Tom Henigan
France are champions of the Six Nations for the first time since 2022 after they defeated Scotland 35-16 in Paris. Earlier in the day, Ireland beat Italy in Rome with a bonus point to keep their slim title hopes alive. England ended those hopes with a bonus point win of their own over Wales which meant Steve Borthwick’s men eventually finished second as they succumbed their opponents to a rock bottom finish for the second straight year.
Italy 17-22 Ireland
The final day of the 2025 Six Nations started in Rome. Italy had a strong start in a match where they were heavy underdogs against an Ireland team looking to bounce back from their tough loss to France. Monty Ioane opened the scoring as he ran onto a lovely ball kicked forward by Paolo Garbisi after twelve minutes as Tommaso Allan made it 7-0 with a conversion. After surviving some more pressure from the hosts, Ireland responded as Jack Crowley levelled the score at 7-7, converting after he assisted Hugo Keenan’s try.
It looked as if Italy would head into the break up on the scoreboard as Allan’s penalty gave them a 10-7 lead but, after a Michele Lamaro yellow card, Ireland took advantage of the extra man as Dan Sheehan bundled over the line just before half time. The visitors went left the field with a 12-7 lead in what was proving to be a tighter contest than many predicted.
Ireland continued to use their extra man advantage well as Sheehan got his second try of the day six minutes into the second half with Lamaro now just seconds away from returning to the field. But, as the game restarted with the visitors now leading 17-7, Ross Vintcent was shown a yellow card, which was changed to a 20-minute red card, for a head to head collision on a tackle from the kick-off. Italy were left with a mountain to climb and their task was made even taller as Sheehan scored his hat-trick in the 58th minute thanks to a lovely assist from Mack Hansen, who had got on the end of a great kick out wide from Jamison Gibson-Park to bat the ball back to Sheehan.
With 14 men, Italy had cut the deficit down to just five points
Sheehan’s third try of the day was Ireland’s fourth, giving them a bonus point and a 22-10 lead. The hosts fought back, though, as Ange Capuozzo’s kick beyond the Irish defence caused huge problems down the right wing, with Stephen Varney touching the ball down for a score after Hansen missed an opportunity to collect it. With 14 men, Italy had cut the deficit down to just five points after Allan’s conversion.
With 15 minutes to go, the hosts had a chance of causing an upset but couldn’t quite break down the Irish defence again. The visitors held on and avoided a shock defeat, securing a 22-17 win with a bonus point to take them top of the table temporarily. Ireland’s three-peat dreams would soon be ended with an England bonus point win over Wales but just two losses in three years in this competition, with two titles and a Grand Slam to show for it, is still an immense achievement for the men in green, even if they will be disappointed with how this year’s tournament ended for them. Of course, they have also been without their usual head coach, Andy Farrell, who will be coaching the British and Irish Lions in Australia later this year.
From the Italian perspective, this is a performance they can be proud of. They may be slightly disappointed with their overall performance in the tournament after suffering heavy defeats to England, Scotland and, of course, France, but, they did defeat Wales to avoid the wooden spoon for a second straight year.
Wales 14-68 England
The state of Welsh rugby continues to look worse and worse. They suffered their second largest defeat ever to their rivals in a game where they came away on the losing side for the 17th straight time.
To be fair to Wales fans, they created a great atmosphere at the Principality Stadium. However, that atmosphere was soon flattened as England captain Maro Itoje scored a try just two and a half minutes in.
It looked as if Wales had responded well when Blair Murray raced away for a try after he had legally knocked the ball forward with his head, but the score was ruled out after Tomos Williams was deemed to have impeded an English defender while in an offside position. From there, England dominated, scoring four more tries before half time as Murray seemed to be Wales’ only bright spot, being denied a sensational try after a desperate but impressive toe tap tackle from Luke Cowan-Dickie with the score at 14-0.
Wales did make it 14-7 thanks to a Ben Thomas try, converted by Gareth Anscombe, but that was their last bit of hope in the game. Tries from Tommy Freeman, Fin Smith, Chandler Cunningham-South and Will Stuart helped give England a 33-7 lead at the break as Fin Smith made four of his five conversions.
Five minutes into the second half, Murray continued to cause England problems as he pounced on an Alexander Mitchell drop to kick the ball forward and chase it all the way beyond the try line. But, despite Murray’s immense speed, Fraser Dingwall did enough to deny the Welshman a deserved try as England’s Marcus Smith eventually recovered the ball. Three minutes later, Wales had another big opportunity to score but a knock-on in the corner kept the score at 33-7.
Despite early pressure after the break for the hosts, England got the first points of the second half thanks to Elliot Daly’s head winning the ball back as Mitchell then kicked the ball forward, before it gracefully bounced up perfectly into his chest, allowing him to score close to the posts with ease. 20-year-old Henry Pollock then scored a debut try to increase the visitors’ lead. Joe Heyes got in on the action as his score was followed by a Marcus Smith conversion to make it 54-7.
