The Women’s Six Nations pool stages came to a captivating conclusion on Saturday and we now know who will be facing each other on Finals Day.
France kept their Championship hopes alive with an impressive 56-15 win over Ireland to book a meeting with England which will decide who lifts this year’s trophy.
Ireland will play Italy in the third-place play-off following the Azzurre’s terrific 41-20 victory over Scotland, inspired by a hat-trick by captain Manuela Furlan.
The Italy skipper is one of four nominees for the Player of Round 3 prize – make sure you cast your vote and if you need a reminder of why this quartet have been selected, look no further…
Beatrice Rigoni (Italy)
The inside centre was everywhere at Scotstoun and bookended a superb display with excellent tries.
Rigoni needed just six minutes to break the deadlock, powering through an attempted tackle to dot down, and could have added another later in the first half only to spill the ball at the vital moment.
She was not to be denied with 13 minutes to play, however, collecting Elisa Giordano’s pass to cross for her second of the afternoon to all but settle the outcome.
Equally impressive in attack and defence, Rigoni gained 111 metres from her 14 carries and also made 12 tackles to halt Scotland in their tracks.
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Emilie Boulard (France)
France made eight changes to their starting XV for the trip to Dublin but the identity of their full-back remained the same – and this performance showed why.
Boulard was influential from the outset at Energia Park, drawing two defenders before setting Caroline Boujard free to score the visitors’ opener.
She then turned from provider to scorer, winning the race to Laure Sansus’ perfectly-judged box-kick, and played a key role throughout as France eased into the final.
Manuela Furlan (Italy)
A productive afternoon for the wing began when she raced home for the visitors’ second try inside the opening nine minutes and her expert finishing skills came to the fore once more just shy of the hour-mark.
Fittingly, it was Furlan who rounded off the scoring to become the second player to score a treble in this season’s Championship, following in the footsteps of Boujard.
Two tries separate the pair at the top of the charts going into Super Saturday but another performance like this one – which saw Furlan gain more metres (188) than any other player in Round 3 – could see Italy’s captain fantastic finish with the top scorer prize.
Marjorie Mayans (France)
France’s free-flowing attack will gain plenty of headlines this week but their defensive efforts, led by Marjorie Mayans, cannot be overlooked.
The flanker made a game-high nine tackles in the Irish capital and repeatedly repelled the home side’s attacks to prevent them gaining a foothold in the contest.
She also enjoyed four carries during a Player of the Match display and will relish the challenge of going up against England’s star-studded back-rowers in the final.
