England hold off France to claim Grand Slam in Six Nations epic

SATURDAY WRAP: England claimed a seventh successive Women’s Six Nations title but subjected Allianz Stadium to a white knuckle ride in a ragged 43-42 victory over France.

The Red Roses raced to a 31-7 lead inside half an hour with Emma Sing crossing twice, but their early conviction vanished as France woke up to the opportunity before them in this Grand Slam decider.

England’s early onslaught of tries had provided enough of a cushion to weather the fightback staged by the underdogs, who thrived off a sharp offloading game from their forwards and ingenuity in attack.

It completed a fourth consecutive Grand Slam and registered their 55th win in 56 Tests, but there were frailties on show across the park that will encourage their rivals ahead of the home World Cup in August and September.

Most glaring of all was the volume of missed tackles, especially out wide, and head coach John Mitchell will be seeking answers as to why they collapsed into such a disjointed mess, having started like a freight train.

By the 24th minute, they looked assured of victory, having amassed five tries and hardly putting a foot wrong.

Sharp handling from the excellent Megan Jones sent Sing over for two tries, enabling the rookie full-back to settle her nerves having made a shaky start while deputising for hamstring-injury victim Ellis Kildunne.

The Red Roses’ maul was also a potent weapon, leading directly to a touchdown for Lark Atkin-Davies but also repeatedly driving France backwards to create space in attack.

Wings Abby Dow and Claudia MacDonald each went over as forward power was mixed with a cutting edge out wide, much of it facilitated by Jones’ selfless play at outside centre.

But England lost their way, unable to sustain the ferocious pace they had set while also forcing play, with Zoe Harrison’s dropped pass behind her line gifting Pauline Bourdon an opportunistic try.

It was a howler from Harrison that had let the underdogs back into the game, but the fly-half had otherwise produced a tidy first half, including setting up Dow’s try with a clever kick.

France struck even though prop Assia Khalfaoui was in the sin bin for a dangerous tackle, and having seen their defence spring leaks freely, they rallied to finish the half with a flourish.

They showed their feel for attack to cross again through Marine Menager, and suddenly it was the hosts who were on the ropes, their lead cut to 10 points and momentum firmly against them.

Wing Joanna Grisez scythed through the Red Roses with alarming ease, but they responded magnificently with Harrison’s show and go, sending Zoe Aldcroft over.

England continued to miss tackle,s with Sing especially guilty of inviting Kelly Arbey over for the visitors’ fourth try – all of which had been converted by Morgane Bourgeois.

Sustained pressure in France’s 22 led to Dow’s second try, but they just could not close out the gamE, and their defence cracked once again, Bourgeois doing the damage after her side had skilfully kept the ball alive.

Sing stepped up with a try-saving tackle, but no one could stop Grisez’s marauding over in the right corner, and time had run out for France to engineer the winning score.

*Fran McGhie’s try with the clock in the red clinched a dramatic 24-19 win for Scotland over Ireland in their final game of the 2025 Women’s Six Nations.

Amee-Leigh Costigan had put Ireland into an early lead, but Scotland went in 12-7 up at half-time as Lana Skeldon and Emma Orr grabbed tries.

Linda Djougang was able to level matters early in the second half, but Rachel McLachlan’s try restored Scotland’s lead.

Emily Lane got Ireland back on terms to set up a grandstand finish, which ended with McGhie going over in the corner to rapturous scenes.

Ireland enjoyed a stronger start to the game, setting up camp in the Scotland 22 as they probed for an opening. It eventually came from turnover ball, Molly Scuffil-McCabe taking advantage of the unstructured defence to streak clear before feeding Costigan for the try. Dannah O’Brien slotted the conversion from out wide to make it 7-0 after 10 minutes.

The visitors then suffered a blow when Dorothy Wall was helped off after she suffered a non-contact injury midway through the half.

Having been under the cosh for much of the game, Scotland took advantage of their first period of sustained territory, with Skeldon the beneficiary of an unstoppable rolling maul. Helen Nelson was just off-target with the conversion.

That try seemed to spark Ireland back into life, and they threatened several times, firstly from a searing Aoife Dalton break through the midfield, which eventually came to nothing as a grubber through went dead.

Still, they were in the ascendancy and could have moved further clear only for Djougang to be held up over the line twice in the space of three minutes before half-time.

Instead, it was Scotland who went in ahead at the break against the run of play. Sarah Bonar shot up in her 22 for a crucial interception and then realising that she could not finish off the score herself, the lock booted the ball through. Ireland did well to get back but when O’Brien failed to find touch from her clearing kick, Scotland took advantage with Orr scything her way through. Nelson converted this time and Scotland led 12-7 at the break.

The turning point in the game came 10 minutes into the second half. Djougang finally got over and got the ball down on her third incursion into the in-goal area.

And to make matters worse for Scotland, Rhona Lloyd was sent to the sin-bin for a head-on-head tackle on Costigan in the build-up. O’Brien missed the conversion, leaving the scores level.

The momentum appeared with Ireland, but Scotland fought back and scored a brilliant third try. After a long period of pressure, it was Chloe Rollie’s offload out of the tackle that put McLachlan over in the left corner. Nelson converted brilliantly to make it 19-12 on the hour.

Ireland threw everything at Scotland in a bid to get back into it, and after a couple of scrum penalties, they were stopped just short of the line, with Nelson sin-binned for killing the ball.

With the player advantage, Ireland took their chance, Lane slipping through a gap to dive over. O’Brien converted to make it 19-19 with seven minutes remaining.

