England manager Martin Johnson was ecstatic after a match which saw England outscore France by five tries to two.

"That was great," he said. "When we do what we did today we look like a good team.

"It just showed that when we executed what we wanted to do we could open them up and score tries.

"I am very happy for the guys and there's a good feeling of satisfaction in the changing room."

Johnson's side have now scored 13 tries during the tournament, the most out of any team.

They badly needed the win after narrow defeats to championship hopefuls Wales and Ireland in previous rounds. For the last fortnight Johnson and captain Steve Borthwick have copped the flak due to the lack of success and indisciplined performances in the tournament so far. They stuck to their guns though and the victory that England fans have been searching for was finally signed, sealed and delivered at HQ in emphatic style.

Johnson alluded to the fact that his squad had been through the mincer during the last few weeks, saying: "When you lose you are going to get criticised - you know that - and defeat is a very realistic possibility when you are playing France, so it's great to get this win."

He also had a word to say about his skipper, who he has staunchly defended. "I don't think Steve has to answer criticism, but I am happy for him that all the heartache he has had has paid off."

Borthwick was full of praise for his manager. "Martin Johnson has been absolutely superb," he said. "He is young in the job but he has been brilliant. He worked incredibly hard along with his management team.

"There have been challenges for all of us, myself included. I want to compliment the way the whole squad and the management team has stuck so tightly together," he continued.

England played to their strengths in a contest which was effectively over after England scored four tries in the first half. Perhaps more importantly, though, England played to France's weaknesses. They bossed the breakdown through the magnificent Tom Croft, who was the man-of-the-match, the line-out destroyed France's throw, and Joe Worsley put in another consummate display of wreaking rugby.

Every time France tried to get a move going, the Wasp buzzed around with ferocious intent. In fact, the match stats showed afterwards that Croft, Worsley and back-row colleague Nick Easter put in 40 tackles between them. Compare that with the 87 that the entire French team put in and you realise what sort of gameplan England followed.

But it wasn't all excellent. England lost the second-half 10-5, which, although it was not a problem in terms of the result, it showed that there is still an inability to bury teams. Many spectators may view referee Stuart Dickinson as a strict arbiter, but the fact remains that England conceded 13 penalties, just three less than when losing 14-13 to Ireland in Dublin.

Johnson agreed with the synopsis, saying: "There are still lots of improvements to make, but in the heat of the game there are always going to be mistakes and it's about minimising them."