England see off spirited France to clinch Six Nations

France (7)28

Tries: Bourdon Sansus (2), Grando, Bourdon Cons: Arbez (4)

England (26) 43

Tries: Bern, Kildunne (2), Breach (2), Cokayne Cons: Harrison (5) Pens: Harrison

England combined nerve and accuracy to overcome France and a raucous record crowd to clinch their eighth successive Women's Six Nations title in Bordeaux.

The visitors seemed to have the contest under control when a Zoe Harrison penalty shortly after half-time put them 29-7 clear.

But France, who had scored the first try of the match, found a second wind that threatened to carry them all the way to victory.

Tries from Anais Grando and Pauline Bourdon Sansus cut the favourites' lead to eight points as the volume rose in Stade Atlantique.

However a well-worked try from Jess Breach, the sin-binning of France's replacement scrum-half Alexandra Chambon and a strong performance by England's replacements quelled the danger.

Amy Cokayne crowned victory with a 76th-minute try, throwing the ball into the stands in celebration, triggering a chorus of jeers.

The Red Roses' run in the tournament surpasses their own record of seven titles in a row between 2006 and 2012 and takes them to five straight Grand Slams and 38 successive Test victories.

France had to settle with a new home Women's Six Nations attendance record, with 35,062 fans beating a figure of 28,000 at this fixture in 2024.

Although it did not match the drama of the meeting between the two countries at the conclusion of the men's Six Nations two months ago - few matches do - it provided an enthralling, high-quality conclusion to a tournament that has attracted more people and attention than ever before.

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.

France roared back into the contest with Grando scooting into the corner after England's defence had been sucked in tight and then Bourdon Sansus darting off the back a scrum and between Packer and Harrison to score.

Eight points adrift, but with momentum and more than 20 minutes on the clock, a France comeback loomed ominously.

But a well-worked wrap-around move off first-phase ball, levered open a corridor of space for Breach to streak away to score and suck the life out the stadium.

France, who have finished strongly throughout the tournament, rallied again, with huge hits levelling Kildunne and Claudia MacDonald Moloney. However the referee ruled that Chambon had strayed high in the latter collision, reducing France to 14 for the remainder of the match.

England, who had been politely welcomed to Bordeaux over the tannoy before kick-off, were offered less kind words from the stands as teenage replacement Demelza Short verbally shot back at a pair of French players and then Cokayne's pointed celebration drew more ire.

Rose Bernadou barged over late on to turn the home jeers to cheers, but, by then, England already had completed a triumph that has forced them deep into their well of talent and togetherness.

France: Barrat; Grando, Rousset, T Feleu, Murie; Arbez, Bourdon Sansus; Mwayembe, Lazarko, Khalfaoui, Soqueta, Fall Raclot, Berthoumieu, M Feleu (c), Champon

Replacements: Riffonneau, Brousseau, Bernadou, Zago, Correa, Escudero, Chambon, Queyroi

England: Kildunne; Breach, Jones (capt), Rowland, Moloney-MacDonald; Harrison, L Packer; Carson, Cokayne, Bern, Ives Campion, Burns, Burton, Kabeya, Feaunati.

Replacements: Powell, Crake, Muir, Short, M Packer, Robinson, Aitchison, Sing.

Referee: Clara Munarini (Italy)

Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa) and Amber Stamp-Dunstan (Wales)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)

Foul Play Review Officer (FPRO): Leo Colgan (Ireland)