Key events
Thanks for all your company in the tournament, that’s it from me today. Bye.
The victorious players file onto the podium, each taking their medals in turn. This is the eighth title in a row and the fifth Slam on the trot, delivered in the most difficult circumstances they have faced. An truly exceptional sports team.
Meg Jones is last up, grips the trophy and joins her team for the explosions and tickertape. Will they ever be beaten again? That’s for another day; for now they are the most deserving Champions.
An Emotional Meg Jones
“It’s been a mad couple of weeks, honestly we are so resilient; everyone was doubting our defence but we showed up and proved people wrong. We play for more than just the shirt on our back, it’s deeper than that. We’re constantly trying to raise the floor, and the calibre of players we have we shouldn’t doubt it, and we didn’t doubt it. I’m shattered!”
Player of the Match, Ellie Kildunne
“It’s hard to sum up, five Grand Slams have never been done before, we knew it wasn’t easy and I’m so proud of all the girls. Grand Slam baby! We always believed, but we had to show how adaptable we are and it shows the depth of rugby in England. But we never had any doubts. There were fourteen other people out there more deserving of player of the match today.”
That was a convincing win from around the 21 minute mark when Sarah Bern went over against the run of play. This triggered a second quarter of the game where the Red Roses took the Championship away, and even a short burst from France in the second half couldn’t stem the inexorable progress to the inevitable.
FULL TIME! England win their fifth consecutive Grand Slam
The whistle goes to deliver England’s 39th win on the bounce and another Championship and Grand Slam. What a team they are.
TRY! France 28 – 43 England (Rose Bernardou)
80 mins. France are up to the five metre line and Bernardou muscles over for a consolation.
79 mins. France are having another go around halfway, for what it’s worth.
TRY! France 21 – 43 England (Amy Cockayne)
77 mins. Marlie Packer spins back to the blind side from a quick lineout ball, feeds Cockayne and she’s over in the corner to a howling chorus of boos from the home side.
Harrison converts another.
75 mins. The visitors are up to the five metre line from the lineout possession, they drive at the line from short metres repeatedly, each one repelled by a still committed French defence. The ball is held up and relieving drop out is granted to France.
But wait! The TMO has called it back for side maul entry about seven phases ago and 20 metres back. That is frankly ridiculous.
73 mins. After their fanning out plan previously, England are now mangling every French ruck and driving over the ball. There is some question over whether they are all entering the breakdown legally, but the ref is not concerned and the latest effort wins a penalty to England for Rousset holding on.
Slowly, inevitably, the fifth Grand Slam hones into view.
YELLOW CARD! Alexandra Chambon (France)
71 mins. Chambon is on at scrum-half for France, and she commits an upright tackle that ends up head on head. It wasn’t a big contact, and she was the second woman in the tackle, but she was too upright and that is all it takes.
69 mins. France’s attacks a being comfortably swallowed up by the visitor’s defence, the latest ended by a massive counter-ruck from Meg Jones, who has been a titan without the ball all game.
67 mins. England have some possession around halfway that ends with an offside call, but France can’t capitalise on this as they are thrown into touch from the resulting lineout maul.
TRY! France 21 – 36 England (Jess Breach)
64 mins. A first phase move from the scrum holds the French defence’s drift in midfield and that gives enough space for Kildunne to find Breach on the right who races in.
Harrison slams a conversion over from the touchline.
63 mins. Feunati is up, thankfully, and she will pack down in an England scum on the France 10m line.
62 mins. A nervous moment for the home defence as Kildunne is this close to running free from 4o metres out, but Rousset just about snags her.
Time is off as Feunati looks to have hurt herself badly in a tackle. Everyone takes a breather while they hope it’s not as serious as it looks.
TRY! France 21 – 29 England (Pauline Bourdon-Sansus)
59 mins. The ball is in and out quickly to the scrum half who simply puts her head down and sprints over from seven metres. It looked like England were surprised that something so straightforward happened and it baffled their defence.
Converted. France couldn’t, could they?
57 mins. Rousset has a storming run up the centre and into the 22, leaving the English defence in her wake before finally being hauled down. The ball is recycled quickly to Lazarko who takes a terrible decision to drive it up again with space out left begging for a pass; which Bourdon-Sansus compounds by doing the same on the next phase.
Eventually the forwards drive over the line, but England hold the ball up! French attacking five metre scrum incoming, from which they must score.
TRY! France 14 – 29 England (Anaïs Grando)
53 mins. The French lineout is scrappy again but this time comes back on their side for Arbez to move the ball through hands. Barrat has a dart on the left but is stopped short before the attack returns to the right for Grando to run in unopposed after the patience and composure from France did the job on the England defence.
Two points added.
51 mins. More French possession, more carries and offloads with England broadly containing it. The visitors are not putting anyone in the rucks at all so they can cover the passes, and so far it’s working. The Red Roses are offside once more though and the ball is sent to touch on the 22.
