The Grand Slam gives England a record fifth consecutive title, but they were made to work hard by a French outfit roared on by a partisan crowd and looking to prove their own credentials as Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 draws closer.
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England had scored 145 points and conceded just five in their previous four matches in the Championship, but France were bidding for a fourth straight win after a shock 10-8 loss to Scotland in the opening round ended their Slam hopes.
France took the lead in the 13th minute when Bailon landed her second penalty attempt, but England hit back following a 15-metre drive by the forwards with scrum half Amy Turner darting over the try-line.
The home side's hopes were not helped when Claire Canal was red-carded in the first half, which England ended with a slender 5-3 advantage. Katy McLean increased England's advantage with a penalty as the wet conditions began to take their toll on both sides.
England's handling errors proved most costly, a dropped ball near their opponent's line resulting in France running the length of the field to score, Celine Allainmat on hand to touch down after the visitors pulled off a crucial tackle just shy of the line.
Bailon's conversion edged France into a 10-8 lead with a little over 20 minutes to play, prompting England coach Gary Street to send on his experienced replacements in search of the score to give them the Grand Slam they craved.
Tense finale
They got it through a second McLean penalty, but England were left crossing their fingers that Bailon would not send the home crowd mad with a match-winning penalty, her effort falling short to enable the visitors to put the ball out of play so their own celebrations could begin.
"Even though this was a tight game, the victory was never in doubt in my mind," said England coach Gary Street. "We knew France would throw everything they had at us and they must us work hard for this win, but we showed great character and mental strength to turn this around.
"This is great World Cup preparation for us. We need tough games and France gave us exactly that. Now it's back to work as we look ahead to the World Cup which we just can't wait for."
France still finished as runners-up despite the defeat, by virtue of having a better point differential than Ireland, who continued their string of impressive performances in this year's Championship with a 15-3 defeat of Scotland at Ashbourne RFC on Friday night.
The heavens opened a couple of hours before kick-off and the rain continued to fall heavily throughout much of the match as Ireland sought to remain unbeaten at home in the 2010 Championship, having already seen off the challenges of Italy and Wales.
Scotland debutant Nicola Halfpenny and lively Ireland full back Niamh Briggs traded penalties as the Celtic rivals went in all square at 3-3 after a somewhat frustrating first half for both sides and the vocal supporters who had braved the bad weather.
The Irish women came out firing after the break and started to pile the pressure on their visitors, getting their reward when Scotland failed to clear a penalty attempt by Briggs and a neat maul and quick pass allowed Nora Stapleton to score the game's opening try.
Strength in depth
With Briggs, number 8 Joy Neville and centre Joanne O'Sullivan making telling breaks, Ireland crossed the whitewash again through flanker Sinead Ryan with a great conversion from their full back ensuring the victory for the home side and a confidence boost going into the World Cup.
"What we were hoping for was to build the squad and we have got the three wins, we are third in the Championship and we are clearly delighted with that because it equals our best ever result," admitted Ireland coach Kevin West after his first Six Nations in charge.
"But we also used 25 girls throughout the Championship and that really was key to us, to start building a squad which we can go into the World Cup with. It has been great for me, personally I have learnt so much and it has given us a whole raft of things to work on in the summer.
"I haven't named the same team once so that is a major change in policy. The development of the depth is significant for us and also we are developing, we can play in more variety now than perhaps we could at the beginning of the Championship."
His Scottish counterpart Gary Parker was equally upbeat after his first Six Nations, adding: "We've certainly made strides over this Championship - we're more physical at the breakdown, we're starting to see things we've done in training actually working in the match and we're now in a position to move on. I though tonight was a great step forward."
The final Six Nations match of 2010 produced a shock with Italy beating Wales 19-15 at the Brewery Field in Bridgend to condemn their hosts to the wooden spoon, a stark contrast to last season when they finished second after beating England for the first time in their history.
Wales were in complete control in the first half with Naomi Thomas racing 50 metres to score and the experienced Non Evans dancing over from close range to put the hosts 12-0 up at the break, a margin which could have been larger given the possession they enjoyed.
Self destruct button
However, after the break it was a different story with second row Flavia Severin forcing her way over in the corner within minutes of the restart as the Welsh handing error count began to increase and put them under pressure.
Severin powered over from close range for her second try in the 56th minute with Michaela Tondinelli's conversion levelling the score. Two minutes later Italy edged ahead when full back Mared Evans let a kick bounce and wing Maria Diletta Veronese collected the ball to race over from 30 metres out.
Italy kept Wales pegged back in their half with raking kicks from Tondinelli and, although Awen Thomas kicked a penalty to cut the deficit to four points, the hosts were unable to avoid defeat, leaving captain Mellissa Berry and coach Jason Lewis frustrated at another "self destruct" second half.
"Going in 12 points up and looking quite comfortable, we only have ourselves to blame," admitted Berry. "Once again we have pushed the self destruct button. Just like against France and Ireland, we went in comfortable at half time but for some reason error after error has cost us. We've now got three months to resurrect things before the World Cup.
Lewis added: "In the first half it was all us. We had all the territory, all the possession and should have been 20 points to the good to be honest. But in the second half we've pressed the self destruct button for the third time in a row, we gave them the game, they didn't win it. We went from a scrum in their 22 to a try under our own posts. We seem to be hell bent on giving the game away.
"We need to take a long hard look at ourselves. The bottom line is a few players put their hands up today but a few didn't. We've got to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down before the World Cup. We played some good rugby today, but we have just got to cut out the errors and learn not to implode.
Look out for Non Evans' latest column for rwcwomens.com on Thursday when she gives a frank assessment of Wales' Championship, including what went wrong and how they can bounce back in time for the World Cup.
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