This loss means that the French women finish undefeated and winners of the 2004 Six Nations Championship, repeating the shock defeat of the English at home as they did in 2002.

England made a strong start in the first half with a try from Nicky Crawford in the twelfth minute. It took England only another nine minutes to score their second try from Nicki Jupp in the twenty-first minute, which was then converted by Shelley Rae to silence a French crowd who might of thought that it was going to be an English Grand Slam.

A fifty sixth minute try by England was disallowed by the Italian referee. This turned the tide and the French team clawed back the English lead with a try, conversion and last minute penalty. The English side were left with no time to get back into the game.

Head Coach Geoff Richards commented: “the whole team is bitterly disappointed. We played exceptionally well in the first half and dominated the French. Nicky Crawford and Nicki Jupp scored two brilliant tries and really put the French team on the back foot.”

Richards added, “the second half saw many poor English decisions and we did not play our game. The French team lifted their work rate and the crowd got behind them in the second half.”

Scoring Sequence

12 mins             Crawford      Try

21 mins            Jupp                Try

22 mins            Rae                 Conversion

35 mins            France            Penalty

Half Time            France 3             England 12

55 mins            France          Try

56 mins            France             Conversion

78 mins            France            Penalty

Full Time            France 13            England 12

Points Scorers

Crawford            5points

Jupp                5 points

Rae                 2 points

ENGLAND WOMEN’S RUGBY SQUAD 

15  Paula George (Wasps)

14  Nicky Crawford (Worcester)

13  Nicki Jupp (Richmond)

12  Assunta De Biase (Saracens)

11  Emily Cooke (Richmond)

10  Shelley Rae (Wasps) Vice Captain

9  Jo Yapp (Worcester)

1  Maxine Edwards (Saracens) Captain

2  Selena Rudge (Worcester)

3  Vanessa Huxford (Wasps)

4  Jenny Sutton (Richmond)

5  Claire Green (Wasps)

6  Georgia Stevens (Clifton)

7    Helen Clayton (Saracens)

8  Catherine Spencer (Folkestone)

REPLACEMENTS

16  Amy Garnett (Saracens)

17 Sharon Whitehead (Richmond)

18  Jenny Lyne (Saracens)

19  Helen Flippance ( Richmond)

20  Susie Appleby (Clifton)

21  Karen Andrew (Saracens)

22  Kim Shaylor (Worcester) 

Ends

Editors Notes

England Women's Six Nations Results

15 Feb - Spain 3 - England 71

21 Feb - Scotland 7 - England 20

6 March - England 51 - Ireland 10

20 March - England 53 - Wales 3