found a way to brace himself against the heartache of another narrow defeat. Publicly he opted for the glass half-full analogy as he tried to put a positive spin on defeat.

"We are all frustrated, but the key thing for us after last week was that we got out and played some pretty good rugby. We had three or four pretty good line breaks. What have France done? They've won the game through kicks from our 10-metre line, which is bitterly frustrating.

"In the second half we got stuck in a rut in terms of giving penalties away, which Yachvili punished us with. We took ball into contact, and you know when you do that it is a lottery whether the referee is going to give the penalty to your side or the other side. We have lost a game we should have won. We played with some real ambition at times, so it is obviously disappointing.

"We lost a game, and we are here to win. This is what happens in sport. We showed some ambition in the way we tried to play. What did France create today? Our mistakes gave them the opportunity to win the game.

"It is a big disappointment for us. We are big enough to take it on the chin. In the way of trying to play the game today, we moved forward."

Robinson was also bullish about the trip to Dublin on Saturday week where his team will take on an unbeaten Ireland.

"We are looking forward to going to Ireland to perform. It'll be important that we play with the same pace that we played in that first half."

Robinson kept up that studiously positive demeanour, but one suspects that in private he will be less accommodating to a team that threw away a win with a dreadfully indisciplined second-half performance.

It was easier to see through the veneer of the players. The reddened eyes of outhalf Charlie Hodgson suggested a few post-match tears. He mumbled, as if talking to himself: "We are all so disappointed. We have to learn from this and come back stronger."

Hodgson's sagging shoulders offered a stark contrast to man of the match Dimitri Yachvili.

"We didn't play very well against the Scots and we won. We didn't play well today and we won. We are proud to beat the English. In the first half we were just defending. We knew we had to come out and play."