England may have stormed to a fourth consecutive RBS Women’s Six Nations title with a 72-3 defeat of Scotland on Saturday, but Wales also had cause to celebrate after claiming their first ever Triple Crown the same day.
Three sides had gone into the final weekend dreaming of the title, although England’s far superior point differential meant that a win for them over Scotland and regardless of what Wales or Ireland did they would become the first to win four titles in a row.
England’s intention to secure that victory was evident from the start with wing Katherine Merchant opening the scoring in the fourth minute and going on to wrap her hat-trick of tries by the 15th minute at London Welsh RFC.
Full back Charlotte Barras and wing Fiona Pocock also crossed in the first half as England held a 29-0 advantage at the break with Scotland missing their only attempt at goal.
There was no let up in the second half with Barras (2), Merchant, captain Catherine Spencer, replacements Sarah Beale (2) and Sarah Hunter touching down to take England’s tally to 12 tries.
'Our best Six Nations'
Scotland’s only points came from a Sarah Gill penalty when they had a player advantage after Beale was sin-binned, although Barras and Merchant had also crossed for England in this period.
“This was a tremendous way to end the Championship,” admitted head coach Gary Street. “We are delighted with today’s performance and also winning the Six Nations again.
“This is four titles in a row now and that’s a marvellous achievement, but I’m already focusing on the year ahead which includes the Rugby World Cup in 2010. To be honest, I can’t wait for our next game now.
“This Championship has really been built on team effort and morale. We have a really close knit management and coaching team, and that rubs off on our playing squad. (Assistant coach) Graham Smith has been a real force in our togetherness and teamwork and certainly a crucial element to our latest success.”
There was to be no fourth successive Grand Slam for England, who will host next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, as Wales created another piece of history with a first ever win over the defending champions with a last gasp 16-15 win in round two.
“Our defeat against Wales was real motivation for us to pick ourselves up and prove what we can do. Even though we haven’t won the Grand Slam this has been our best Six Nations Championship in my opinion.”
No flash in the pan
Wales had seen their own hopes of the clean sweep ended in round three with a 27-5 defeat in France, but knew that victory over Ireland would secure the Triple Crown for the first time since the national team was formed 22 years ago.
They enjoyed the perfect start with prop Jenny Davies powering over inside two minutes and a second try by Non Evans – Wales’ match winner against England – gave the hosts a 10-0 lead after as many minutes.
Ireland began to find their feet and duly cut the deficit with a penalty from Niamh Briggs in a half which saw both sides create good scoring opportunities only to stopped just short of the line to leave the score 10-3 at half time.
The Irish did finally find a way through the Welsh defence in the 48th minute thanks a solo effort from centre Shannon Houston which saw her shake off two tackles to cross under the posts and give Briggs an easy conversion to level the scores.
The loss of hooker Yvonne Nolan to the sin bin for killing the ball, though, ultimately proved costly with Evans slotting the penalty to edge Wales ahead and the home side held on thanks to some resilient defence at Taffs Well.
“To be honest the way we’ve progress, we’re actually winning games now which is nice,” Wales full back Naomi Thomas told Total Rugby.
“We went from a side who lost nearly every game to a side now that’s being recognised, people are realising that we are not just a flash in the pan, that we are here to stay really.”
Wales finished second in the standings with eight points, two more than Ireland who also record their best finish in a Championship with both nations having already secured qualification for next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup.
The final match in the Championship took place in Turin on Sunday afternoon with Italy looking to end on a high with their first win in 2009 against France.
Italy enjoyed the perfect start with Maria Diletta Veronese, a member of their squad at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 in Dubai earlier this month, scoring the opening try in the 14th minute.
France though levelled the score at 7-7 just before the half hour mark through Amandine Vaupre, but Veronica Schiavon’s penalty gave the hosts a slender 10-7 lead at half time.
The score remained that way until six minutes from time when France denied the Italians the win they craved following Hayate Chrouki’s try, converted by Aurélie Bailon.
France finish fourth in the 2009 RBS Women’s Six Nations Championship on the back of the victory above Scotland and Italy.
