England come from behind to beat France

England recovered from an 18-5 halftime deficit to defeat France by a final score of 20-18 in the fourth round of the Women’s Rugby Super Series in San Diego on Wednesday. Two tries and a penalty goal from Emily Scarratt saved the Red Roses as they held Les Bleues scoreless in the second half.

France came out firing with a cross-kick from Camille Imart finding its target in Cyrielle Banet just two minutes into the match. A reply would come from her opposite Kelly Smith, who touched down in the corner at the end of an attacking sequence.

A brief deadlock would ended a dozen minutes later. Caroline Boujard took the ball as first receiver and sprinted clear of the defense with Jessy Trémoulière adding the extras. The fullback would land a pair of penalty goals just ahead of the intermission to give France a sizable lead.

Zoe Harrison took a page from Imart’s copybook with a cross-kick of her own that found Scarratt waiting on the end. After 20 long minutes the combination worked again with another Harrison kick landing for Scarratt to collect.

The winning points came just a couple minutes later as Scarratt landed a penalty goal after French indiscipline at the breakdown. Eight long minutes later and the whistle sounded for full-time.

England are now undefeated in three matches and face New Zealand on Sunday with the Super Series title on the line. France will close their tournament with a meeting opposite hosts USA.

 

SCORING

ENGLAND 20
Tries – K. Smith (10′), E. Scarratt 2 (49′, 68′)
Cons – E. Scarratt 1/3 (69′)
Pens – E. Scarratt 1/1 (72′)

FRANCE 18
Tries – C. Banet (2′), C. Boujard (23′)
Cons – J. Tremouliere 1/2 (24′)
Pens – J. Trémoulière 2/2 (36′, 40′)

 

TEAMS

ENGLAND
1 Vickii Cornborough, 2 Heather Kerr, 3 Sarah Bern, 4 Cath O’Donnell, 5 Abbie Scott, 6 Poppy Cleall, 7 Marlie Packer, 8 Sarah Hunter (capt.), 9 Leanne Riley, 10 Zoe Harrison, 11 Kelly Smith, 12 Amber Reed, 13 Emily Scarratt, 14 Lydia Thompson, 15 Sarah McKenna

Replacements: 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
1 Annaëlle Deshayes, 2 Laure Touyé, 3 Clara Joyeux, 4 Céline Ferer, 5 Audrey Forlani, 6 Brandy Cazorla, 7 Coumba Diallo, 8 Gaëlle Hermet (capt.), 9 Pauline Bourdon, 10 Camille Imart, 11 Cyrielle Banet, 12 Camille Cabalou, 13 Élise Pignot, 14 Caroline Boujard, 15 Jessy Trémoulière

Replacements: 16 Agathe Sochat, 17 Caroline Thomas, 18 Célia Domain, 19 Madoussou Fall, 20 Axelle Berthoumieu, 21 Morgane Peyronnet, 22 Laure Sansus, 23 Morgane Ménager

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SARU)
Assistants: Emily Hsieh (USAR) & Julianne Zussman (RC)