"Pardon my French, f*** that" – How Elliot Daly denied France a Six Nations win over England
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Elliot Daly was England’s hero in the latest round of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, as the Saracen found his way over to score a crucial try in the dying embers of the match. France had taken a lead in the 75th minute through Louis Biellie-Biarrey, but Daly led the charge for England’s last attack, to help achieve a famous 26-25 win at the Allianz Stadium.
It was the educated feet of Fin Smith that sealed the deal with his decisive conversion, in what was a star performance upon the Northampton Saints man’s his first England start. The newly appointed fly half also supplied the all-important assist, which played Daly through the French defensive line. It was then up to the replacement wing to race across the whitewash, and ignite a roar of applause from the ecstatic England fans.
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“We had some kind of maul didn't we?” Daly recalled after the win in Twickenham. “I thought we were going to score from that maul, but luckily I didn't join it in the end. Then I was looking down the short side with Mitch (Alex Mitchell), I thought there was a two on one there. Then Fin (Smith) called the call for the play, and that was it. He straightened nicely and put me through a big hole.”
“Sometimes you have to go through those games where you don't get the rub of the green. You have games of rugby like that, especially at Test level. It comes down to one or two things. I think today, whatever happened it was like – pardon my French – f*** that, onto the next thing.”
The decision came from Fin Smith, as Daly explained that he had initially decided to join the mass England maul that was trundling down into the French ‘red zone’. The Northampton halfback had the wherewithal to hold his troops steady, before unleashing Daly on the cascading crash ball that took England to their long awaited win over tier one opposition.
“It was more to do with, if the line-out went forward. If the line-out went forward and it was going strong, I probably would have joined it with Tommy (Freeman). We probably would have been out. The way it went, it went forward and kind of stopped, and the ref said ‘use it’ so we know what the calls are. We went straight into it.
“We have got a luxury of 10s at the moment, all bringing different things. I think in that moment, it was just that we were all on the same page, which is what we needed to be, and all pretty calm. He's (Fin Smith) brilliant, to be brave enough in the final seconds, is why we won the game.”
Whilst there has understandably been an abundance of praise piled upon Fin Smith this week, Daly took a moment to give his club-mate Jamie George his due diligence. George ran out for an immense involvement off the bench, with his Saracens teammate Daly acknowledging the effort, upon a milestone day for the former England captain.
“He's the most capped hooker now, having passed Dylan Hartley. He's a great player isn't he? He comes on the pitch and it's all calm. He nails his line-outs, gets round the pitch, makes line breaks. He doesn't do too many line breaks… he made one today which is actually really nice to see. He just brings that calm, especially in those situations where we could chase the game, but we know the only way to get back into the game is to do what you do and do it well – double down on it. He was instrumental in that.”
“I think the forwards were brilliant all day today. I think we knew they were going to come with a very forward focused plan in the middle of the field and some of the shots the boys were putting in to stop them were unbelievable really and set the tone for the whole game.”
Reviewing the match as a whole, Daly expressed how despite the result, it was by no means plain sailing for the England team. Whilst it was ‘brilliant’ for England to get their long awaited win, there are some areas that Daly identified to fix, with the opportune time of a fallow week set to iron out the creases.
“There were certain points where we probably lost a little bit of composure but we wrestled it back. France, the way they play, we gave them a little bit of loose ball in that second half. The way we scrambled, the way we got back where we kept fighting was a massive one for the boys.
“It is brilliant. You want to go in and win every single game and obviously we have been on the wrong side of results in the last couple of games. Now we know we are a good team. We knew we were a good team but you need to win those big games to prove you are a good team. I think hopefully that settles through the week. We have now got three massive games coming up.”
“There are still things to work on, which is brilliant. If you have the perfect game, it's very hard to go to next week and go 'we'll just do the same thing again' as there's no real focal point for it. There are still things we can tidy up on, so we'll go after them, hopefully get better in those aspects and get a better result.”
Daly was unused for the opening round Test in Dublin, as England succumbed to a five-point defeat to the defending Six Nations champions. Having watched on in the loss to Ireland, Daly was delighted to be named in the match day squad for the fabled ‘Le Crunch’ fixture, and the Sarries man is eyeing up a return to the squad for when England host Scotland on Feburary 22nd at the Allianz.
“I love being part of this team and being part of England. I don't care where I play, I just want to be on the pitch. I was not the best watcher of rugby as the 24th man last week and it wasn't great for me. It was great to be involved again.”
“You don't think about that now. You probably think 'let's recover for this week now we've got together, and then we'll fly into the Scotland week'. You've got to win your home games in this tournament; we've got two more home games in this competition – that will put us in good stead. We haven't beaten Scotland in the past four times, so we want to make sure we're ready for them coming down here and try to get a result.”
Laying out his assessment of Scotland, and Daly has been impressed by how the nation from North of the border are faring so far in the Six Nations. The opening round win against Italy set the tone for Gregor Townsend’s men, before fighting the good fight in the second round defeat to front-runners Ireland. The fallow week is a golden opportunity for Finn Russell to recover from his head injury, with Daly expecting a tough challenge when the Calcutta Cup goes on the line.
“They're a good team. Every time we've played them recently they've caused us a few issues. We know they're a very well drilled team with Gregor, and the way Finn puts people around the park is different to other 10s you play against. You've got to be constantly on and it's a game we're looking forward to. We're not resting on our laurels – it's a good performance but there's a lot to work on for next week.”
“That mindset (against France) will put us in great stead, especially in the last 20 minutes where we were chasing it and scored, then chased it again. It allowed us to be free and brave with the ball.”
Sounding off after the significant win over Les Bleus, and Daly had plenty to praise for his head coach. There is no denying that Steve Borthwick had been under ample pressure after an underwhelming run of form, with Daly delighted for the England boss after the hard fought victory.
“Steve is a brilliant coach. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and you can see how disappointed he is when we lose games. The best thing about him is he hasn't changed throughout the whole of this period, even when results aren't going our way. It's still 'we're on the right path here, we're doing the right thing'. We all buy into that and know we are. He's been brilliant with us, so it's great to get a victory for him today.”
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