England are still unbeaten in 27 Tests and their World Cup bandwagon continues to roll. But here was a timely reminder that margins at the top level can be narrow and that nothing comes easy on the biggest stage. While France may have been beaten, their defensive resistance was consistently impressive and this was never anything less than a fierce contest.
The Red Roses had their normal clutch of heroines, with Marlie Packer a constant thorn in French sides and Emily Scarratt scoring all her side’s points, including the 24th-minute try that gave England some much-needed breathing space. For all their line-out slickness and occasional scrum pressure, though, Simon Middleton’s side will have to vary their game a little more if they are to regain the world title they last won in 2014.
Into the final 10 minutes France were still within a score and ruffling the composure of an England side who normally have opponents on toast long before the end. It is a rare day indeed when those two totems of the women’s game, Scarratt and Sarah Hunter, both drop balls they would normally catch in their sleep, but it was merely a symptom of the defensive pressure the French managed to exert.
There were even a couple of massed scuffles to reinforce the intensity of the occasion and Hunter, who has now equalled Rocky Clark’s all-time record of 137 caps for her country, acknowledged her team had been in a genuine battle. “It was attritional out there,” confirmed the England captain. “Hopefully it was a great showcase for women’s rugby.”
An absorbing, if occasionally stop-start, game might have been even trickier for England had France clung on to the ball at a couple of key moments and not lost their two best players, Laure Sansus and Romane Ménager, inside the first quarter. The scrum-half Sansus was the Six Nations player of the tournament this year, but only 12 minutes had elapsed when she was being driven away on a medical cart with a leg injury, her night already over.
Worse was to follow for the French when the outstanding No 8 Ménager went to tackle Zoe Aldcroft and was knocked out cold. Initially the referee, Joy Neville, thought she was deliberately lying on the wrong side of the ruck, but it swiftly became apparent she was unconscious, an unsettling sight at any time let alone a contest of this magnitude.
It was a relief to see her sitting up but her tearful farewell, as her worried twin sister Marine looked on from the bench, was a reminder the women’s game can be as unforgiving as the men’s version. Watching England’s forwards thundering into contact was to also be impressed by France’s resolve, with 81 tackles required by the team in blue inside the first 25 minutes alone. England were also not having things their own way at the breakdown but the pressure always appeared likely to tell eventually.
Instead of opting for their usual driving maul, the Red Roses chose to probe a little wider and after the busy Alex Matthews had made a significant dent, Zoe Harrison deftly put the determined Scarratt over for the game’s opening try after 24 minutes.
The centre’s conversion made it 7-0 but France were not going away. Ellie Kildunne was the victim of one particularly shuddering tackle by Gabrielle Vernier, who drove her opponent powerfully backwards in midfield. Neville awarded a penalty because Kildunne’s feet ended up fractionally above the horizontal but a point had been forcibly made.
It was no surprise, then, when England opted for the sticks just before half-time to bank three easy points rather than going for the corner and another driven line-out. A 10-0 half-time advantage may not have been huge but in the context of a rugged encounter it felt handy.
Karalaini Naisewa scored the winning try in the dying seconds as Fiji secured their first ever women's World Cup win with a 21-17 victory over South Africa in an entertaining, if sometimes chaotic Pool C match, in Auckland on Sunday.
The South Africans looked like they had secured a first win of the tournament when fly-half Libbie Janse van Rensburg slotted a penalty to break a 14-14 deadlock with two minutes on the clock.
The Fijiana charged back down the other end on yet another bulldozing run from prop Siteri Rasolea, the Player of the Match, and earned a penalty under the posts.
In keeping with the spirit of the way the Fijiana had approached the game, scrum-half Lavena Cavuru tapped the ball and fed number eight Naisewa, who launched herself over the line through the despairing tackles of an exhausted defence.
"It means the whole world to us, it's crazy," said Fiji captain Asinate Serevi. "It's the biggest stage in the world and winning one game pretty much means winning the whole thing for us, for our team, for our country."
The Fijiana ran pretty much every piece of possession they had and eschewed the breakdown where they could by offloading to try and breach the South African defence.
Rather than tighten up the match, South Africa joined in the fun with Zintle Mpupha's first-half try coming from a free-wheeling run around the backfield and then through a big gap in the defence.
Tries from wingers Ilisapeci Delaiwau and Akanisi Sokoiwasa gave Fiji a 14-7 halftime lead, but outstanding South Africa number eight Aseza Hele levelled up the scores by crossing around the hour mark.
Hooker Emily Tuttosi scored two tries as Canada secured a spot in the quarter-finals with a 22-12 victory over Italy in an entertaining Pool B clash.
Winger Paige Farries scored a superb early try to cancel out an even better solo effort from Italy's Vittoria Minuzzi, and Tuttosi crossed on the back of a rolling maul to give Canada a half-time lead.
Sara Kaljuvee extended the lead with a try 10 minutes into the second half after the Canadian pack had stretched the Italian defence to breaking point, with Tuttosi scoring her second off the catch-and-drive soon afterwards.
Canadian lock Emma Taylor was sent to the sin bin for a late shot, but her short-handed teammates kept the Italians out until Elisa Giordano crossed for a consolation try in the final minute.
With the pre-game breeze having now died down, though, England would have expected their dynamic bench to have had more of an impact than they did. Another flurry of French penalties did enable Scarratt to slot over her second penalty, but it was no less than France deserved when a cross kick from fly-half Caroline Drouin found the athletic winger Joanna Grisez, who popped the ball up for Gaëlle Hermet to score.
Maybe on another day, with more possession, France would have caused even more attacking problems, leaving Middleton and his assistants with plenty to ponder before their final pool fixture against South Africa next weekend. “I take my hat off to France, they’re so tough,” said the head coach. “It turned into an absolute arm wrestle but we showed great composure at the end. There was definitely a bit missing in terms of our finishing and that’s why we ended up in such a close encounter. We’ve got to be better at putting those away.”
