It all comes down to this, again. France have been runners-up to England in the Women’s Six Nations for the past six years, edging ever closer: last year’s decider was settled by a single point. But can François Ratier’s team not only end England’s dominance in this competition but also halt their 37-game winning run on Sunday? If they show up from minute one to 80, France can do it.
England will be favourites to lift their eighth straight Six Nations trophy but have been contending with a lot this tournament. Retirements, pregnancy and injury mean the team are without a wealth of talent including Zoe Stratford – the usual captain – Abbie Ward and Alex Matthews. They have continued to win with a depleted squad but their depth will be given its biggest test yet against an in-form France team.
The statistics never lie and France’s so far this competition, particularly in defence, have been commanding. The side are topping the charts for most carries, offloads and defenders beaten. They also have the fewest missed tackles, the most dominant contacts and an 88.4% tackle success rate, the best in the competition.
England lead in fewer areas but have scored the most points this tournament and have the top try scorer in Marlie Packer, who will start on the bench with Sadia Kabeya back from injury. The fly-half Zoe Harrison’s supreme kicking has also been a huge asset to the team, with 23 of 24 kicks successful. They know their attack is the highlight of their game at the moment and, when asked if working on defence will be critical against France, the England head coach, John Mitchell, said: “It will be, but we’ll just score more.”
Against Italy, England conceded the most points they ever have in the Six Nations against a team that was not France. The former England captain Packer believes the side need to be more reactionary: “I think we need to be a bit better at see, do. We are thinking. As soon as you think, the other team has a foot on top of you.
“We are a Red Roses team that has a lot of moving parts at the moment, we have a lot of stuff in the forwards. Successful as we are, we have a few things we have to work on. The defensive maul was an issue in the Wales game and for it to happen again against Italy is not something we pride ourselves on at all. It will be something we massively talk about this week. You have also got to think some of the players on pitch it is their first cap so it is a learning for them. We can’t let that happen against France and we will make sure we put the work in so it doesn’t.”
England will need to plug their defensive holes because France have stars who will snipe at any opportunity given to them. Anaïs Grando has scored four tries in four games and has proved to be a great resource in defence too, a particular highlight coming against Ireland where her covering tackle held up Fiona Tuite over the line. The scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus has also been an integral cog in the French setup for years and her form has not let up this year either.
Ruby Tui, the New Zealand great, said France’s performances are a “roll of the dice” and the team can be unpredictable. Their second-half performances this tournament have been better than those in the first but they will need to be consistent across the entire match to ensure they come away with the trophy. The France head coach, Ratier, said his team need a good start and that England are not infallible.
“They conceded four tries against Italy and Wales,” he said. “There are weaknesses in their approach to breaking up rugby. Often, in the first 20 minutes, they score enough points to then control the game. They’re a team you can’t let get going. We [have] decided to attack them precisely on that strength, to try and make them doubt themselves from the start to disrupt their rhythm. Once they’ve broken down, hit them where it hurts. That’s the plan. They have one too, and we’ll see.”
France have been chasing England’s tails since they last beat them in 2018 and the Red Roses know they have a target on their backs. While their captain, Meg Jones, said the dominant winning run isn’t something that is discussed between the squad, Mitchell has urged teams to “come and get us”.
“We love being the standard bearers of consistency,” he said. “Somebody is going to get us, we understand that reality and we shouldn’t be disgraced if somebody does get us.
“We don’t want to give that up easily, anyone can pick on our weaknesses but we will look to fix them. That doesn’t mean we are in decline, we are actually developing and evolving. Maybe we are evolving a lot quicker than a lot of people realise. We get another chance to test that on the weekend, that is what we embrace and thrive in.”