Women's

Middleton: England found another way to win against France

Simon Middleton
Simon Middleton said the result was all that mattered after England had to dig deep to defeat France in the Women’s Six Nations Finals Day silverware showpiece.

Simon Middleton said the result was all that mattered after England had to dig deep to defeat France in the Women’s Six Nations Finals Day silverware showpiece.

The Red Roses defended their Championship crown and secured a third consecutive title in the process thanks to Poppy Cleall’s first-half try, which was converted by Emily Scarratt.

Caroline Drouin narrowed the deficit with two penalties after the break but England managed the closing stages expertly before Scarratt sealed a 10-6 victory with a late penalty.

And while the champions were far from their best at the Twickenham Stoop, Middleton took encouragement from the way his side turned to their defence to get the job done.

England defeat France to defend Women’s Six Nations title

“To be fair we did control large parts of the game – or we maintained a control of the game, we didn’t control it completely – I don’t think anybody did,” Middleton said.

“It was two teams going at it hammer and tong and we sort of cancelled each other out a little bit. It was a really nervous affair, you could see both sides looked too tight to play.

“Fair play to France, they were outstanding in their defence and we knew they would be aggressive and tough but we weathered it really well and gave as good as we got.

“You know France are always going to have a really good set piece and our set piece came under a lot of pressure, that’s quite obvious and there’s plenty for us to work on.

“If one part of your game isn’t working you’ve got to find another way to win and we found a way to win through our defence and we took a couple of chances that we had in terms of kicks.

“There were just a lot of things today that didn’t quite fit into place but as I said to the girls, ultimately it’s Finals Day and a performance would be great but the result is all that matters.”

Hermet: No excuses for England defeat

Middleton has made the most of his squad throughout the Championship, rotating his team for England’s two Pool A games before picking his strongest side for the final.

It is an approach the Red Roses head coach believes has paid off in the end and with several players still due to return, Middleton is more than happy with England’s progress.

“We rolled the dice in the first two games in terms of rotating the squad, significantly rotating the squad and that’s generally been the philosophy of ours,” he said.

“We wanted to make sure that we gave everybody the opportunity and then get our best team – or what we thought was our best team – on the field for today.

Scarratt: ‘Unreal’ England defence saw us over the line

“I think we pretty much did that. We have got a lot of fit bodies and we still have a few players to come back, we’ve got Sarah Bern, Hannah Botterman and a few other players.

“They are going to add to the equation but we went well and I think France are a better side than they have been for a long time in my opinion, I think they have some great players.

“They have some great facets of their play and we just had to dig deep. We have plenty of work to do but we’ve also got the trophy.”