Rugby: Rugby-Familiar foes France and England battle for Six Nations title

(Reuters) – There is a sense of deja vu as France and England meet in the Women’s Six Nations title decider in Bordeaux on Saturday, with the pair having dominated the competition for the last decade.

England go into the winner-takes-all fixture with a one-point lead over their hosts and as favourites to lift the trophy for a sixth consecutive year.

They are on a record run of 28 Six Nations victories in a row, last losing to France in 2018.

The pair have finished outside the top two twice each since 2010, with England lifting the trophy nine times over that period and France on three occasions.

Only Ireland, in 2013 and 2015, having managed to break their stranglehold and again this year there has been no credible challenger to the Anglo-French dominance.

Ireland were thrashed 88-10 by England in their previous outing, an illustration of the gulf in quality, and coach Scott Bemand says worthy rivals for the top two remain some way off.

“Do I think it’s a viable competition? Yes, I do,” Bemand told reporters. “People and the media want quick fixes for things, but there’s investment going in, there’s focus being put on it. How quickly that gap is bridged remains to be seen.”

Wales coach Ioan Cunningham agrees, though his side have lost all four of their matches so far.

“We’re probably not comparing apples with apples with different countries at the moment,” he said. “A big shift needs to happen for us to have quality players playing regularly.”

England coach John Mitchell has named hooker Amy Cokayne as an injury replacement for Lark Atkin-Davies and Morwenna Talling keeps her place at lock after Rosie Galligan was a late withdrawal from the thumping win over Ireland.

France have brought back flanker Gaelle Hermet and lock Madoussou Fall as two of four changes to their side.

France produced a scintillating 33-point second half comeback in the championship decider at Twickenham last year before England triumphed 38-33, and Mitchell expects another thriller.

“We’ve been expecting an arm-wrestle for some time,” he said. “We’ve been wanting that, we’ve been asking for it and we are certainly going to get it.

“We’ve got better as the tournament has progressed. We have the ability to dial it up again.”

(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Peter Rutherford)