Stuart Lancaster could not hide his disappointment after a below-par England fell to a 25-20 defeat at the hands of France.

Lancaster named a strong XV for the trip to Paris but saw his players struggle to settle, finding themselves firmly second best for 70 minutes.

Converted tries from replacement Danny Cipriani and Jonathan Joseph in the last 10 minutes skewed the scoreline somewhat, but Lancaster was well aware of his side's shortcomings as he prepares to name his final squad for the Rugby World Cup.

"I wouldn't say there were times when players lost their heads, but we looked rusty at times," he told Sky Sports. 

"That's disappointing because we had some experienced players out there. 

"We've got to get our discipline at the breakdown, we can't give France easy position like we did. We need to improve on that, because all the little mistakes add up. 

"The bench made a difference, it upped the energy levels and we scored some good tries. I won't gloss over what went on before that, because it was too little too late. 

"There are a few players who have given me food for thought, those guys who came on and gave us the energy we needed and made a difference.

"I need to have a sleep on this game and think about my final squad. We're two weeks away from playing Ireland and four weeks away from Fiji in the World Cup and we'll expect a reaction next time."

Captain Chris Robshaw added: "We'll look long and hard at ourselves.

"We let ourselves down in the first half. We played well in phases but you can't wait for 40 minutes to do that."