England Women crowned Six Nations Grand Slam champs

England Women 39 : Ireland Women 10

18th March 2006
England Women were crowned Six Nations Grand Slam champions on Saturday after a resounding 39-10 victory over Ireland at Old Albanians RFC (St. Albans).

The title has eluded Geoff Richards' side since 2003 with France taking the glory but after England's 28-0 demolition of France a week ago in Paris the Red Roses were in the driving seat and true to form, after an impressive Six Nations campaign, the women delivered in magnificent style running in seven tries.

England now head into this summer's World Cup in Canada with a Grand Slam title under their belts and ranked second favourites, only secondary to reigning champs the Black Ferns.

Head coach Richards said: "Winning today and winning the title is massive. I am delighted because we have achieved our goal of winning the Six Nations Grand Slam. We have worked hard, we have improved and we have gathered momentum as we have gone through the tournament. We had a huge game against France last week and in some ways I thought it could be difficult to replicate but the girls did a magnificent job in difficult conditions today."

"It has taken a while to win the Six Nations but with this being a World Cup year it was even more of an important goal for us. It will certainly give us confidence going to Canada because we are now in the best possible position as champions of Europe. With a lot of hard work to do between now and the World Cup we are in the right frame of minds to go out there and do the best possible job."

England's road to victory on Saturday started with a ninth minute try for Saracens full-back Vicky Massarella. The home side had dominated in Ireland's 22 since the first whistle and after trying to break through on both the left and the right wing Massarella finally jinxed her way through Ireland's defence with the help of a swift pass from Clifton's Kim Oliver.

Fly-half Karen Andrew missed the conversion in the blustery conditions but it didn't matter with the Saracens number 10 soon adding her own name to the score-board. This time it was Ireland's mistake that let England through with their full-back dropping a high ball right in front of their own posts. Andrew was on her tail and was quick to gather up for a soft England score. Andrew added the conversion to put England 12-0 up after 13 minutes.

Wasps prop Vanessa Huxford helped stretch England's lead further through a well-worked line-out catch and drive manoeuvre, before fellow front-rower Amy Garnett finished off some fantastic forward power work, which saw England drive a maul 20 metres up-field to crash over Ireland's try line. The Saracens' hooker score was converted handing England a comfortable 24-5 lead at half-time after wing Nuala Ni Chadhain clawed one back for the Irish.

Ireland added a second try after the restart with number eight Joy Neville going over but England soon slammed the doors firmly shut on them, turning the tables and running in three more tries.

First Saracens back-row Helen Clayton out-foxed Ireland's defence to go over and score from the right side of a ruck just metres out from their try-line. Fellow-flanker Georgia Stevens then showed a superb turn of speed to dart 30-yards up-field and score on the right wing also before Henley wing Danielle Waterman had the final say with another superb break in the midfield which saw her leave Ireland's defence for dust as she broke loose on the left wing. All three conversions were missed, but England were home and dry winning 39-10.