Sevens stars return as England destroy France

The return of members of England's Sevens team to the Six Nations meant a return to the England performances of old today as England demolished France 54-7 - eight tries to one - leaving them in pole position with one round of the championship to go.

Position	Nation	Games				Points		Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against
1	England	4	3	0	1	165	49	6
2	Ireland	4	3	0	1	78	51	6
3	Wales	4	3	0	1	81	59	6
4	France	4	2	0	2	64	76	4
5	Scotland	4	1	0	3	35	89	2
6	Italy	4	0	0	4	47	146	0

Emily Scarratt scored a hat-trick, but the other five tries all went to returning sevens squad members - Maggie Alphonsi, Charlotte Barras, Amy Turner, and Katherine Merchant (who scored two). Six were converted - two by Scarratt, and the other four by Katy McLean. The result virtually guarantees England the title, as they need only beat Scotland next Saturday - any result other than a resounding victory would be a shock of such absurd proportions that it is almost inconceivable.

The big game is therefore likely to be in Wales where the home side will take on Ireland in the battle for second place and - in the case of Wales - the Triple Crown, something that has only ever been won once by anyone other than England (Scotland in 1998). Wales today showed that they were back on form, shutting out Italy for 79 minutes as they romped to a 29-7 away win.

Meanwhile France face the real prospect of having to settle for fourth place - their worst ever result - unless they can beat Italy by a substantial margin (possibly 30 points) in Turin next Sunday.