England won a record eighth consecutive Women’s Six Nations title and fifth successive Grand Slam after beating host France 43-28 on Sunday.
Unbeaten France with home advantage in Bordeaux and backing from its largest ever home crowd was expected to seriously threaten England’s relentless domination of the championship. But it struggled in the set-pieces.
England, with only six survivors from its Rugby World Cup champion team last September, ultimately cruised to the six-try victory enhanced by Zoe Harrison’s unerring right boot. Harrison landed six of seven goalkicks and 29 of 31 in the tournament.
The English extended their world record winning streak to 38 matches — and 68 from 69 games since 2019 — which won’t be challenged again until September when they host No. 2-ranked New Zealand and No. 3 Canada in the WXV.
England was at its most vulnerable in years with more than a dozen regulars out injured or pregnant. But players new or not capped in three years melded superbly with world-class performers such as first-time captain Megan Jones, Ellie Kildunne, Amy Cokayne and Sadia Kabeya.
Coach John Mitchell, who took over the Red Roses in autumn 2023 and has yet to oversee a loss, believed the number of missing players made winning their 22nd Six Nations from 31 championships harder than winning the World Cup.
“It was great to win a World Cup at home but what we’ve navigated through this tournament, the youth coming through, the mates at home becoming mums or going through rehab … these girls are so brave,” he said. “They’re unbelievably driven.”
Kildunne was named player of the match after scoring two tries along with Jess Breach. Cokayne touched down in all five tests and Kabeya notched 27 tackles and had seemingly as many carries.
A patient England weathered a ferocious French start to lead the winner-takes-all finale 26-7 by halftime. While England is a fast starter, France is renowned as a fast finisher and fought back to trail only 29-21 with a quarter to go.
But that’s as close as France got in front of a record home crowd of 35,062. Eventually, chief playmaker Pauline Bourdon Sansus, the only survivor of France’s last win over England in 2018 — also England’s last defeat in the championship — came off but her scrumhalf replacement, Alexandra Chambon, was sin-binned.
England, after conceding nine tries in its previous two matches, restricted the best defensive team to four tries, two by Bourdon Sansus, and Jones was proud.
“We’ve adapted so well,” Jones said. “We faced so much adversity This group is so resilient, I’m so proud of them. We asked for a good defensive set because everyone was doubting our defense and we fronted up and we showed what England’s about.”
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