Just as Ireland looked set to pull off a comeback victory, Scotland got their hands back on the ball. After an attacking lineout five metres out, they switched possession to the left, where McGhie sprinted over to seal the win.

All Saturday and Sunday’s scores and scorers below…

Saturday, April 26

Scotland 24-19 Ireland

Scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries: Skeldon, Orr, Malcolm
Cons: Nelson 2

For Ireland:
Tries: Costigan, Djougang, Lane
Cons: O’Brien 2

Teams

Scotland: 15 Chloe Rollie, 14 Rhona Lloyd, 13 Emma Orr, 12 Lisa Thomson, 11 Francesca McGhie, 10 Helen Nelson, 9 Leia Brebner-Holden, 8 Evie Gallagher, 7 Rachel McLachlan, 6 Rachel Malcolm (captain), 5 Sarah Bonar, 4 Jade Konkel, 3 Elliann Clarke, 2 Lana Skeldon, 1 Leah Bartlett
Replacements: 16 Elis Martin, 17 Anne Young, 18 Molly Poolman, 19 Becky Boyd, 20 Gemma Bell, 21 Rhea Clarke, 22 Evie Wills, 23 Lucia Scott

Ireland: 15 Aoife Corey, 14 Vicky Elmes Kinlan, 13 Aoife Dalton, 12 Enya Breen,
11 Amee-Leigh Costigan, 10 Dannah O’Brien, 9 Molly Scuffil-McCabe, 8 Brittany Hogan, 7 Edel McMahon, 6 Dorothy Wall, 5 Fiona Tuite, 4 Ruth Campbell, 3 Linda Djougang, 2 Neve Jones, 1 Niamh O’Dowd
Replacements: 16 Cliodhna Moloney, 17 Sadhbh McGrath, 18 Christy Haney, 19 Jane Clohessy, 20 Claire Boles, 21 Emily Lane, 22 Eve Higgins, 23 Stacey Flood

Referee: Natarsha Ganley (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Holly Wood (England), Amber Stamp-Dunstan (Wales)
TMO: Dan Jones (England)

England 43-42 France

Scorers:

For England:
Tries: Dow 2, Sing 2, Davies, MacDonald, Aldcroft
Cons: Harrison 4

For France:
Tries: Arbez, Bourdon, Menager, Arbey, Bourgeois, Grisez
Cons: Bourgeois 6

England: 15 Emma Sing, 14 Abby Dow, 13 Megan Jones, 12 Tatyana Heard,
11 Claudia MacDonald, 10 Zoe Harrison, 9 Natasha Hunt, 8 Alex Matthews, 7 Maddie Feaunati, 6 Zoe Aldcroft, 5 Abbie Ward, 4 Morwenna Talling, 3 Maud Muir, 2 Lark Atkin-Davies, 1 Hannah Botterman
Replacements: 16 Amy Cokayne, 17 Kelsey Clifford, 18 Sarah Bern, 19 Rosie Galligan, 20 Abi Burton, 21 Lucy Packer, 22 Holly Aitchison, 23 Helena Rowland

France: 15 Morgane Bourgeois, 14 Joanna Grisez, GRISEZ, 13 Marine Menager, 12 Gabrielle Vernier, 11 Kelly Arbey, 10 Carla Arbez, 9 Pauline bourdon Sansus, 8 Téani Feleu, 7 Léa Champon, 6 Charlotte Escudero, 5 Madoussou Fall-Raclot, 4 Manae Feleu, 3 Assia Khalfaoui, 2 Manon Bigot,1 Yllana Brosseau
Replacements: 16 Élisa Riffonneau, 17 Ambre Mwayembe, 18 Rose Bernadou, 19 Kiara Zago, 20 Axelle Berthoumieu, 21 Taïna Maka, 22 Alexandra Champion, 23 Lina Queyroi

Referee: Maggie Cogger-Orr (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Lauren Jenner (New Zealand), Maria Heitor (Portugal)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)

Sunday, April 27

Italy 44-12 Wales

Scorers:

For Italy:
Tries: Stefan, Granzotto 2, Turani, Minuzzi, Muzzo
Cons: Sillari 4
Pens: Sillari 2

For Wales:
Tries: Williams, Pyrs
Cons: Bevan

Teams

Italy: 15 Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi, 14 Aura Muzzo, 13 Michela Sillari, 12 Sara Mannini, 11 Alyssa D’Incá, 10 Veronica Madia, 9 Sofia Stefan, 8 Elisa Giordano (captain), 7 Francesca Sgorbini, 6 Beatrice Veronese, 5 Giordana Duca, 4 Sara Tounesi, 3 Sara Seye, 2 Vittoria Vecchini, 1 Silvia Turani
Replacements: 16 Desiree Spinelli, 17 Emanuela Stecca, 18 Gaia Maris, 19 Isabella Locatelli, 20 Alissa Ranuccini, 21 Alia Bitonci, 22 Beatrice Rigoni, 23 Francesca Granzotto

Wales: 15 Jasmine Joyce, 14 Lisa Neumann, 13 Hannah Jones (captain), 12 Courtney Keight, 11 Carys Cox, 10 Lleucu George, 9 Keira Bevan, 8 Georgia Evans, 7 Bethan Lewis, 6 Kate Williams, 5 Gwen Crabb, 4 Abbie Fleming, 3 Donna Rose, 2 Kelsey Jones, 1 Gwenllian Pyrs
Replacements: 16 Carys Phillips, 17 Maisie Davies, 18 Jenni Scoble, 19 Natalia John, 20 Alex Callender, 21 Sian Jones, 22 Hannah Bluck, 23 Catherine Richards