Scots fightback stuns France and sees England crowned
SCOTLAND battled back from 13-3 down to grab a draw with France at Scotstoun yesterday — and help crown England as Six Nations champions. France needed a win in Glasgow to take the title race to a final round but saw a ten-point lead reeled in after wing Rachel Shankland crossed in the 73rd minute. Helen Nelson’s conversion meant the match finished in a stalemate as Scotland avoided defeat for the first time in three rounds of a competition interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. England are now six points clear at the summit of the table and can not be caught with their final match against Italy to come on November 1. The positive result for Bryan Easson’s Scots, ahead of further games in this event and World Cup qualifiers, was built on a solid defence, while No 8 Jade Konkel was named player of the match. France had made all of their substitutions by the 58th minute and, despite leading 13-3, it came back to haunt them when they suffered an injury and had to see out the match with 14 players. Scotland sensed an opportunity and closed the gap to seven points in the 64th minute through a penalty by stand-off Nelson before she missed another soon after. However, Scotland then pulled level with a brilliant try out wide by winger Shankland on her debut and converted expertly by Nelson to tie the scores. ‘I am extremely proud of them,’ said Easson. ‘We have worked a lot over the last couple of weeks about relentlessness and I think the hard work paid off. ‘At 8-3 down at half-time we weren’t panicking. We forced the issue a bit in the first half but we showed more patience in the second half and got our rewards. ‘We now take a lot of positives into the Wales game on Sunday.’