Six Nations: Head coach Stuart Lancaster wants clinical England

England must be more ruthless in order to beat France and win the Six Nations, head coach Stuart Lancaster says.

His team wasted several excellent opportunities in the first half against Scotland on Saturday, trailing 13-10 at the break before sealing a 25-13 win.

England go into next weekend's final round of matches top of the table but level on points with Ireland and Wales.

"We know we'll need to be more clinical if we are to get the job done against France," Lancaster told BBC Sport.

Tries from George Ford and Jack Nowell eventually gave England victory at Twickenham as they retained the Calcutta Cup but there were plenty of missed chances.

"It was frustrating watching the first half against Scotland," Lancaster said.

"We probably left three or four tries out there. We were creating chances but we didn't finish them."

The England coach was pleased with the structure of his team's performance against a cohesive Scotland.

He is also happy his team's game against France is the final fixture of the three next Saturday (17:00 GMT).

The three teams who can still win the championship have six points with England holding a points difference of +37 to Ireland's +33 and Wales' +12.

Assuming Ireland and Wales beat Scotland and Italy respectively, the margin of victory against France required to lift England's first title in four years will be clear.

"Other than the latter half of the first half and a small period in the second half, we controlled the game against Scotland," Lancaster said.

"We are the last game next week so we will know what we need to do in terms of the championship.

"But you've got to win the game first, and that's a big challenge against this French team."

England scrum-half Ben Youngs said he expected a frank review session to take place this week following England's profligacy against the Scots.

"We missed some opportunities and didn't want them to come back and bite us," the Leicester half-back said.

"Scotland are a very good team and, other than the first 15 minutes, they had a foothold in the game.

"Obviously there will be plenty to look at on Monday, but we just wanted to bounce back after the disappointment of the last game [the 19-9 defeat by Ireland]."

Scotland coach Vern Cotter was encouraged by his side's impressive away performance after recovering from a dreadful opening 15 minutes to run England close.

"The guys played with a lot of spirit and a lot of courage, so we'll take those positive things from the game," the New Zealander said.