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England beat France to secure Grand Slam in Bayonne

By PA
English players celebrate their Grand Slam victory after winning the Six Nations international women's rugby union match between France and England at Jean Dauger stadium in Bayonne (Photo by Philippe LOPEZ / AFP) (Photo by PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Two tries from Bristol prop Sarah Bern helped England claim the Grand Slam with a 24-12 victory over France in ‘Le Crunch’ in Bayonne.

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England produced a dominant first-half performance to lay the platform for an emphatic 23rd successive victory in the final match of the 2022 TikTok Women’s Six Nations that enabled them to add the championship to the Triple Crown.

The Red Roses scored all their three tries before half-time to silence the capacity crowd at Stade Jean Dauger while centre Emily Scarratt, captaining the side in the absence of injured regular skipper Sarah Hunter, scored their only points in the second half through a penalty to add to her three conversions.

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England’s 10th successive triumph over their world number three ranked opponents confirms their position as favourites for the World Cup in New Zealand later this year.

France, boosted by the return from injury of fly-half Caroline Drouin, got off to best possible start, capitalising on a knock-on by England fly-half Zoe Harrison to work number eight Romane Menager over for the game’s first try after just three minutes.

Drouin added the conversion but England struck back eight minutes later when Bern forced her way over for her first try, with Scarratt landing the extras.

The Red Roses took full advantage of France’s indiscipline and malfunctioning line-out to pile on the pressure and it paid off after 16 minutes when second rower Abbie Ward profited from another rampant rolling maul to claim their second try.

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The French struggled to get out of their own half and fell further behind after 26 minutes when Bern peeled off a rolling maul to grab her second try and Scarratt kicked her third conversion to make it 21-7.

The home side stemmed the tide but came up against a determined England defence, which managed to hold scrum-half Laure Sansus up over the line.

England were temporarily reduced to 14 players three minutes into the second half when Harrison was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock on but they re-doubled their efforts to preserve their lead with the fly-half in the sin bin.

The French then had centre Maelle Filopon sent to the bin for a deliberate knock on, an offence which enabled Scarratt to extend England’s lead to 24-7 with a penalty.

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Scarratt pulled off a try-saving tackle on replacement Emilie Boulard to snuff out any threat of a fightback, although prop Annaelle Deshayes did claim a consolation try after 66 minutes.

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Trevor 1 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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Bull Shark 5 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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