England made to work against France

By Mark Stevens
15/10/22

Exeter Chiefs star Claudia MacDonald played her part as England continued their successful start to the Rugby World Cup with a 13-7 victory over France.

After France lost star players Laure Sansus and Romane Menager to injury during the first half, England centre Emily Scarratt scored the opening try in Whangarei, New Zealand.

Scarratt added a penalty either side of half-time before France caused a scare late on as Gaelle Hermet crossed for a try, which was converted by Caroline Drouin.

Tournament favourites England held on for the victory that will likely mean they qualify for the quarter-finals as Pool C winners. They have South Africa to face in their final pool stage game next Sunday.

Post-game, head coach Head coach Simon Middleton insisted England must improve moving forward in the tournament.

“First and foremost, hats off to France,” said Middleton after England had extended their unbeaten run to 27 games. “We had them under a massive amount of pressure in that game, but they’re so tough. I think we’ve had seven or eight games against them now with less than a score.

“They are so never-say-die and dogged and rescued two or three difficult situations for them. But there was definitely a bit missing from our finishing, that’s why we ended up in such a close encounter.

“We’ve got to be better and putting those away, because then it looks like a different game. It turned into an absolute arm wrestle. I’m really proud because we showed great composure at the end.

“We won the kicking battle for territory and we ran the clock down and managed the game really well in the last five to 10 minutes. That’s massively important when you’re in huge pressure situations.”

England top Pool C with nine points from two games after backing up their opening 84-19 thrashing of Fiji.