England captain Emily Scarratt heaped the praise on her Red Roses teammates, after yet another powerful display in their 33-10 victory over France.
Simon Middleton’s side continued their imperious form in Grenoble, with Amy Cokayne, Alex Matthews and Jess Breach all crossing to ensure the victory.
There was no letting up for England after claiming a second successive Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam last month, as they impressed in all areas throughout the 80 minutes, with the hosts unable to keep up with their relentless tenacity.
The victory makes it six wins in a row against Les Bleues since 2018, and Scarratt admitted the eagerness to keep that run going was an incentive for her side in Saturday’s performance.
“It was something that we were conscious of and we wanted to make sure we kept hold of that,” the England skipper said.
“The girls put in a real shift, we’ve got a lot of youngsters, their first time away in France. Yes there’s no crowd but it’s still a really tough place to come and play.
“I’m really proud of the girls’ effort, we’ve got a hell of a lot of people back at home that would have wanted to be out here with us, so it’s a squad effort.”
The Red Roses got off to the perfect start in Grenoble, with Cokayne touching down at the back of a maul in the early stages, before France skipper Gaelle Hermet levelled matters midway through the first half.
A penalty apiece saw the teams go into the break with the score at 10-10, before England stamped their authority on the game just after the break, with Matthews weaving her way through after a break from Helena Rowland.
Breach then slalomed her way through the French defence from halfway to extend the advantage, before Scarratt added three more penalties to put the game to bed and ensure a return to the top of the world rankings for the Red Roses.
And the England skipper was keen to pay tribute to her teammates, who have swept aside all that have come before them recently, and only seem to be getting better game on game.
“I’m really fortunate to play with some really great players, England are a very proud rugby nation, we go about our business in a way that we want to be as good as we possibly can,” she said.
“I’m fortunate to be part of this group, and it’s all about coming out to places like this and putting it on the pitch.”
The two sides will do it all again next weekend, as France will make the journey over to Twickenham for the second part of the autumn double-header looking to make amends for the defeat in the Alps.
