France remain on course to successfully defend their RBS Women's Six Nations title and claim a second successive Grand Slam after maintaining their perfect record with a 28-7 victory over Wales in front of a near capacity crowd at the Stade de Sapiac in Montauban on Friday.

The defending champions stretched their winning run against Wales to eight matches after Gaëlle Mignot’s (pictured) early try was backed up by two Julie Billes efforts and a penalty try, as well as eight points from the boot of Jessy Trémoulière.

"We are really happy with this result because we are a new group who is building one game at a time. There are still some errors to be corrected though," admitted Mignot.

Rachel Taylor’s Welsh side had travelled to France in confident mood after keeping their try-line intact in wins over Women’s Rugby World Cup champions England and Scotland.

But they found their defence breached by in-form France within five minutes of the first whistle when hooker and captain Mignot was driven over from a catch-and-drive move. Two Trémoulièrepenalties – either side of a missed effort from Laurie Harries – extended France’s lead to 11-0 at the break.

Trémoulière'ssecond penalty came after Sioned Harries had been sent to the sin-bin, and the openside flanker was joined on the sidelines shortly after the re-start by prop Caryl Thomas following a further infringement.

Now down to 13 players, Wales’ heroic defence finally cracked and they conceded two tries in as many minutes, a converted penalty try quickly being followed by a well-taken Billes score. France then worked an overlap down the left flank for Billes to score her second try of the match and her fifth of the championship with 10 minutes remaining.

Wales did find some joy after the clock had ticked into red with a penalty try of their own – their first points in France since 2009.

Ireland maintain pressure on France

World champions England were effectively frozen out of the Women’s Six Nations title race after losing 11-8 to Ireland on a bitterly cold night in Ashbourne.

Having lost their long unbeaten home record with defeat to France in round two, Ireland were determined to make amends against the side that ended their World Cup dream at the semi-final stage last August.

However, it was the visitors who got on the scoreboard first after captain Katy Mclean atoned for an earlier long-range miss by kicking the first points of the night. Niamh Briggs soon brought Ireland level with a penalty of her own. 

Neither side was able to convert periods of pressure into points until Harriet Millar-Mills dropped on the ball after a powerful maul had taken England over the Irish line. Mclean was unable to add the extras and England led 8-3 at half-time.

With the swirling wind now at their backs, Ireland picked up the pace in the second half, and eight minutes in scrum-half Larissa Muldoon’s decision to tap-and-go from a penalty was rewarded with five points.

Ireland’s defence held firm thereafter in the face of some sustained pressure from England and a famous victory, only their second in 21 matches against the Red Roses, was sealed when captain Briggs added a late penalty.

Reflecting on England’s second defeat in three matches in what is proving to be a difficult transitional period, interim head coach Nicky Ponsford said: “It was definitely a really hard-fought battle from both sides. We were really pleased with our defence but we weren’t quite good enough in the end.

“We were always expecting to have a number of younger players coming into the squad. I think this is a fantastic opportunity to bed them in and give them huge games like this under significant pressure and see how they come through.”

Earlier this week it was confirmed that Ponsford will hand over the head coach duties to current England women’s sevens coach Simon Middleton once the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series concludes in May. The 48-year-old will take charge of both the sevens and 15s teams up until at least 2017.

Italy boost WRWC 2017 hopes

In going down to a 31-8 defeat to Italy, Scotland scored their first try in this year’s championship and only their third in the past three seasons.

Of more significance to Italy though is the fact that the result boosts their chances of qualifying for WRWC 2017, having missed out on the last three tournaments, with the top two outside of automatic qualifiers England, France and Ireland booking their passage to the tournament.

Italy looked in control from the off and took the lead after just six minutes when Maria Magatti crashed over for the first of her two tries. Veronica Schiavon converted from wide out.

Manuela Furlan’s converted try on 14 minutes saw Italy double their lead, but the gap was reduced by three nine minutes later when centre Nuala Deans opened Scotland’s account with a penalty.

Magatti then stepped around her opposite number to grab her second try, but, on this occasion, Schiavon was unable to bisect the posts with the touchline kick and Italy had to settle for a 19-3 lead at half-time.

Italian indiscipline resulted in two players being sent to the sin-bin in quick succession, yet Scotland were still unable to find a way over the whitewash and it was the visitors who scored next as the game entered the final quarter, Schiavon converting her own individual effort on 61 minutes.

Then, on 74 minutes, number 8 Jade Konkel was driven over from close range to become the first Scottish try scorer in the Women’s Six Nations since Annabel Sargeant dotted down against Italy in February 2014.

Italy had the final word, though, when they scored straight from the restart through Maria Grazia Cioffi. 

The Women's Six Nations resumes in just under a fortnight with the three matches split over three days. England get proceedings underway when they entertain Scotland at the Northern Echo Arena in Darlington on 13 March. The following day Italy host France in Rome and the round four fixtures come to a conclusion on Sunday with Wales v Ireland at St Helen's in Swansea.

Photo: Isabelle Picarel/FFR