England battle previous France to safe sixth straight Women’s Six Nations | EUROtoday

England hooker Amy Cokayne says the Red Roses are relishing the prospect to pit their improved scrum towards France’s monster pack of their Grand Slam finale.

France’s scrum has been a cornerstone of their unbeaten Women’s Six Nations marketing campaign. Operating at a 100 per cent success charge, the hosts will look to unleash their most devastating weapon of their bid to finish England’s dominance within the competitors.

The Red Roses, who’re looking a sixth consecutive Six Nations crown, have spent weeks high-quality tuning their scrummaging method with Nathan Catt, the Rugby Football Union’s scrum pathways coach, in preparation for his or her winner-takes-all encounter in Bordeaux.

Catt has been a preferred addition to the ladies’s backroom employees, with Cokayne revealing he has helped to implement a extra technically minded strategy among the many front-three.

“He’s come in and has been really good,” stated Cokayne. “He’s told us not to dumb scrums down. Previously, we’ve kind of said, ‘Get lower and push harder.’  It’s been enjoyable to see the growth of our scrum throughout the tournament too. There’s some really good scrummage sides in the competition and France are definitely one of them.”

“He’s also added stuff into our gym programmes. We have loads more reps now as front rowers. He films everything so we can watch it back, giving us really clear objectives and technical points to improve on. He’s looked at a lot of our old footage and shown us pictures where we can improve.”

More than 27,000 tickets have been offered for the event decider on the Stade Chaban-Delmas, which might mark a document attendance for a standalone girls’s Test in France.

“I haven’t won many times away to France in my career,” stated Cokayne. “I love the hostility of it, walking into the stadium with people saying whatever they want to you. We’ve had some crazy physical games against them and it’s what we love.”

Les Bleues haven’t overwhelmed England in 12 makes an attempt however Manae Feleu, the France captain, stated the crew have been underneath no illusions concerning the measurement of the problem forward towards a aspect who’ve shipped 38 tries on this event whereas conceding simply two.

“They are a really good team,” stated Feleu. “They are first in the world, so it’s not really a surprise that they’ve scored 38 tries. We respect that and we know that England are the top one in the world. It’s just a great challenge for us to play a team like that.”