England produced by far its finest performance under coach Martin Johnson when it thrashed France 34-10 in an extraordinary Six Nations match at Twickenham on Sunday. England, reeling after defeats by Wales and Ireland, led 29-0 at halftime following tries by Riki Flutey, Mark Cueto, Delon Armitage and Joe Worsley, and stretched the gap to 34-0 within two minutes of the restart through Flutey. France, unrecognizable from the team who beat Wales so impressively two weeks ago, eventually found its feet with two tries but the loss ended their outside championship hopes. The title will now be decided in Cardiff next Saturday when Wales needs to beat Ireland by 13 points to retain it. A narrower Irish defeat would give Ireland its first championship since 1985 and an Ireland win would secure its first grand slam since 1948. Top spot was already out of range for England, who was desperate just for a cohesive performance and it blasted out of the blocks with a try after 67 seconds. The ever-improving Flutey created it when he turned on the gas and fired a pass out for Cueto to score. Center Flutey finished the second after 23 minutes, one of the best England has crafted for years. Number eight Nick Easter set it up with a galloping charge, flyhalf Toby Flood wrong-footed the French defence with a clever inside pass, Cueto took it on and delivered another perfect ball for Flutey. The game was effectively sealed in the last two minutes of the first half when England scored two tries due to woeful French defending. Fullback Armitage got the first of after a series of shunts on the line, while Worsley was on hand for the second. Flood, who converted the first three tries and also landed a penalty, did not come out for the second half after sustaining a shoulder injury, and was replaced by Andy Goode. Goode had an immediate impact, pinching the ball at the breakdown to allow Armitage to motor down the line through two tackles before sending Flutey over for his second try. At 34-0 England looked on course to surpass their 98-year-old record 37-0 victory over France, the visitors' heaviest by any team in the championship, but a series of replacements for both sides took the steam out of the game. France finally got on the scoreboard in the 55th minute when hooker Dimitri Szarzewski burrowed over and winger Julien Malzieu added a second 10 minutes later.
