TO COMPOUND THE sound home beating at the hands of Grand Slam-winning Ireland, the other results on the final day of the Six Nations ensured Eddie Jones and England finished ahead of only Italy in the table.
Grand Slam winners in 2016 and champions again last year, the fifth-place finish is the lowest England have ended up in the Championship since 1987, when they began the campaign with a 17 – 0 loss to Ireland in Lansdowne Road.
Earlier, Scotland moved out of fifth spot with a dramatic 27 – 29 bonus point win over Italy and Wales edged France 14 – 13 in the final match of the tournament to finish second in the Six Nations behind champions Ireland.
France opened the scoring at the Principality Stadium through a Francois Trinh-Duc drop-goal, but the home side responded immediately with a Liam Williams try and two Leigh Halfpenny penalties.
Gael Fickou crossed for a great try, converted by Maxime Machenaud, to keep France in the game before Halfpenny added his third penalty.
The sole score in a dour second-half was a Machenaud penalty as Wales clung on.