Red Roses edge past France in Super Series
Emily Scarratt’s late penalty saw the Red Roses beat France Women 20-18 to make it three wins from three at the Women’s Rugby Super Series in San Diego and move top of the table.
France were ahead just after a minute when a crossfield kick found Cyrielle Banet for her to dot down, but after Amber Reed had a try disallowed for grounding, from the resultant scrum Kelly Smith took the ball off the back of it and sprinted around the outside to score – her third try in three games.
Caroline Boujard’s darting run restored France’s lead, with Jessy Tremouliere converting and then the French full back, and current world player of the year, knocked over two penalties for a 5-18 half-time advantage.
England would score the first points of the second half on 50 minutes as Zoe Harrison’s crossfield kick bounced for Scarratt to drop down on for a try.
Scarratt’s second try was from the same combination as Harrison’s high kick was superbly taken out of the air by the centre, and Scarratt wrestled to the ground to score and then added the conversion.
With eight minutes left Scarratt then kicked a central 25-metre penalty as England took the lead for the first time in the match and they closed the game out for their ninth win in 2019.
Captain Sarah Hunter won her 115th cap in the game which puts her one ahead of Jason Leonard and joint second on England’s all-time appearance list with lock Tamara Taylor.
England will now face New Zealand in their final match of the 2019 Super Series on Sunday 14 July, where the tournament moves to San Diego State University’s Torero Stadium for the final round. Simon Middleton’s side sit three points above New Zealand going into the final game of the tournament on 13 points, with the Black Ferns on 10.
Sunday showdown
The win against France means the top two teams in the world will face off in the final round as the Red Roses take on the Black Ferns.
England have provisionally gone back top of the World Rugby rankings ahead of the game and will officially be the world’s best side with a victory on Sunday.
The two teams last met in the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup final in Belfast where New Zealand ran out 41-32 winners, while in the match before that in June 2017 during the last Super Series, England won the tournament played in New Zealand by beating the Black Ferns 29-21 in Rotorua.
The Kiwis have so far beaten Canada and USA but lost 16-25 to France in their last outing in round three, and had their bye week during the fourth round of matches as England beat France.
Reaction
England head coach Simon Middleton said: “It was a great Test match and hopefully everyone who watched it appreciated what both sides put into it.
“The character in our team to come back from a tough position we knew we could as we’ve got a lot of belief in being able to close games out – we did it against Canada and we’ve done it again today with some monumental efforts on the field.
“We said at half-time that if we could play in the right areas of the field it was a 20-point wind. We still didn’t play enough in the right areas but we got just enough to get the points that we needed.
“Scaz [Emily Scarratt] is a bit special isn’t she? There is nothing she cannot do really. She will be the first one to put her hand up and say the kicks that she received from Zoe Harrison put both into a great area, and we’re thrilled as it’s something we worked on in the week.
“New Zealand will be hurting from their defeat against France, they’re world champions and it’s always going to be a tough game when you play against them. We’re going to have to regroup and dust ourselves down, but one thing we won’t be short of is spirit.”
Scorers
England – Tries: Smith, Scarratt 2 Cons: Scarratt Pens: Scarratt
France – Tries: Cyrielle, Boujard Cons: Tremouliere Pens: Tremouliere 2
Teams
England
15. Sarah McKenna, 14. Lydia Thompson, 13. Emily Scarratt, 12. Amber Reed, 11. Kelly Smith, 10. Zoe Harrison, 9. Leanne Riley; 1. Vickii Cornborough, 2. Heather Kerr, 3. Sarah Bern, 4. Catherine O’Donnell, 5. Abbie Scott, 6. Poppy Cleall, 7. Marlie Packer, 8. Sarah Hunter (capt).
Finishers
16. Lark Davies, 17. Ellena Perry, 18. Hannah Botterman, 19. Zoe Aldcroft, 20. Sarah Beckett, 21. Claudia Macdonald, 22. Emily Scott, 23. Millie Wood.
France
15. Jessy Tremouliere, 14. Caroline Boujard, 13. Elise Pignot, 12. Camille Cabalou, 11. Banet Cyrielle, 10. Camlle Imart, 9. Pauline Bourdon; 1. Annaelle Deshaye, 2. Laure Touye, 3. Clara Joyeux, 4. Celine Ferer, 5. Audrey Forlani, 6. Brandy Cazorla, 7. Coumba Diallo, 8. Gaelle Hermet.
Replacements
16. Agathe Sochat, 17. Caroline Boujard, 18. Celia Domain, 19. Madoussou Fall, 20. Axelle Berthoumieu, 21. Morgane Peyronnet, 22. Laure Sansus, 23. Marine Menager.
England’s Super Series 2019 fixtures
England 38-5 USA
England 19-17 Canada
England 20-18 France
England v New Zealand - Sunday 14 July (Sky Sports Action and Main Event – KO 13:00 PDT/21:00 BST)
San Diego State University’s Torero Stadium
