Robinson rues missed chances

England coach Andy Robinson admitted today that his ailing world champions were punished for their lack of self-control after they crashed to another demoralising RBS 6 Nations Championship defeat.

Scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili - England's nemesis in Paris last season - kicked six penalties from seven attempts as France triumphed 18-17 to record their first Twickenham triumph since 1997.

But Robinson also delivered an upbeat message, claiming that England had played with far more ambition than they showed in losing to Wales last weekend.

England though, still lost, with their cause considerably hampered by goalkickers Charlie Hodgson and Olly Barkley missing six penalties between them.

France, together with Ireland and Wales, remain on course for a potential Grand Slam, but England must now try and avoid a third successive championship defeat this season then they tackle Ireland in Dublin on February 27,
"We are all bitterly disappointed," said Robinson, whose five-Test reign has so far produced three losses.

"You saw in the first-half performance that we took the game to France. I thought some of the play was outstanding, some of the line-breaks we made and the tries we scored.

"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," added Robinson.

"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.

"There is a fine line between winning and losing, and for the second week now, we've been on the wrong side of that line and it hurts.

"We have now lost three games - by two points (Australia), two points (Wales) and one point (France), but you saw commitment from the team.

"I thought the pack were going well. They dominated the scrum, the lineout battle was good, and although the French driving game was starting to happen, we were able to nullify that.

"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.

"We have a referee involved with us, and we talked about self-control this week and the impact of penalties. We highlighted the fact it would hurt us.

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

"We will become a better side because of what happened today. I think the side went out and performed. It was one of those games where our self-control at the breakdown cost us. It is bitterly frustrating, but we will learn from it."

Assessing the six missed penalty attempts of Hodgson and Barkley, England kicking coach Dave Alred said: "Both kickers worked very hard this week.

"Charlie couldn't have worked any harder. He missed one which was on the edge of the 'red zone,' struck two conversions right in front of the posts well, and hit another one long one well.

"Olly had three shots from way out, I thought pretty speculative. When things go wrong, it's sometimes hard to pull it around."