Star Metro - England see off gutsy France to clinch another Women's Six Nations

Victory also secured a fifth successive Grand Slam for England and extended their record unbeaten run to 38 games, with their last defeat coming in a Covid-delayed World Cup final in 2022.

Sunday's match was a Grand Slam-decider, with France having also won all four of their previous games in the championship.

But this result was further evidence of England's strength in depth, with the Red Roses missing more than a dozen players due to pregnancy, injury or retirement following last year's World Cup triumph on home soil.

France opened the scoring through a brilliant length-of-the field move that ended in a try for scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus, but England hit back to lead 26-7 at half-time.

The hosts reduced the favourites' advantage to eight points before England pulled clear again.

- 'Unstoppable' -

"That was a great performance, that was tough and it took a lot at the start," England coach John Mitchell told the BBC.

"I think we have evolved our game. When we created connection at the back, we are unstoppable."

England recovered from going behind through tries from prop Sarah Bern, full-back Kildunne (two) and right wing Jess Breach.

Zoe Harrison's penalty early in the second half left England 29-7 ahead and seemingly in complete command.

France, however, then scored two tries to cut England's lead to 29-21.

Anais Grando went over in the right corner before Bourdon Sansus' sniping break from a close-range scrum caught England napping on the hour mark.

But Breach's second try, following Kildunne's well-timed pass, in the 65th minute effectively sealed England's victory, with fly-half Harrison's conversion making it 36-21.

France played the final 10 minutes a woman down after replacement scrum-half Alexandra Chambon was sin-binned for a high tackle on Claudia Moloney-MacDonald.

And with two minutes left, England had their sixth try when Amy Cokayne went over on the blindside following a close-range line-out.

France's Rose Bernadou scored a try with the last play of the game but England had the match won by then.

"I think it was small mistakes," said France captain Manae Feleu. "We knew that England can do big things and we gave them what they needed to score the tries after our first try.

"I want to congratulate England, they are world champions and there is a reason for that."

Earlier, Ireland marked their first stand-alone match at Dublin's Lansdowne Road with a 54-5 rout of Scotland as they finished in third place.

Ireland scored seven tries in a remarkable first half, with No 8 Aoife Wafer crossing twice, to lead 47-0 at the interval.

Scotland avoided being 'nilled' through Aicha Sutcliffe's last-ditch try as they went down to a fourth defeat in five games.

"The first half was the best version of us and we were excellent," said Ireland coach Scott Bemand.

Wales, meanwhile, suffered a record ninth successive loss as Italy enjoyed a decisive 43-24 win in Cardiff.

Wales led 19-17 at half-time but Italy pulled clear after the break and, for the second successive Six Nations, the Welsh finished bottom of the table having lost all five games.

Defeat left Wales coach Sean Lynn with a record of just one win in 15 Tests since he took charge in January last year and he made no attempt to sugar-coact this latest reverse, saying: "What I've just said to the players is that we've just got to be better."

J.Campbell--SMC