Captivating Six Nations but question marks hang over British teams and Ireland

It ended as it began, with a Paris party.

- HARRY LATHAM-COYLE

A great many twists and turns there may have been over the last few weeks but from the moment France dispatched Wales on the opening night with a performance that blended brains, brawn and beauty, one rather felt like the trophy might end up back on the discotheque dancefloor at the Stade de France on Saturday night.

And so it proved. Hobbling up onto the rostrum to help hoist the trophy alongside Gregory Alldritt, Antoine Dupont forced a smile, the scrum-half sharing in the success despite his cruciate ligament injury. The glitterball prize shimmered under the flashing neon lights, dancing in the arms of the victors as the Eurodance played. After winning Olympic gold last year, Dupont and his sevens teammates broke into a funky routine; if not for a knee in need of reconstruction, perhaps there would have been a reprise.

France were more than worthy winners. There had been worries and wobbles on their way to the title, both in the tournament as a whole and on its final night, but Fabien Galthie and the French mixologists have concocted a potent cocktail capable of causing heady highs. Scotland, and England, may wonder what might have been had Peato Mauvaka’s curious headbutt, an act plucked from France’s problematic past, been looked upon differently, but even with 14 the hosts may have had enough.