France are the 2022 Guinness Six Nations champions after they earned their first Grand Slam in 12 years by beating England in Paris on Saturday night.
France looked on track for their first Grand Slam since 2010 heading into the final weekend of the Championship. However, Ireland did all they could to spoil the French party with a bonus point win over Scotland to secure the Triple Crown earlier on Saturday.
That bonus point win in Dublin meant that, before the final match kicked off, Ireland went to the top of the Six Nations table, with a three-point buffer on France.
This meant that that anything less than a win over Eddie Jones' men would mean that Ireland would win the Championship.
France got their attempt at the Grand Slam off to a strong start, with an early penalty to Melvyn Jaminet being follwoed up by an unconverted try from Gael Fickou.
The perfect start for France! 🏆#GuinnessSixNations | #FRAvENG pic.twitter.com/Mq81nAOIYC
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 19, 2022
England's Marcus Smith put the visitors on the board with a penalty of his own, however that was quickly crossed off by another penalty for Jaminet.
France made a number of uncharacteristic mistakes, making a number of handling errors in particular. However, they were firmly in control at half time, leading 18-6 after Francois Cros crossed over from some silky handling by the French.
The second half was a completely different beast, however, as England came out firing. Freddie Steward scored their first try of the match, as France continued to crack under the pressure.
England are right back in this one! 🏴#GuinnessSixNations | #FRAvENG pic.twitter.com/8GIQP8kk7O
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 19, 2022
While England looked to get back into the game, it took the world player of the year Antoine Dupont half a gap to put them firmly back out of it.
Dupont broke through the gap inside the English half to extend the lead back out to 12 points with just under 20 minutes to play.
With less than five minutes left to play, it seemed that all was lost for England, as they tried almost everything they could to unlock the French defence. However, their execution let them down, as they were unable to break free.
In the end, it was a final scrum that gave possession to the hosts, who booted it out to secure their first Grand Slam in 12 years.
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