France have grown formidably over the past six weeks and belief that they could end a17-match losing streak against England was evident in the volume of the anthem and the tears streaking down number eight’s Lea Campon’s face as it died away.
The fired-up hosts flooded into the England 22m in the opening two minutes, with forwards Axelle Berthoumieu and Madoussou Fall Raclot trampling over white shirts.
Cokayne’s brave turnover, clamping down in the shadow of her own posts, repelled that attack. But the early storm was far from over.
After turning the screw at the scrum, England seemed have wrestled their way into the ascendancy, only for France to strip the ball from MacKenzie Carson deep in their own half and launch a spectacular coast-to-coast effort to strike first on the scoreboard.
Wing Lea Murie shrugged off Sadia Kabeya and Lucy Packer, fed inside to Campon, who in turn released scrum-half Bourdon Sansus, the only survivor from the France team that last beat England back in 2018, to gleefully splash over.
But an England side missing a clutch of frontline stars who won the Rugby World Cup in September, showed the depth of their squad and togetherness.
Prop Sarah Bern muscled her way over to level the scores on 20 minutes, before Meg Jones hacked on a loose ball and Ellie Kildunne gathered to stretch away on the half hour.
Five minutes later, Breach’s neat stop-go spurt of speed took her into the corner and, with the clock in the red, Helena Rowland launched a long pass wide for Kildunne to walk in her second after good work by Maddie Feaunati and Abi Burton.
With Harrison maintaining her high standard off the tee, England’s execution had earned them a slightly flattering 26-7 half-time lead.
England recognised it themselves. A minute into the second half, from close to the French posts, Harrison opt to kick a penalty to push the visitors’ advantage out to beyond three scores.
They needed every bit of the cushion.