France, so poor in pool play, roused themselves and a good thing too as England had no place in the semifinals.
Their rugby had been ponderous, uninspired and on Saturday night, a pile of chickens returned home to nest.
Among the more basic rugby skills is the art of passing, getting the ball to a man in front of him to run on to. England had two pacy wingers in Chris Ashton and Mark Cueto; they had a battering ram in Manu Tuilagi.
But the ball was repeatedly delivered behind, above or below the receiver. Momentum was lost.
Years of backline neglect did for England, for whom Toby Flood at least had a bit of spark about him, and Jonny Wilkinson tried manfully. But being expansive is not England's thing.
They'd have been better to have stuck with the grind. It's what they do; you mightn't cross the road to watch it, but it's worked for them.
England had their chances, notably twice at each corner just before halftime, but badly fluffed their lines; and in patches through the second half, when the French seemed on their last legs, only to find fresh reserves of energy to complete the job.
There were many heroes in blue, who seemed spring-heeled in taking just about all the high balls, and kicking smartly.
Start with the loose forwards. Imanol Harinordoquy got man of the match, but Julien Bonnaire and captain Thierry Dusautoir weren't far behind, diligent defenders and metre-eaters with the ball.
Veteran lock Lionel Nallet won early lineout ball to show France were up for the set piece contest, and was a warrior in the tight; front rowers Nicolas Mas, William Servat and Jean-Baptiste Poux - in a pack conceding over 50kg - scrummaged forcefully.
Dimitri Yachvili was the organiser, prompting and cajoling, behind the scrum; and is there a better winger in the cup than Vincent Clerc?
Aurelien Rougerie and Maxime Mermoz ran hard and with purpose, and defended solidly in midfield; Morgan Parra, a botched dropped goal aside, was lively; while Maxime Medard was an inventive, awkward runner against the English defence.
Medard and Clerc got the French tries, both down the English righthand side, witless defence playing a part, but Parra's double-round put Clerc through a gap; while little left wing Alexis Palisson, with three defenders converging near the corner, slipped his pass into Medard, for the score which put daylight between France and their pursuers.
France's one defensive slip allowed Ben Foden to score with a nice angled run against the covering traffic; Mark Cueto's try near the end raised English hopes. But the result was right.
"This team has its best days ahead," England coach Martin Johnson said.
Lord, you'd hope so.
Yachvili spoke for a team who have endured a rough month, with doubts over their capabilities and spirit spelt out in capital letters.
"We knew if we wanted to beat England we had to work together. All week we said we have to put very big pressure on them, be very hard in the tackle and never give up - and we didn't," Yachvili said.
"Last week we didn't show team spirit," he said. We were more scared of the England team."
