5 Twickenham Truths: Sub-plot saves England record, George Ford stalling

If sometimes winning is ugly, then the face of this England victory was a bull dog chewing a wasp. But that will not matter in the record books. Eddie Jones' men stuttered to a stunning 15th success on the trot - beating the 2003 world champions' best effort.

And they owe a lot of it to the substitutes that came on in the second half, with four of them playing prominent roles in the crucial move of the match. James Haskell (on for Joe Launchbury) made a mini-break, Jack Nowell (on for George Ford) also made yards on the right and Danny Care (on for Ben Youngs) sniped away at the rucks and snapped his passes from the breakdown before Ben Te'o (on for Jonathan Joseph and weighing in at just under 17 stone) punched a hole in the French defence to score.

It highlighted the composure of Jones to wait until so late in the game to make the changes and also the clinical edge of this England side. However, they also showed why they are gaining a reputation as slow starters and a worrying lack of an attacking edge, which could be a problem, especially with the introduction of bonus points this year.

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George Ford struggled to get into gear at the start of this match. Perhaps he is blinded by the £450,000 salary that Leicester are reportedly paying to take the fly-half back to the Tigers, but after he had a kick charged down in the 15th minute, his confidence seemed to fray. His is a risk-reward game when standing so close the gainline, and the second period brought a couple of glorious reminders of how it can pay off when he set up two Owen Farrell breaks.

However, with Chris Robshaw and Billy Vunipola missing through injury, and captain Dylan Hartley only lasting 55 minutes, he will need to take more of a frontline role this year if England are to come close to taking the title.

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With 12 minutes gone, Jonny May was sin-binned for flailing at a tackle and upending Gael Fickou. It was debatable whether it warranted a yellow, but Jones will have been fuming. Elliot Daly saw red for a spear tackle against Argentina in the autumn and May will not have done his chances of retaining his place for the trip to Wales next weekend much good, especially after the Wasps man Daly came within inches of scoring a try and slotted a 50m penalty kick just before half-time.

Indeed, Jack Nowell, who probably would have started had he not missed two days of training earlier in the week for personal reasons, surely did enough to suggest he will be on the wing next week.

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France coach Guy Noves said before the match that the beautiful game - his side's historical free-flowing, attack-minded pursuit of victory - is a thing of the past. “Maybe 30 years ago [there was] French flair, but not now,” he insisted.

Yet, all the indications are to the contrary. The majority, and best, of the line-breaks in the first half belonged to the away team with Scott Spedding picking great angles to run from full-back, Camille Lopez going on some nice mazy jinks, and Noa Nakaitaci chipping over the advancing defence and juggling the ball outrageously before collecting the follow up. This all came after a courageous attack from 15 metres inside their own half in the fourth minute of the match. As for Rabah Slimani's try, that came from superb offloads close to the line.

The imagination is definitely still there, so perhaps Noves is just sick of the cliché that follows France wherever they go.

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The signs were there at the World Cup as they were controversially edged out by Australia, and Scotland proved that they really are on an upward curve by beating Ireland.

Even parts of Twickenham whispered in hushed tones as they went ahead in the first half against the conquerors’ of the mighty All Blacks in Chicago last year. So could the Scots have a few more Lions than expected this summer?

Jonny Gray was a colossus, thundering into 30 tackles in the match. Greig Laidlaw, who beat his chest in triumph at the end of the game, was touted as a potential Lions skipper, and Stuart Hogg, arguably already pencilled in for the tour, fitness permitting, scored twice and made more than 100 metres in the match – more than anyone else.

So, if anyone, including England, who entertain Vern Cotter’s men in a few weeks, thought Scotland would be a straightforward match, they can think again. And if Lions coach, Warren Gatland, was in any doubt he will have a tough selection dilemma on his hands, after only a single match of this year’s tournament, he'll know for sure now.