19-07-2025
Calladine bursting with pride despite France loss
England captain Lucy Calladine was bursting with pride with her teammates' efforts despite falling to a 52-39 loss against France in their final match of the 2025 Six Nations Women's Summer Series.
France ran in eight scores during the gripping encounter in Caerphilly, but England gave as good as they got and scored six tries of their own through Amelia MacDougall, Grace Clifford, Lucie Sams, Calladine, Sophie McQueen and Zara Green.
The result also represented a marked improvement from 12 months ago in Italy when France downed the U20 Red Roses 72-21.
And Calladine, who plays domestically for Loughborough Lightning in Premiership Women's Rugby, said the nature of her team's performance made it feel like they'd won.
The results from the final day of #U6NSummerSeries action 🤩 — Six Nations Under-20s (@SixNationsU20) July 17, 2025
'I'm so proud,' she said. 'That scoreline is the closest it's ever been [against France] during the whole four years I've been involved. I'm so proud of the girls. They all worked so incredibly hard and it's a win in our eyes.'
England beat Scotland 31-17 in their opening Women's Summer Series game before coming from 15-0 down at half-time against Italy to win 36-20 in their second. It means they finished alongside Ireland who also won two of their matches.
Calladine explained she'd enjoyed being able to lead her team during the competition in Wales and hinted there is more to come from her side.
'This team makes it incredibly easy for me to be captain,' she continued.
'They're all so kind, so caring and they work incredibly hard for each other. Honestly, I couldn't ask for more from a team. What they do makes it so easy for me. We had a great two wins and obviously this [result] doesn't reflect how good we are as a team.'
This has been the second incarnation of the Women's Summer Series, a tournament designed to give U20s players the opportunity to play more competitive rugby to help with their development.
Calladine was grateful that her and her contemporaries had been given a platform to show what they could do.
'[This tournament is] massive, especially with the World Cup coming up,' she added. 'It just shows you how cool the talent is coming forward. It's important to play these games, especially against the likes of France, because it just makes us a better team, and it makes for exciting rugby.
'More people are coming every year to watch. I've been doing it for three or four years now and the crowds have just got bigger and bigger. We always talk about how can we leave the shirt in the best place and I think we've done that today, so I'm really happy.'
Discover the future of international rugby at the 2025 Women's Summer Series – where rising stars shine. Follow the action live at and on Instagram @u20sixnations.
