England’s women seal their second successive Six Nations Grand Slam with a 38-33 victory over France… as Red Roses captain Marlie Packer vows to knock Twickenham out of the 2025 World Cup
- Packer scored a try that helped England take a 33–0 lead against the visitors
- A crowd of 58,498 watched the Red Roses win the Six Nations at Twickenham
- The win was the perfect farewell for outgoing coach Simon Middleton
Proud England captain Marlie Packer had set her sights on selling out Twickenham after winning the Grand Slam in front of a record crowd for women’s rugby.
This was a memorable afternoon for the sport, watched by a young and vibrant crowd of 58,498 as the Red Roses held off a second-half fightback from France,
It was a fitting farewell for veteran coach Simon Middleton, who insisted the best was yet to come when he stepped down after nine years.
England will host the 2025 World Cup and Packer, whose effort helped the hosts build a 33-0 lead, wants the tournament to break any attendance record.
“For me as a Red Rose, I want to sell out Twickenham,” said Packer. “I believe we can do it and I believe we can do it before 2025 for the World Cup final. Look at today – we weren’t curtain risers. It was all about us. The other countries close the gap and get professional contracts. Everything is on the rise, so more tickets will be sold and more stadiums will be sold out. We are a brand and we want to keep selling our brand.
England sealed their second successive Grand Slam victory in their victory against France
The Red Roses bounced back from the disappointment of the World Cup final to lift the trophy
Captain Marlie Packer has set her sights on selling out Twickenham after winning in front of over 50,000 people at the legendary stadium
“When we go out with the Red Roses, we get fans from all over the country. We need to keep building our fanbase. That’s because of us players and putting a product on the field that makes people want to come back and look. I think 58,000 people would like to come back today to see it.’
For fifteen minutes, England looked as if they were suffering from major match nerves.
But they held off an early siege before turning on the power and breaking through tackles for Abbie Dow to score the opening try.
They benefited from yellow cards for Jessy Tremouliere and Rose Bernadou, confirming their numerical advantage to move on to a fifth consecutive title.
Scores from Packer, Alex Matthews and a penalty try secured the bonus point, before Dow landed for the fifth to take a 33–0 halftime lead.
The young French squad unloaded their bench and launched a remarkable fight.
England put up a commanding 33-0 lead in the first half with a dominant display at home
Efforts from Abbie Dow (pictured), Packer and Matthews helped the Red Roses get off to a strong start
But France snuck back into the game, with Charlotte Escudero sneaking across the try-line
Cyrielle Banet also scored and provided an almighty fight back from the visitors in the second half
But England kept their spirits up to embark on another triumphant Six Nations campaign
Retiring coach Simon Middleton said he ‘couldn’t have wished’ for a better send-off
Improving their phase play and keeping the ball alive, Emilie Boulard scored first in the second half.
The rogue Gabrielle Vernier and Charlotte Escudero narrowed the deficit for France, either side of a Lark Davies effort, but the visitors had left themselves too much.
Emeline Gros and Cyriele Banet scored late, but it wasn’t enough to spoil Middleton’s farewell.
The outgoing coach said: “I couldn’t have wished for a better stage to go out on, but it’s not the end of the road. The past nine or ten years have been brilliant. When I started, we had to fight for terrain to play on. You shouldn’t be afraid of change. We’ve seen a lot of change in this Six Nations and we’ll see a lot more.”