Drawing on their trusty forward power, their attacking maul jerked into life and Sarah Bern crashed over. The score visibly settled England and after flooding forward again from the restart, Abbie Ward drew more blood. "One of the things we wanted to find out today was how resilient this side is and whether it could stand up to the utmost pressure. I never thought we were going to lose the game once we got back to 7-7, because we'd answered the question," said a jubilant Simon Middleton, England's head coach, afterwards. "What the girls showed is that they're great champions and they know how to win a game, and today was about winning."
He was right. England never looked like relinquishing the lead, nor their fighting spirit a contest fraught with feistiness. On her 50th Test appearance, Alex Matthews had to be bandaged up to stop the blood gushing down her face after a clash of heads in the lineout. Marlie Packer gave France's captain Gaelle Hermet a slap as a French scrum melted under pressure. At the other end, while lying on the ground and being awkwardly teased out of a ruck by Audrey Forlani, Poppy Cleall produced a swipe at the French forward that Katie Taylor would have been proud of.
The crowd's disapproval only reinvigorated England's defensive white wall, which was lucky not to have been penalised after illegally chopping down France's maul as it fell agonisingly short of the line.
Further indiscipline crept into England's play and it took the omnipresent Zoe Aldcroft - the stealer of four first-half lineouts - to eventually stifle France's play as their 10-minute assault on England's tryline yielded nil-points.
"The big players definitely came to the party today and some of the younger, inexperienced ones showed where they're at but they'll be better and stronger for it," said Middleton. "We've got this group of senior players who are so proud to play for England and work so hard to keep their shirts, they set the standard out there today. They were the difference."
After the restart, England were rattled again after a nightmare few minutes for Zoe Harrison, who was uncharacteristically far from her best and seemingly never recovered from her early knock-on as she attempted to gather a high ball inside her 22 which led to Menager's opener.
Minutes into the second half, she tried to boot the ball out as it bobbled dangerously in England's 22. Instead, her leg simply struck Gabrielle Vernier, who gobbled the ball up on the floor. In the next passage of play, the Saracens fly-half strayed offside and slapped down a French pass. More jeers from the crowd as she was sent to the bin.
But in a sign that they were always second-best in this intriguing contest, France failed to capitalise with the extra woman. No sooner was Harrison back on the pitch did she spin a crash ball to Scarratt which France quickly snuffed out, as play between both sides became increasingly frantic. Sure enough, Maelle Filopon was guilty of a deliberate knock-on and cantered off for a break. Scarratt remained composed as she nudged over the penalty that all but confirmed the trophy.
Ironically, France had a greater sense of urgency when they were down to 14. Emilie Boulard blasted her way through the bombardment in the middle of the pitch and looked almost certain to breeze over before an onrushing Scarratt practically chopped the French fullback in two. England were powerless to stop France's momentum from the ensuing passage of play and Anaelle Deshaye thumped down her side's second, but by that point, France had already left themselves too much to do.
When England last lifted the World Cup in 2014, they finished second to France in the Six Nations. Now, they have the chance to do the dream double. Middleton remained tight-lipped about England's roadmap ahead of the World Cup, although confirmed the Rugby Football Union are finalising a series of warm-up fixtures. "We've got a real clear idea of about the next 10 hours, though," he said, beaming at Scarratt.
