England’s Marseille misery leaves Healey and Grayson gutted
And there were no complaints from the red rose camp as they flew out of sweltering Marseille, ready for next Saturday's Twickenham rematch with France.
"My gut reaction is one of bitter disappointment," said Grayson, whose nerveless goal-kicking in front of a vociferous 60,000 crowd at the spectacular Stade Velodrome looks to have put him above World Cup fly-half rival Alex King.
"Our ball retention was very ordinary, and the areas where we usually excel generally proved very disappointing."
It was not to be a fairytale return for Healey, having battled his way back courageously from a knee injury initially deemed so serious he was advised to retire.
His World Cup hopes must be hanging in the balance, given that fellow scrum-half candidate Andy Gomarsall again looked razor sharp after he appeared off the bench late on.
"I wasn't pleased with my game," said Healey, whose World Cup fate, and that of many others, will be revealed when England boss Clive Woodward unveils his 30-man squad tomorrow week.
"We were under a lot of pressure at the base of the scrum, where France defended very well.
"Had Paul's drop-goal gone over, it would have gone down as another England triumph. But we hold our hands up as a team, because the areas where we are usually strong, we weren't on this occasion."
A malfunctioning lineout illustrated Healey's point, with England losing five on their own throw in a vital set-piece area where they are normally so efficient.
"We didn't expect to get outmanoeuvred in the lineout area and that's what is still bugging me," said Woodward.
"You are not going to win these sort of games with the amount of ball we got from set-piece situations, and France outplayed us in that area.
"It was our own fault, and that is a concern, because it hasn't happened for a long time."
England led 10-3 midway through the opening period, and could have collected two further first-half tries, but referee Mark Lawrence ruled Balshaw was offside when he chased Grayson's cleverly placed kick, and number eight Alex Sanderson was agonisingly close to a touchdown when he charged down an attempted French clearance.
Imperious French skipper Fabien Galthie gradually sparked his side into action, and the home team grew stronger, establishing a 14-13 interval advantage and thereafter retaining the initiative.
Meanwhile, Ireland's World Cup opponents, Argentina chalked up another emphatic win, over-running Canada 62-22 to complete a clean sweep at the Pan-American tournament.
The Pumas, who beat the United States 42-8 and routed Uruguay 57-0 earlier in the competition, finished with a 100% record as they boosted morale ahead of the World Cup in October.
Argentina ran in nine tries with two apiece for Gonzalo Longo and Jose Maria Nunez Piossek. Agustin Pichot, Ignacio Lobe, Rolando Martin, Felipe Contepomi and Rimas Alvarez also touched down.
Flyhalf Contepomi booted seven conversions and a penalty to claim a personal tally of 22 points.
lThe two players at the centre of a race row this week were omitted from the 30-man South African World Cup squad named by coach Rudolf Straeuli.
Blue Bulls lock Geo Cronje and Western Province lock Quinton Davids were left out following an alleged racist incident at the Springbok training camp in Pretoria last week.
South African Under-21 captain and flank Schalk Burger, flyhalf Derick Hougaard, utility back Jaque Fourie and lock/flank Danie Rossouw are the uncapped quartet.
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