A late try from Scotland debutant Rachel Shankland held France to a dramatic 13-13 draw at Scotstoun, ending Les Bleues’ bid for a second Women’s Six Nations title in three years and handing the trophy to England.
The 2018 Grand Slam champions took an early lead through a Safi N’Diaye try, while Helen Nelson and Jessy Tremouliere traded penalties to leave the score 8-3 in the visitors’ favour at half-time.
Agathe Sochat powered over in the opening stages of the second period, but an injury to Lenaig Corson left France a player down for over 20 minutes, and Scotland responded through the boot of Nelson and Shankland’s late score.
The first draw in 19 Championship meetings between the sides means Annick Hayraud’s France can no longer catch the Red Rose at the top of the standings, while Scotland avoid defeat for the first time in the 2020 series.
It was a rusty start for the hosts as Lisa Thomson’s kick went dead to hand France an early advantage, and while the ball traded hands a number of times in the opening exchanges, Scotland were forced to do much of the defending.
And the visitors were indeed first to strike, their forceful pack driving towards the try-line from a lineout maul and veteran lock N’Diaye touching down to make it 5-0 after five-and-a-half minutes.
Scotland responded immediately and found themselves deep inside French territory, but the danger was quelled as they conceded their third penalty within the game’s first ten minutes.
Nelson made sure the hosts were rewarded for their positive attacking phase play by getting them on the board with a penalty in the 12th minute after a French defender was penalised for not rolling away.
An uncharacteristic knock-on from Marine Menager demonstrated there was still some rustiness within the France team, but Leah Bartlett was penalised at a scrum, allowing Tremouliere to restore her team’s five-point advantage on 22 minutes.
That penalty seemed to burst Scotland into life, but despite having just under two-thirds of the ball in the opening 27 minutes, they struggled to create any real clear-cut chances with only 29 per cent of the game being played in French territory.
Bryan Easson’s side continued pushing though and enjoyed their most encouraging period of attacking play shortly after half-an-hour, only for a forward pass from Hannah Smith in the corner to allow France to clear.
France ended the half on the front foot, but N’Diaye spilt the ball – France’s seventh handling error of the opening 40 minutes – to put an end to their final attack and leave it 8-3 at the break.
The away side continued where they left off following the restart, and a breakdown penalty allowed them another shot at a second try of the afternoon after Cyrielle Banet had knocked on in the corner.
And Les Bleues duly converted their seventh lineout try of the Championship, Sochat bulldozing over in the 45th minute to give them a 10-point lead, and hand Scotland an uphill task of getting anything from the game.
France were reduced to 14 players for the remaining 23 minutes as replacement Corson went off injured after they had used all of their substitutes, and Nelson set up a tense finish by kicking a penalty to make it 13-6 in the 64th minute.
Scotland remained on top and Shankland punished their depleted opponents with a debut try in the corner, with Nelson converting to level the tie with just over five minutes left, and earn her side a share of the spoils.
