France take Grand Slam as the Six Nations finishes

So the Six Nations is over for another year and one of the poorer tournaments in recent seasons ended in another tense, tight, try-scarce encounter. France beat England 12-10 in a wet Paris on Saturday night to win the Grand Slam, but it was the visitors who scored the game's only try, and it was England, too, who had a look of adventure in their eyes. France, though, had a cold, clinical look in theirs. Their offensive defence hurt England as the game wore on and their scrum was similarly punitive.

If the French can find a world-class fly-half between now and the World Cup in eighteen months' time they might be in a position to mount a serious campaign for the Webb Ellis trophy; the current No10, Francois Trinh-Duc, is a decent player but he lacks the match-winning prowess of Jonny Wilkinson in his prime or New Zealand's Dan Carter.

As for England, they produced in Paris their best performance of the Six Nations but in finishing third with just two victories the 2010 tournament goes down as a disappointment. Team manager Martin Johnson will probably keep his job (the RFU will review England's tournament later this month) but Steve Borthwick's days as captain look over. Sidelined with injury, Borthwick was replaced as captain by Lewis Moody and the Leicester flanker looked and played like the leader Borthwick clearly isn't.

Elsewhere, full-back Ben Foden played like a seasoned professional, and not a man appearing in only his fourth Test match as was the case, while Chris Ashton showed glimpses of real potential on the wing. With fly-half Toby Flood injecting more zip into the backline, it might be that the twilight of Wilkinson's international career will be played out on the bench. He came on in the 61st minute and struck a beautiful penalty, but he lacks the pace and panache to ignite the England backs.

England will learn from the loss, said Moody afterwards, and they'll improve, too, between now and the World Cup.  "The guys played some good rugby in defeat but knowing this team still has another 30 per cent to give fills me with confidence for the future. This team knows where it has to go now and I think that showed on the pitch."

France coach Marc Lievremont described himself as being "satisfied" with the Grand Slam – France's ninth in total and their first since 2004 – but admitted the denouement hadn't been pretty. "It is a very nice baby even if the birth was quite difficult." But the French seemed unconcerned at their failure to add to the thirteen tries they'd scored in the first four rounds of the Six Nations; they've dominated the championship for the last decade, winning five titles and three Grand Slams.

At the other end of the table, Scotland avoided the wooden spoon by dint of beating Ireland 23-20 for their first win in Dublin since 1998. The victory lifted the Scots above Italy - who crashed 33-10 to Wales in Cardiff - and delighted coach Andy Robinson. "It feels really good," he said. "The guys have worked hard all year. We got a bit of luck at the end of the game - a penalty near their line and Dan [Park] kicked a great kick. The endeavour, the way we have tried to play this season, the guys deserve the plaudits after today's win."

For Ireland, who finished the Six Nations as runners-up, the defeat cost them the Triple Crown and brought a gloomy end to their four-year residency in Croke Park. Next season Ireland return to a revamped Lansdowne Road having won ten of their 14 matches at Croke Park.

Parks was the hero for Scotland, kicking all but five of his side's points and keeping his nerve to kick the winning penalty in the last minute, despite some uncharacteristic booing from the normally dignified Dublin crowd. "The crowd obviously want their team to win and they'll do anything they can to put you off," said Parks afterwards.

There's been an alarming deterioration in crowd behaviour in this year's championship, from whistling kicks to cheering misses to even, in the case of the Edinburgh crowd last week, jeering Jonny Wilkinson when he went off injured. Perhaps the people's way of venting their frustration at the lack of running rugby. ·