Just a few hours after Wales had crumpled to their 14th consecutive Test defeat, England ended their own unenviable record with a last-gasp victory over France at Twickenham.
Steve Borthwick's side went into the game against the French with two wins in eight games – both of those against Japan last July and November.
France entered on a high following November wins over Argentina, Japan and New Zealand as well as a 43-0 annihilation of Wales at the Stade de France on 31 January.
And Louis Bielle-Biarrey opened the scoring to give France the lead their dominance deserved. But by half-time, the sides were level at 7-7.
In the second half, Thomas Ramos kicked two penalties to give France a 13-7 advantage.
But the visitors, who smashed England 53-10 in March 2023 for their biggest win over their rivals in 117 years, could not surge away. Tommy Freeman's try brought England to 13-12 after 58 minutes.
Three minutes later, Bielle-Biarrey set up Damian Penaud for his 37th try for France in 54 games and, more importantly for Fabien Galthié's men, an 18-12 lead.
It went frenetic in the last 10 minutes
Riposte
To the delight of the partisans, Fin Baxter went over the line and fly-half Fin Smith, taking over kicking duties from Marcus Smith, converted the try to give England the advantage for the first time at 19-18.
Bielle-Biarrey's second score of the game looked to have settle proceedings at 25-19 but with the clock nearing full-time, Fin Smith set up Elliot Daly to bundle his way through the despairing tackle of France skipper Antoine Dupont and over the line.
Fin Smith added the two points to complete a remarkable victory and cap an astounding debut in the starting line-up.
"I felt like a rabbit in the headlights in the first-half," the 22-year-old conceded. "But I found my feet in the end and I am delighted with the win more than anything. But this is cool for a first start anyway.
"We have lost plenty of games and luckily this one went our way. It was far from perfect but the group fought for it."
Smith's skipper, Maro Itoje, concurred. "One thing I love is that we'll fight for each other and we are going to believe in each other," he told the British broadcaster ITV.
"For large parts of the game we weren't as accurate as we wanted to be. But we were brave - that's the foundation of what we want to be doing going forward. I am delighted for this team, for the fans."
Dupont rued his side's profligacy. "We should have scored more," he lamented. "It's a big disappointment but the championship is not over."
Slump
In Rome, Wales continued their worst losing streak in their 144-year history when Italy beat them 22-15 at the Stadio Olimpico.
Warren Gatland, who has presided over the grim tally of 14 defeats on the trot, said: "Probably when you're under pressure some of your decision-making goes a little bit off-cue in terms of making sure that you're accurate.
"You've just got to keep working hard and know that at some stage, things are going to click and you're going to get that bounce back, you're going to get that call or decision that goes your way."
On Sunday, Ireland maintained their 100 percent record with a 32-18 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.
In the third round of games, the Irish will be hot favourites to inflict a 15th straight defeat on Wales when they play on 22 February in Cardiff. England entertain Scotland the same day while Italy host France in Rome on 23 February.
