England may have stretched their winning streak over France to eight games in all competitions with victory in the Women’s Six Nations finale but ex-internationals Benjamin Kayser and Maggie Alphonsi are convinced the gap between the sides has reduced.
England sealed their third consecutive Championship title with a hard-fought victory at the Stoop – Poppy Cleall’s first-half try, five points from the boot of Emily Scarratt and a dogged defensive performance just enough for a 10-6 win.
But Les Bleues pushed them all the way as they finished an impressive Women’s Six Nations campaign by coming agonisingly close to wrestling the trophy from England’s grasp.
And speaking on a Facebook Live for Guinness, former France hooker and current pundit Kayser was impressed by what he saw from his compatriots – especially a couple of their young guns.
“It’s one of those games where you have to congratulate all the players because it was one hell of a game that we got,” said Kayser.
“There was a proper display of quality rugby all around. I think England have rarely been pushed down the trenches as they were today – they were seriously, seriously scared of messing this one up.
“It was all down to hard graft and heart from the French side – it was a matter of inches. I’m a very, very proud Frenchman because when they display that type of rugby it’s delightful for everyone.
“Emilie Boulard – the new young full-back. She is not very heavy, I’m telling you, but she can run for days!
“Then you’ve got Madoussou Fall. I was blown away by the activity of the big second-rower, who only started playing rugby two or three years ago.
“She’s a raw talent, she’s got an incredible amount of energy and aggressiveness in her and she put the English pack through her lens.
“The future is bright, the future is exciting, there’s a new generation of talent coming through attracted by the sport.
“I’m sure in five years’ time we’ll have people coming through saying they were inspired by that incredible game at the Stoop under the sun with some quality rugby played.”
Seven-time Women’s Six Nations winner Alphonsi was also impressed by the fighting spirit of Les Bleues, despite England ultimately coming out on top.
And the former World Cup winner, who has been giving her expert insight to sixnationrugby.com throughout the Championship in her role as Women’s Six Nations ambassador, is relishing tight future contests between the two heavyweight nations.
“It was a really interesting game,” said Alphonsi. “It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest of games – there was a lot of handling errors from both sides.
“The French had a really good scrum though and, overall, I’m just really pleased that we had a close and tight final.
“That’s what we want, especially from the women’s game, we want to see the matches get closer and closer.
“It is [the closest I’ve seen the teams in a while]. There was only one point between them at one stage here, then England emptied their bench and saw the game out.
“More importantly for the women’s game, we want to see the teams getting closer and we want to see unpredictable games. That gap is slowly closing.”