49 mins. A clever first phase move is run from the base of the scrum to the right, fixing the England defenders before firing a pass to Grando who spills it forward to ruin the chance. Even if she’d caught it, it looked like Lucy Packer had her covered.
46 mins. The attack loses some shape as the ball is flung behing Barrat, but they recover and go again via a strong run up the right from Champon. As they move into the 22, Ives-Campion plays Bourdon-Sansus at the back of the ruck to give and obvious penalty away. That was pretty cynical but the ref is not talking cards as yet.
44 mins. Things get worse for the home side as the ref awards a free kick to England at a scrum in a promising position. Harrison relieves the pressure with a kick, but France soon come back and are running some phases just inside the England half.
PENALTY! France 7 – 29 France (Zoe Harrison)
42 mins. A few phases from France starting with a Champon carry end with Bourdon-Sansus kicking it away. On the next England possession there’s a tackle off the ball by a blue defender which is in front of the posts and so Harrison wastes no time extending the lead from the tee.
Second Half!
Harrison chips the ball deep into French territory to get us back underway.
For England, everything is proceeding as they have foreseen, as they waited out the intial French energy to then dominate the back end of the half
France will be ruing their inability to capitalise on a dominant first quarter that was let down by the common themes that ran throughout the half for them: terrible lineout, awful handling precision in tight, and lack of patience. This feels like and impossible task for Les Bleues now, even if they do start holding onto the ball and catching their own lineout.
Half Time!
That’s the end of the first forty minutes.
TRY! France 7 – 26 England (Ellie Kildunne)
40 mins. Jones takes the lineout quickly for one last attack and the ball moves through a few phases before Kildunne is found in farmer’s field of space out left to walk it in.
No conversion this time.
39 mins. Kildunne boots for space towards the French 22, but Barrat covers across and calls the mark. The ball comes back from a Rowland boot and Arbez this time fields it and boots to touch.
38 mins. England have been utterly ruthless, as is their way, and the longer this goes on the more France’s heads are appearing to drop. If they could just hold onto the bloody ball they just might still be in with a chance, but it already feels to be lost.
TRY! France 7 – 21 England (Jess Breach)
36 mins. A catch and drive moves forward a few metres before teh ball is released to teh backs where it goes all hands via three players to Breach. The winger has a bit of work to do to squirm out of Murie’s tackle to ground in the right corner.
Harrison boots a fantastic conversion from way out east.
34 mins. A penalty is won in the scrum by England and when the advantage come to nothing Harrison finds touch just outside the French 5m area.
31 mins. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. France have a great attacking platform on the 22 where they are working phases to pull the English defence around, but the visitors remain organised and the slight manic energy in France’s obsession with moving the ball quickly results in players being a little isolated. This is all the opportunity Cockayne needs to exploit Fall Reclou lack of support and steal the ball in the breakdown.
If France lose this match they will look back on quite a few moments in the first half and be fuming. Credit to England though, who are not panicking in the face of an onslaught and are winning the match.
TRY! France 7 – 14 England (Ellie Kildunne)
29 mins. The home side’s lineout is now officially a significant problem as yet another is lost to an English disruptive jumper. This ruined platform in the opposition half is soon punished as a loose ball is hacked on by Jones into backfield where Kildunne (who else?) is first to it to score.
Harrison adds two.
26 mins. Each time France have the ball they are making metres but the England defence are so far doing enough to scramble and not only snuff it out, but force handling errors. The latest is after a fantastic carry by M Feleu ono the angle in midfield.
24 mins. After a dodgy start from England it’s now France’s turn to be imprecise at key moments, this time it’s Soqeta allowing the ball to squirm from her grasp as she carried from a lineout maul. The Red Roses again muff their own possession and we’ll have French scrum.
TRY! France 7 – 7 England (Sarah Bern)
22 mins. A 50:22 from Arbez is completely wasted by a Lazarko overthrow in the lineout which England gobble up and feed to Moloney-McDonald to race 40 metres up the left of the pitch. A few phases later, they are feet from the French line and hammering away; there are four drives repelled by the blue defence before Bern rattles and burrows over.
18 mins. England attempt to get a foothold in the game but there’s another handling error, this time from Feunati. The home side can’t capitalise and soon after lose the ball themselves to hand a scrum to the Red Roses on the halfway line. Theywin it comfortably but their open play phases are utterly splintered by the phenomenal defensive power from France. The ball is eventually booted away, in what feels like a small act of surrender.
TRY! France 7 – 0 England (Pauline Bourdon-Sansus)
14 mins. The pressure comes from England after the lineout is won, but France whip the ball back and decide it’s time to make the home crowd’s day by running it from deep. It comes to the left via four passes for Murie to race 30 metres, skittling a couple of tacklers before finding Chambon on the inside who pops to Bourdon-Sansus to run in unopposed.
A dazzling, all hands, 80 metre blinder from Les Bleues.
Arbez converts.
