Gary Street's England well ahead on road to Women's Rugby World Cup

England won the Women's Six Nations title, an 11-10 win over France in Rennes completing their fourth grand slam in five seasons. England, who before the match had conceded only one try in four matches, have now won the Six Nations title five times in a row. The England head coach, Gary Street, said: "Even though this was a tight game, the victory was never in doubt in my mind. We knew France would throw everything they had at us and they made us work very hard for this win. But we showed great character and mental strength to turn this around. "This is great World Cup preparation for us. We need tough games and France gave us exactly that. Now it's back to work as we look ahead to the World Cup which we just can't wait for." The Richmond scrum-half Amy Turner scored England's try and the Darlington Mowden Park fly-half Katy McLean kicked two penalties. Céline Allainmat scored France's try and Aurélie Bailon kicked two penalties. The France blindside flanker, Claire Canal, was sent off. Catherine Spencer, England's No8 and captain, said: "We kept our composure and control, the attitude on the pitch was fantastic and, when we look back, we can conclude that this was just the tight game we needed. You learn so much more from close games of this sort and you find out about your own weaknesses. This team wants to improve all the time, and it was good to be in a good contest." The Women's Rugby World Cup will take place in England this summer, kicking off on Friday 20 August. England have been drawn in the second of three four-team pools, with Ireland, United States and Kazakhstan, and will begin their campaign against the Irish at the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford. Harlequins' ground, The Stoop, is the other venue. England, who were world champions in 1994, have lost the last two World Cup finals to New Zealand. In November they beat the Black Ferns for the first time in eight years, 10-3 at Twickenham.