Simon Middleton Helena Rowland Abby Dow France Sport Rugby on Simon Middleton Helena Rowland Abby Dow France

England hang on to take Women's Six Nations title and grand slam

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England completed the Grand Slam with victory over France but were saved by the bell in front of a world record 58,498 crowd at Twickenham.Initially rising to the occasion of setting a new highest attendance for the women's game, surpassing the 42,579 seen for last autumn's World Cup final in Auckland, the Red Roses ran amok to build a 33-0 interval lead.A fifth successive TikTok Women's Six Nations looked certain but France were reborn for a second half they dominated 33-5 only to run out of time as England collapsed in dramatic fashion.It remained a triumphant send-off for outgoing England head coach Simon Middleton with the strongest rivalry in the Championship producing another compelling instalment.France were the last side to beat England in the Six Nations five years ago and they started the game like they finished it, although without the rewards.It took resolute defending including an important penalty won on the ground by Hannah Botterman to deny them early on, but the pressure was halted when England pounced against the run of play.Footwork and power swept Helena Rowland through the midfield before quick ball gave Abby Dow sight of the line with the right wing's pace doing the rest.Rowland's centre partner Tatyana Heard was the next to swat away blue shirts and when she was eventually halted, Marlie Packer used her strength to crash over.France's defence was creaking and fly-half Jessy Tremouliere was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, ushering in a damaging spell that saw Alex Matthews cross and a penalty try awarded against Rose Bernadou.Bernadou followed Tremouliere into the sin-bin and England continued to canter seemingly out of sight as Zoe Aldcroft touched down.However, having regrouped at

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Simon Middleton believes that his departure from the Red Roses is not the end of their meteoric rise, in fact, it is just the beginning. The England head coach bowed out with one final victory as the Red Roses claimed a fifth Grand Slam under his tenure following a 38-33 win over France at Twickenham. Ad Middleton waved goodbye in front of 58,498 fans alongside departing backs coach Scott Bemand, with recently retired captain Sarah Hunter delivering the TikTok Women's Six Nations trophy.
England’s Helena Rowland hopes the Red Roses’ grand slam success in front of a women’s world-record crowd at Twickenham will be a springboard for higher attendances in the domestic game.

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