England and France set up their destined Grand Slam decider in Women’s Six Nations rugby with big road wins on Saturday.
England beat Italy 61-33 in Parma and France downed Scotland 69-28 in Edinburgh.
Ireland rose to a distant third place after seeing off Wales 33-12 in Belfast.
England and France have finished a respective first and second in the Six Nations every year since 2020, and have met in a final round showdown every year since 2021.
A record crowd for a France home game in the Women’s Six Nations is expected next weekend in Bordeaux at 42,000-seat Stade Atlantique. But France will have to overcome not having beaten England in eight years.
England 61, Italy 33
England had the bonus-point fourth try and victory in hand inside 14 minutes. That’s when Zoe Harrison missed her first goalkick in 19 attempts in the championship. Harrison finished the game converting eight of the nine tries, including all five from the touchlines.
Also at 26-0 a sleepy and sloppy Italy woke up. Italy scored its first points against England at home since 2018 and wound up with its highest ever score against England, surpassing 24 from 10 years ago. A remarkable five tries included two by replacement flanker Francesca Sgorbini.
But the game’s undoubted star was its oldest player, 36-year-old Marlie Packer, who scored four tries. The fourth was the best: She smashed through five defenders in the 60th minute. Packer leads the tournament with seven tries and has 59 in her career, only two behind the England record held by Sue Day.
Packer debuted for England in 2008, a year after Day’s last test. Packer lost the captaincy last year because she dropped in the back row pecking order. She played only once at the Rugby World Cup and wasn’t picked for the Six Nations opener against Ireland at Twickenham. But injuries since then to Alex Matthews, Sadia Kabeya and Maddie Feaunati have given her more minutes than expected. Not knowing if they’ll be her last minutes, she hasn’t wasted them.
Packer is the only woman with two player-of-the-match awards. Beside the four tries on Saturday she had 14 carries and 13 tackles. She was scrappy and relentless.
“I’ve got a smile back on my face. I am getting some good minutes,” Packer told the BBC. “For the last couple of years Sadia Kabeya has got the nod over me, fair play. I’ve got my opportunity at the moment and I’m enjoying it. That’s what I want to do, play with a smile, there’s no pressure. Make every game and moment an enjoyable one.”
She credited the forward pack for her tries and the pair by hooker Amy Cokayne, who has scored in seven consecutive tests dating to the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals last September.
“Marlie doesn’t go away, does she?” England coach John Mitchell told the BBC. “After the World Cup she was like, ‘Where do I sit?’ and I said, ‘Marlie, you are one of the best sevens in the country and if you are happy with that I am happy with that.’”
France 69, Scotland 28
France was a slow starter in every game until Saturday when Scotland failed to gather the kickoff and France captain Manaé Feleu ended up dotting down beside the right corner flag after 41 seconds.
The French, up front and out wide, put on a show from there with 10 more tries in a convincing performance a week before hosting world champion England for the trophy.
Flyhalf Carla Arbez was awarded player of the match — she pulled off a chip-and-catch try — but also contenders were No. 8 Léa Champon and fullback Pauline Barrat.
Barrat and winger Anaïs Grando, both debutants last month, linked superbly to set up Champon’s second try.
Also prominent in her first test start was 20-year-old lock Siobhan Soqeta, the daughter of former Fiji sevens international Noa Soqeta. She crashed over twice from close range.
France went into the match with the meanest defense in the tournament but that took a beating as Scotland racked up its highest score against France, surpassing 27 from 1998, plus a four-try bonus point.
Ireland 33, Wales 12
No. 8 Aoife Wafer finally looked like last year’s player of the Six Nations as Ireland won three straight against Wales for the first time in nine years.
Wafer scored the opening try running back a goalline drop out, made a brilliant offload as she was falling for Beibhinn Parsons’ try, and scored her second try diving over teammate Linda Djougang at a tryline ruck.
Wales was in the contest to that point but faded, not even able to exploit having an extra player when Irish hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald was yellow-carded for kicking at Georgia Evans while she was holding her other leg.
“We thoroughly enjoyed that tonight and we spoke about winning all three home games and we are two for two,” Wafer told the BBC. “Not a bad night at the office both personally and as a team.”
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