Match action
EMILY SCARRATT kicked a late penalty to seal England’s third Women’s Six Nations title in a row with a hard-fought final win against France.
Both sides were kept scoreless for most of the first half before Poppy Cleall’s try put England ahead at the break.
Caroline Drouin cut England’s lead to one with two penalties and France kept up relentless, heavy pressure.
The Red Roses’ defence held firm and they were rewarded with the Scarratt penalty to seal the title.
England captain Scarratt said: “It doesn’t need to be big flamboyant scorelines every week.
“The defence was unreal and we had to dig in. I could have made it easier with a couple of penalties in the first half, but I’m really proud of the effort. The desire to not let them over the tryline was superb.”
Despite sunny conditions for England and France’s impressive attacks to shine, it was the defences who stole the limelight as both sides struggled to make an impact in the opposition 22.
The Red Roses had two penalties in the first quarter and Scarratt missed both, despite the second being almost in front of the posts.
The centre left the field shortly after for a head injury assessment. She was replaced by Lagi Tuima but the substitution was reversed after Scarratt passed the test ten minutes later.
England repeatedly failed to take advantage of attacking opportunities and France looked much more dangerous, with slick offloads almost leading to a try for Emilie Boulard but the score was ruled out because of a forward pass.
Fly-half Caroline Drouin missed a chance at three points and with the clock in the red, Cleall broke away from a scrum to bring England to within metres of the tryline, and she then picked up the ball from the base of a ruck and dived over the line.
Scarratt nailed the conversion to put England 7-0 up at the break.
The Red Roses struggled to build on the score in the second half and instead gave Drouin two chances to trim their lead. Drouin missed the first but made no mistake with the second.
England managed to make it into France’s 22, but gave away a penalty and Les Bleues wrestled back momentum again.
Sarah Hunter took to the field and should have offered England a boost along with replacement hooker Amy Cokayne.
France had different ideas and continued to apply pressure, forcing errors from their opponents and first scrum-half Leanne Riley then fullback Sarah McKenna dropped high balls to give the visitors prime attacking opportunities.
Nerves continued to show as England fly-half Helena Rowland, whose boot had been flawless in the first half, missed a kick to touch and McKenna kicked the ball out on the full.
England showed gritty determination in defence to hold back repeated French efforts until they conceded a penalty in front of the posts which Drouin converted to reduce the deficit to one point with seven minutes remaining.
But the Red Roses went through the phases and eventually won the penalty that Scarratt slotted over to seal their eighth win in a row against France.