An ‘unreal’ defensive performance to repeatedly deny a relentless France held the key to England’s enthralling Women’s Six Nations triumph according to captain Emily Scarratt.
Heading into the final, the two teams had scored 228 points between them in their combined four matches during the 2021 Championship, yet physical, hard-nosed defence won the day at the Twickenham Stoop as England edged to a 10-6 victory.
Poppy Cleall scored the only try of the match in the Women’s Six Nations showpiece as she crashed over the whitewash on the stroke of half-time, with Scarratt adding a conversion and a late penalty for the hosts.
France’s only points came via the boot of Caroline Drouin and a windy day in south-west London made kicking from the tee hazardous, to the extent that the normally metronomic Scarratt missed a pair of first-half penalties.
And while she was disappointed not to have made life easier for her side by slotting those chances, the captain was proud to have claimed a third consecutive Women’s Six Nations title in such battling circumstances.
“Ultimately, the aim was to win the Six Nations and we’ve managed to do that,” said Scarratt. “Sometimes it doesn’t need to be big, flamboyant scorelines and it certainly wasn’t a perfect performance.
“I thought our defence was unreal at times against a side that has scored tries for fun all tournament.
“We had to dig in there and I certainly could have made it easier for us in the first half if I’d put a couple of those penalties over but that’s life. I’m really, really proud of the effort.”
England spent much of the second half at the Stoop on the back foot, needing a committed rearguard to repel wave after wave of French attacks.
They ultimately succeeded to secure a victory that could not have been more different from the 52-10 and 67-3 pool-stage triumphs over Scotland and Italy respectively, yet Scarratt believes the Red Roses revealed more about themselves by the finale being so close.
“You learn so much [from these sort of games],” added Scarratt. “That defensive effort – we kept them out in the first half, we kept them out in the second half and we really dug in.
“You could see the desire of the girls to chop them low, not let them over our try-line and keep fighting that physical battle that we know France are always going to bring – and they did keep bringing it.
“So I’m just really, really proud of the girls’ efforts.”
