{"id":616,"date":"2026-05-17T20:06:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616"},"modified":"2026-05-17T20:06:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:06:38","slug":"england-thumps-france-to-seal-an-eighth-straight-womens-six-nations-title-and-grand-slam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616","title":{"rendered":"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women’s Six Nations title and Grand Slam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
England\u2019s captain Megan Jones holds the trophy aloft after her team won the Six Nations rugby union match between France and England in Bordeaux, Sunday, May 17, 2026. (AP Photo\/Yohan Bonnet)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

England won a record eighth consecutive Women\u2019s Six Nations title and fifth successive Grand Slam after beating host France 43-28 on Sunday.<\/p>

Read more Felix Rosenqvist posts fastest 4-lap average in 1st round of Indianapolis 500 qualifying<\/a><\/p>\n

Unbeaten France with home advantage in Bordeaux and backing from its largest ever home crowd was expected to seriously threaten England\u2019s relentless domination of the championship. But it struggled in the set-pieces.<\/p>\n

England, with only six survivors from its Rugby World Cup champion team last September, ultimately cruised to the six-try victory enhanced by Zoe Harrison\u2019s unerring right boot. Harrison landed six of seven goalkicks and 29 of 31 in the tournament.<\/p>\n

The English extended their world record winning streak to 38 matches \u2014 and 68 from 69 games since 2019 \u2014 which won\u2019t be challenged again until September when they host No. 2-ranked New Zealand and No. 3 Canada in the WXV.<\/p>\n

England was at its most vulnerable in years with more than a dozen regulars out injured or pregnant. But players new or not capped in three years melded superbly with world-class performers such as first-time captain Megan Jones, Ellie Kildunne, Amy Cokayne and Sadia Kabeya.<\/p>\n

Coach John Mitchell, who took over the Red Roses in autumn 2023 and has yet to oversee a loss, believed the number of missing players made winning their 22nd Six Nations from 31 championships harder than winning the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great to win a World Cup at home but what we\u2019ve navigated through this tournament, the youth coming through, the mates at home becoming mums or going through rehab … these girls are so brave,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re unbelievably driven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kildunne was named player of the match after scoring two tries along with Jess Breach. Cokayne touched down in all five tests and Kabeya notched 27 tackles and had seemingly as many carries.<\/p>\n

A patient England weathered a ferocious French start to lead the winner-takes-all finale 26-7 by halftime. While England is a fast starter, France is renowned as a fast finisher and fought back to trail only 29-21 with a quarter to go.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s as close as France got in front of a record home crowd of 35,062. Eventually, chief playmaker Pauline Bourdon Sansus, the only survivor of France\u2019s last win over England in 2018 \u2014 also England\u2019s last defeat in the championship \u2014 came off but her scrumhalf replacement, Alexandra Chambon, was sin-binned.<\/p>\n

England, after conceding nine tries in its previous two matches, restricted the best defensive team to four tries, two by Bourdon Sansus, and Jones was proud.<\/p>

Read more Neymar angry at being accidentally substituted in last match before Brazil announces World Cup squad<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve adapted so well,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe faced so much adversity This group is so resilient, I\u2019m so proud of them. We asked for a good defensive set because everyone was doubting our defense and we fronted up and we showed what England\u2019s about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final standings repeated 2025. France was runner-up for a seventh straight year. Ireland was third after thrashing Scotland 54-5 in Dublin, and Italy was fourth after condemning Wales to an unprecedented third straight wooden spoon.<\/p>\n

Riding the wave of a sensational Women\u2019s World Cup, Six Nations total attendance was 279,760, easily surpassing the previous record of 188,128 in 2024. New attendance records were set in England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland, boosted by record TV viewership and online engagement.<\/p>\n

Ireland celebrated a crowd of 31,294, more than three times its previous home record, in its first standalone test at Aviva Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Irish finished a dream first half at 47-0. With 92% territory and nearly 80% possession they scored seven tries, two by player of the match Aoife Wafer. Ireland added only one more try but didn\u2019t allow Scotland into its 22 until the 77th minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first half was the best version of us,\u201d coach Scott Bemand said.<\/p>\n

Wales spent the week focused on fixing its third quarter slump. It didn\u2019t sink in at Cardiff Arms Park.<\/p>\n

Italy, down 19-17 at halftime, used breakdown turnovers and its powerful forwards to give tries to Francesca Sgorbini and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi and control finally at 29-19.<\/p>\n

Despite losing winger Francesca Granzotto to the sin-bin for a tip tackle, Italy secured victory when the pack walked a maul 15 meters and laid on a try for player-of-the-match flyhalf Veronica Madia with 11 minutes left.<\/p>\n

The win was a fitting retirement gift for lock Valeria Fedrighi, playing her 10th Six Nations. Fedrighi is the only Italian beside Martin Castrogiovanni to win league titles in England and France.<\/p>\n

Italy finished with seven tries to four by Wales, which suffered a 10th straight loss in the championship.<\/p>

Read more Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney involved in early crash at NASCAR All-Star Race<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP rugby: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/rugby<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

England has won a record eighth consecutive Women\u2019s Six Nations title and fifth successive Grand Slam after beating host France 43-28 in Bordeaux<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nEngland thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women's Six Nations title and Grand Slam - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women's Six Nations title and Grand Slam - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"England has won a record eighth consecutive Women\u2019s Six Nations title and fifth successive Grand Slam after beating host France 43-28 in Bordeaux\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-17T20:06:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women’s Six Nations title and Grand Slam\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-17T20:06:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616\"},\"wordCount\":841,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616\",\"name\":\"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women's Six Nations title and Grand Slam - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-17T20:06:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=616#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women’s Six Nations title and Grand Slam\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women's Six Nations title and Grand Slam - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women's Six Nations title and Grand Slam - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"England has won a record eighth consecutive Women\u2019s Six Nations title and fifth successive Grand Slam after beating host France 43-28 in Bordeaux","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-05-17T20:06:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women’s Six Nations title and Grand Slam","datePublished":"2026-05-17T20:06:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616"},"wordCount":841,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616","name":"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women's Six Nations title and Grand Slam - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-17T20:06:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=616#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"England thumps France to seal an eighth straight Women’s Six Nations title and Grand Slam"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}