Red Roses book place in the semi-finals

By Mark Stevens
30/10/22

England Women are just one game away from reaching the final of this year’s Rugby World Cup after they swept past Australia 41-5 at the Waitakere Stadium in Auckland.

In horrendous conditions, Simon Middleton’s side had too much for the Wallaroos, who included Exeter Chiefs duo Michaela Leonard and Lori Cramer in their starting line-up.

Captain Sarah Hunter scored the Red Roses' opener on the day the 37-year-old became the most-capped England and women's international with 138.

Flanker Marlie Packer completed a hat-trick of scores, whilst fellow forwards Abbie Ward, Amy Cokayne and Alex Matthews all crossed too as England extended their record winning run to 29 Tests in a row.

Emily Chancellor scored Australia's only try in the first half.

Exeter’s Claudia MacDonald missed out on selection for the last eight clash due to a calf injury, but hopes are high the Chiefs star will be available for Saturday’s match with Canada at Eden Park, Auckland.

Head coach Middleton said: “We had some great sessions in the week, especially in terms of the frame of mind the players were in. When you get to this stage you don't need to point out to the players how significant the preparation needs to be and how it feeds into the performance.

"I don't think anyone could've prepared for the conditions we faced in the first half, but that's testament to the players in this team, they were really smart with the game plan. We had a chat before we left this morning about a couple tweaks we wanted to make and they took it on really well."

All seven of England's tries came from forwards, who managed the set piece and won all 18 of their line-outs despite the conditions.

"We wanted a big start today," continued Middleton. "We possibly haven't got out of the blocks so well in some of the other games we played so we wanted to start well, but we needed to be patient. Australia are a good side, they defended really well and they don't give you much, but I thought our game management was great.

"In conditions like those it's difficult to play from far out, you need to squeeze the opposition into their 22 and we did that really well."