Jonno left singing Les Bleus

The English were worried about which France would turn up for their World Cup quarter-final in Auckland. Their gravest fears were realised at Eden Park.

England hoped to encounter the dysfunctional team which crashed and burned against Tonga last weekend. Instead, the familiar flash-and-dash France came out and stunned the Six Nations champions 19-12.

Torn apart and outmuscled, England failed to match their old rivals for patience and pace, and never looked like overcoming a 16-0 half-time deficit, despite second-half tries for Ben Foden and Mark Cueto.

“We’re utterly, utterly gutted,” said prop Alex Corbisiero. “Four years are down the drain basically.”

France tore into the English from the start, going in at half-time 16-0 ahead thanks to tries from Vincent Clerc and Maxime Medard, and two Dimitri Yachvili penalties.

Ben Foden gave England hope in the 55th minute when he burst through to score and Jonny Wilkinson converted. But a Francois Trinh-Duc drop-goal eight minutes before the end nudged France 19-7 ahead. Mark Cueto scored for England for 19-12, but Toby Flood was unable to convert and the French held on.

After winning the trophy in 2003, and reaching the final at the last World Cup, England’s campaign is sure to be picked apart for being dull on the field and contrastingly disturbing off it. The trip turned into a PR disaster when vice-captain Mike Tindall was spotted on a boozy night out with an ex-girlfriend only weeks after he married into the royal family. And it degenerated following lecherous comments by some players to a hotel chambermaid and allegations of cheating by swapping balls for goal-kicks.

Yesterday, England’s troubles off the field weren’t responsible for a failure to handle France’s kick-and-chase game and the poor tackling that let through two French tries in the left corner. The Tricouleurs splintered England in the scrums and pick-pocketed their lineouts, and England frequently hurt themselves with terrible passing.

The players said they were still confident at half-time they could recover, but their comeback took too long to get rolling and the second try for Cueto in the 71st minute was too late. France milked the time with injury breaks and rucks and mauls.

Flood said France were smart and out-thought England in the first half. “To see it all washed away in 80 minutes, let alone the first 30, is hard to take,” he said.

Replacement scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth revealed captain Lewis Moody gave an emotional speech in the changing room after the match, telling his team-mates to remember what the defeat felt like so they wouldn’t have to suffer it again.

England manager Martin Johnson said he felt for players who were retiring or certain not to be around for the 2015 World Cup in England, the likes of Moody, Tindall, Wilkinson, Simon Shaw and Steve Thompson.

As for his own future, Johnson said now was not the time for a decision.

“What’s devastating is that there’s so much talent, so much youth in this side and we expected to do really well,” Haskell said. “It hasn’t really sunk in, but we’re going to wake up tomorrow for the first time in New Zealand knowing we’re not flying somewhere confident of another win, but knowing we’re going home.”

Scorers: England: Tries: Foden, Cueto. Con: Wilkinson. France: Tries: Clerc, Medard. Pens: Yachvili 2. Drop goal: Trinh-Duc.

England: Foden; Ashton, Tuilagi, Flood, Cueto; Wilkinson, Youngs; Stevens, Thompson, Cole, Deacon, Palmer, Croft, Moody, Easter. Subs: Wigglesworth, Banahan, Corbisiero, Hartley, Shaw, Lawes, Haskell.

France: Medard; Clerc, Rougerie, Mermoz, Palisson; Parra, Yachvili; Poux, Servat, Mas, Pape, Nallet, Dusautoir, Bonnaire, Harinordoquy. Subs: Marty, Trinh-Duc, Barcella, Szarzewski, Pierre, Picamoles.

Referee: Steve Walsh (Aus). Attendance: 49,105.