12 mins. Bern wins a penalty at the next sscrum as she drops the hammer on her opposite prop. This brings England’s first attack and when it slows up Harrison kicks behind Arbez who clears to touch.
10 mins. More territory for France as their utter dominance so far continues, the latest attempt to score is halted after Harrison flaps at a pass. The ref calls a knock-on as she did not consider it deliberate; a very debatable call to say the least.
Bourdon-Sansus then knocks on as she attempts to play out of from the scrum
7 mins. T Feleu has her first crash ball run of the game from a scrum and Harrison does well to hold onto her leg for dear life to stop the big woman breaking the line. The ball is recycled quickly and Kebaya finds herself a mile offside in the defensive line.
That’s three penalties in the opening minutes given against England.
4 mins. The lineout is fluffed to the England side with Ives Campion getting amongst the French throw. Champon wins it back soon after give Fall Raclou an opportunity to rumble forward in the 22, but Cockayne is on her to grip the ball like a horseshoe crab and win a relieving not releasing penalty for the Red Roses.
2 mins. France move the ball in the backs from the lineout and begin working phases on halfway. It’s broadly going nowhere, but the Red Roses defence drifts offside to gift the home side a penalty.
Kick off!
Zoe Harrison receives a deep kick and immediately launches it to touch from her boot.
Officials today
Referee: Clara Munarini (Italy)
Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett‑Theron (South Africa), Amber Stamp‑Dunstan (Wales)
Television Match Official (TMO): Matteo Liperini (Italy}
Here come the teams on a bright, clear but breezy late afternoon in Bordeaux. Madoussou Fall Raclou is first out to mark the occasion of her 50th cap, soon followed by the rest who take their places for the anthems.
Pre-match reading
Get in touch before and throughout the match on the email with any and all things you would like to bring to my attentions. I love reading your thoughts, even when you are having a go at me, so don’t be shy.
Teams
France have kept a largely unchanged side with only two forward switches, bringing in Ambre Mwayembe and Axelle Berthoumieu while maintaining a settled backline.
England have made multiple changes, reinforcing the pack with returning players including Lilli Ives Campion, Sadia Kabeya and Maddie Feaunati who was a very late absentee last week. Ellie Kildunne moves from wing to full-back and meaning Jess Breach and Claudia Moloney-MacDonald will be in the wider berths. There are several bench options providing experience including Marlie Packer, the score of four tries vs Italy last time out.
France
15 Pauline Barrat, 14 Anaïs Grando, 13 Aubane Rousset, 12 Téani Feleu, 11 Léa Murie, 10 Carla Arbez, 9 Pauline Bourdon Sansus; 1 Ambre Mwayembe, 2 Mathilde Lazarko, 3 Assia Khalfaoui, 4 Siobhan Soqeta, 5 Madoussou Fall Raclot, 6 Axelle Berthoumieu, 7 Manae Feleu, 8 Léa Champon.
Replacements: 16 Elisa Riffonneau, 17 Yllana Brosseau, 18 Rose Bernadou, 19 Kiara Zago, 20 Cloé Correa, 21 Charlotte Escudero, 22 Alexandra Chambon, 23 Lina Queyroi.
England
15 Ellie Kildunne, 14 Jess Breach, 13 Megan Jones, 12 Helena Rowland, 11 Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, 10 Zoe Harrison, 9 Lucy Packer; 1 Mackenzie Carson, 2 Amy Cokayne, 3 Sarah Bern, 4 Lilli Ives Campion, 5 Delaney Burns, 6 Abi Burton, 7 Sadia Kabeya, 8 Maddie Feaunati
Replacements: 16 Connie Powell, 17 Liz Crake, 18 Maud Muir, 19 Demelza Short, 20 Marlie Packer, 21 Flo Robinson, 22 Holly Aitchison, 23 Emma Sing
Preamble
Welcome to Bordeaux, where the usual suspects are here to punch it out in the usual way to determine if anything will change about England usually winning a Grand Slam.
The route of both sides to this final serving has on paper looked similar, each docket detailing comfortable wins with a sprinkling of right hammerings dished out. But look a little closer and you will see that France have shown the more obvious progression in form and gameplan; each week their attacking patterns have looked sharper with their defence growing more resolute. England will point to their regularly changing line-up due to injury, plus the pre tournament losses to retirement or pregnancy, while not unreasonably mentioning their form has remained pretty damn good throughout all things considered. If any team will test the depth and resilience of the formidable England resources, it’s today’s opponents.
A win today for John Mitchell’s outfit and they carry home a fifth consecutive Slam with the home side looking to secure their first since 2018. Les Bleues may never have a better chance, but lest we forget Canada thought something similar in the last World Cup before they were pulverised in the final by the Red Roses.
The aperitif fixtures have been consumed, followed by the entrée matches and we now reach the main course. Or is it the dessert with it being at the end? Whether you have a sweet or savoury tooth, this is the one you want to sit down for.