'Come get us' - England ready for Six Nations decider

Time to pack away the sequinned Stetsons and don the hard hats.

After four straight wins, weighing in at an average of nine tries and a 41-point winning margin, England will run into physicality and very real jeopardy against France in Bordeaux on Sunday.

The Red Roses' 37-match winning run - a streak that stretches back to November 2022 and a World Cup final defeat by New Zealand - has rarely been as vulnerable.

Part of that peril is down to England.

Despite the timely return of Maddie Feaunati, Sadia Kabeya and Lilli Ives Campion, England are still a patched-up work in progress.

Delaney Burns was several leagues deep in the second-row depth charts before the pregnancies of Zoe Stratford, Abbie Ward and Rosie Galligan and injury to Morwenna Talling brought her back to the surface to win her first caps since 2023.

Helena Rowland's play-making skills at inside centre give England plenty, but not the direct route to the line that the injured Tatyana Head offered.

Prop Liz Crake - who was on a central contract, but well off the selection radar in 2025 - is making a cameo on the bench, filling in for Kelsey Clifford, who has a leg complaint.

Demelza Short is alongside her, with the Bristol Bears teenager having impressed in her maiden Test campaign, but having played at the under-18s Six Nations last year and watched the autumn's World Cup as a fan, her elevation is ahead of schedule

Natasha Hunt, Emily Scarratt, Alex Matthews, Abby Dow, Hannah Botterman, Lark Atkin-Davies, and May Campbell were all part of that title-lifting Red Rose squad, and all are elsewhere.

The constantly changing cast has undermined the defence.

England have seeped points, looking vulnerable to sniping runs around the edge of the breakdown and to driven mauls. Having managed just five and 12 points respectively against England in last year's tournament, both Italy and Wales have picked up try-scoring bonuses in defeat this time around.

Coach John Mitchell has sold the scorelines as evidence of a new, swashbuckling style and a willingness to slug it out toe to toe with the world.

"We'll just keep scoring more," he said on Thursday.

"It's our new identity, it's the way that we're evolving our game."

Defence, he promised, was "one of the easiest things to fix".

France have a crew of wreckers itching to bash holes before the rebuild however.

Teani Feleu played at number eight when the two teams met in the World Cup quarter-finals in September.

She has now switched into the midfield role she fills for Grenoble and will be running hard and straight at Rowland.

Carla Arbez is a sharp, incisive fly-half - a lovely chip-and-chase score against Scotland showing her talents - and only Meg Jones has beaten more defenders in the championship.

A new-look back three of full-back Pauline Barrat and wings Anais Grando and Lea Murie have only 18 caps between them, but bags of pace and flair.

Unlike England, they have also been formidable in defence. They have the best record in the Women's Six Nations for points conceded, points conceded per opposition 22m entry, tackle accuracy and tackle dominance.

Manae Feleu and Madoussou Fall, especially, will relish knocking back the visitors.

The final quarter of the match, where England have gone away from opposition in the past, is now where France do the most damage instead.

The crowd at the 42,000-seater Stade Atlantique will be loud, big and expectant - it is on course to set a new record attendance for a Women's Six Nations match in France. England have been training with crowd noise and music blaring out of speakers to prepare.

Pauline Bourdon Sansus has seen it all. With 75 caps on the clock, the 30-year-old is the most experienced of France's squad.

Enough even to remember beating England, with the scrum-half the only survivor from an 18-17 success in Grenoble eight years ago.

France have since suffered 17 straight defeats.

"We know they have collective experience. We have a little less," said Bourdon Sansus this week.

"But frankly, every team has weaknesses…we're not going into this game expecting to lose."

All in all, it is a sizeable step up for England. A step up into a barrage of heavy runners and tricky questions.

Earlier in their campaign, in the absence of a serious challenge to their dominancy, the reigning seven-time champions were measuring themselves against ideals, internal standards and small print.

The judgement on Sunday is far more simple. Victory is the only benchmark.

"We believe in ourselves," added Mitchell. "They haven't played us.

"We've shown some weaknesses, but I think also a lot of sides must go, 'Jeez, this team is highly unpredictable in where they are going to go'.

'That must keep a lot of lot of them guessing.

"It's going to take a really good team to break that. Somebody's going to get us at some point, but we like being the standard bearers of that.

"So come and get us, because that's going to make us better as well."

The final score - like England's attack - will be hard to predict.