There was no chance of a third successive grand slam in this tournament with its new format but in the glorious Twickenham sunshine England clung on to their Six Nations title. They were mightily lucky, though, with Poppy Cleall scoring the only try of a tense, error-strewn final and the Red Roses have not played this badly for a while. In some ways the match mirrored last autumn’s match against Les Bleues when only a last-minute penalty by Emily Scarratt gave the Red Roses victory. England knew they were going to be in for a close contest but perhaps not as close as this. The French forwards were formidable and their defence unyielding. Zoe Aldcroft was outstanding in England’s reconstructed back row but too many of her teammates had off days. France trudged from the field looking like they had been mugged. England, who also had a little bit of fortune with some of the decisions by the referee Hollie Davidson, had racked up 119 points in their two games to reach the final but if there were any doubts that this would be a real contest they were dispelled when the English scrum was shunted backwards early on. France’s pack was not taking a backward step, with the lock Madoussou Fall to the fore, and the home defence was under severe pressure. Even the captain Scarratt was uncharacteristically out of sorts, missing two penalties that would have eased that pressure. Worryingly, England’s captain then left the field. Emilie Boulard thought she had broken the deadlock when the full-back cruised over for a try but there had been a forward pass in the move. On the half hour Caroline Drouin missed a kickable penalty that followed. The deadlock remained unbroken. Scarratt returned to the action and England at last began to force the pace. On the stroke of the interval Cleall took a quick tapped penalty after France had been penalised at a scrum. The No 8 was halted just short of the line but managed to offload the ball to Zoe Harrison who twisted through a tackle and Cleall was on hand to crash over by the posts. This time Scarratt could hardly fail to convert. After the break the French pack again sent England into reverse gear at a scrum but Drouin struck the post with the resulting penalty. The fly-half had another easier opportunity moments later which she converted. France began to empty their strong bench with Pauline Bourdon adding her nous at scrum-half. England’s most eye-catching substitution saw Sarah Hunter make her 125th appearance as a replacement lock. Hunter had surprisingly been left out of the starting lineup and never was her experience more needed. Cleall left the field in pain, holding her left elbow and her teammates looked far from comfortable. Drouin reduced the deficit to a point with a 30-metre penalty seven minutes from time. Scarratt cancelled that out with a penalty in the dying seconds. Moments later Helena Rowland joyfully booted the ball into touch. Never were England more relieved to hear a final whistle. Simon Middleton, England’s head coach, admitted the game could have slipped from their grasp in a frantic second half. “The game was in the balance and it was only just at the end that we got an edge. But I know this side has character and we proved that we are tough to beat. “We stayed in the fight and went toe-to-toe with a very physical side. It may not have been a feast of running ruby but in some ways the game demonstrated what rugby is all about. It’s a game of defence as well as attack. We have a great recent record against France but we had to work incredibly hard and if we had dropped three per cent off our performance we would have lost.” The terrestrial live TV audience watching would have been as dissatisfied as France’s players. The two teams are due to meet again in Lille next weekend. If France are as tough a nut to crack as this, England’s three-year unbeaten record against northern hemisphere teams will be seriously under threat.