Pollock scored his second debut try
Thomas got his and Wales’ second try of the day with three minutes to go as Jarrod Evans made the conversion to follow. But, despite the clock running down and England already being comfortable winners, they didn’t stop their onslaught. Just over a minute later, Pollock scored his second debut try. Cunnnigham-South also got his second try of the game not long after, with the clock past the 80 minute mark. Marcus Smith made his fourth conversion to end the game at 68-14.
The win with a bonus point took England top as they awaited France’s match against Scotland, hoping their age-old rivals could cause an upset to crown them champions. That wasn’t to be in the end but Steve Borthwick’s men can still take pride from their performance at this year’s Six Nations, finishing second in a year where most experts predicted France and Ireland to finish as the top two.
On the opposite side of the pitch, there is no doubt that this is the worst ever era for Welsh Rugby. Their 17th straight loss ties the record for the joint most consecutive losses for a tier-one nation in the era of professional rugby. This was also a record defeat for Wales in Cardiff, their heaviest ever Six Nations defeat, and the most points they have ever conceded against England. The list of dubious records goes on and on for Wales. They have finished last in the Six Nations for the second year in a row and there are no signs of improvement, despite flashes of positivity under interim coach Matt Sherratt in his first match, against Ireland. Without a win since the 2023 World Cup, big changes need to be made for Wales after one of the worst defeats in their history.
France 35-16 Scotland
France held off Scotland to win the Six Nations for the seventh time, tying England for the most titles. By far the best team in the competition, it is a surprise that they didn’t win the Grand Slam this year, but that will be the last thing on the minds of Les Bleus after what was eventually a comfortable win over Scotland.
The first half was not easy for the hosts. Yoram Moefana got the first try of the day, scoring between the posts with Scotland on 14 men after a James Ritchie yellow card. A Thomas Ramos conversion made it 10-0 after he had scored a penalty early on. With the crowd in Paris playing a huge factor, it looked as if Scotland were out of the game already, down two scores with one less man for another four minutes. But the man advantage soon favoured Scotland after Peato Mauvaka was shown a yellow card.
Following an exchange of penalties between Finn Russell and Ramos, Darcy Graham burst through the French defence, keeping his balance to score right by the posts. Russell’s conversion cut the deficit to 3 points.
Not long after Mauvaka returned to the pitch, Jean-Baptiste Gros was shown a yellow card as France were suffering discipline issues in a game they knew they would win if they made no errors. A Russell penalty made it 13-13 but Ramos did put his team back in the lead with another penalty just before half time. If the nerves weren’t bad enough for the French fans, they were made even worse when Tom Jordan had seemingly given Scotland the lead to end the first half. Fortunately for the hosts, the score was overturned, and France went into the break with a 16-13 lead after a first half much closer than most of the people in the Stade de France would have liked.
Bielle-Biarrey has taken this competition by storm
France were still down a man for the first few minutes of the second half and Scotland provided some early pressure. But a failed Russell pass to Graham, who was making an inside run, allowed Romain Ntamack to scoop up the ball and take it almost the full length of the pitch. It looked as if Graham was going to catch France’s number 10 so he passed the ball to Louis Bielle-Biarrey, a man seemingly impossible to keep up with. The 21-year-old raced over the line to score his eighth try of the tournament, a Six Nations record, as Paris erupted. Bielle-Biarrey has taken this competition by storm and scored the try that put France in touching distance of the trophy as they awaited Gros’ return to the pitch.
With over 30 minutes to go, and the score at 23-13 after Ramos’ conversion, it would be unfair on Scotland to say the game was out of reach, but coming back against this France team would have been a monumental achievement. A Russell penalty to cut the score down to 23-16 was a start but a Ramos try six minutes later gave the hosts a two try lead as France’s number 15 converted his score to make it 30-16 with just over 20 minutes to go.
Moefana secured the victory and a bonus point with his second try of the day, scoring in the corner in the 62nd minute to send his nation into a night of celebration. Moefana was named player of the match and the points from his second try were the last scored on the night as France held on, winning 35-16 after a dominant second half performance.
Scotland finished fourth this tournament and are at danger of wasting a golden generation, if they haven’t already. They have only finished higher than fourth just once in the last seven editions of the Six Nations. Gregor Townsend’s men have work to do if they want to compete amongst the elite but it is hard to fault them for their effort in this game against a sensational France side.
The hosts defeated Scotland without the best player in the world, Antoine Dupont, who suffered a cruciate knee injury against Ireland. Dupont’s absence from this game was tragic for him, his team, and the fans, but like against Ireland, it showed how good his teammates are as a collective, and how well coached they are by Fabian Galthié. That is not to take away from the other sensational talents in this side such as Ramos, who broke France’s all-time points record in this game. Bielle-Biarrey has been the standout player in this competition but other players such as Francois Cros and Gregory Alldritt, to name a few, have also been immense for the Six Nations champions.
They may not have won the Grand Slam but this France team were by far and away the best side in the Six Nations this year. They are deserved champions and will be the early favourites to retain their title in 2026.
Tom Henigan
Featured image courtesy of Jiachen Lin via Unsplash. Image use license found here (Unsplash). No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @englandrugby via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of @sixnationsrugby via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
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