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France defeated the USA by 31-23 at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast on Saturday to claim Bronze at the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup. The Women’s Eagles put up a fight but were clearly outmatched by the perennial Six Nations contenders and were outscored by five tries to two.
A tense opening quarter saw the USA draw first blood with an Alev Kelter giving her side a slender lead. It was France who found the tryline first, however, as a wide attacking move ended with towering lock Lénaïg Corson straining her way through the tackle of Kristen Thomas to touch down in the corner.
Marjorie Mayans had a much shorter distance to cover when she crossed 10 minutes later, but her captain Gaelle Mignot had plenty of work to do when she broke through on the post to sprint 25 meters untouched to score France’s third try. The USA got one in before the break, however, with Abby Gustaitis reaching over from the back of a ruck to keep the Eagles in the race.
Kelter made it just a one-score gap with her second penalty shortly after the game restarted, but France were in a try-scoring mood. Jade Le Pesq dove into the corner to grab try number four and though Kelter made good on another penalty the French again were all-in for the line.
Corson’s giant strides took her clean through a gap and though she was felled by the cover defense of Cheta Emba and Naya Tapper, the USA were on the back foot and the French had numbers to spare on the right. Crisp handling sent the ball to Julie Annery and the flanker needed only to run straight and fall into the in-goal.
With Les Bleus looking odds-on for another score a loose kick from Élodie Poublan instead found Jessica Javelet and the replacement winger quickly shipped the ball to Emba. A dicey kick attempt of her own ricocheted off a French body straight to Kelter who showed her pace to steam 60 metres down the field. The center could have touched down herself but unselfishly handed the ball back to Emba in support for the final scoring act of the game.
The Eagles will be somewhat disappointed with the defeat but have exceeded expectations with their 4th overall finish after entering the tournament as the No 7 seeds. This also marks the end of the line for Pete Steinberg, who is stepping down from his position as head coach. Another World Cup cycle has come to a close with the Eagles taking plenty of positives from a tournament designed for difficulty.
SCORING
FRANCE 31
Tries – L. Corson (21’), M. Mayans (31’), G. Mignot (35’), J. Le Pesq (50’), J. Annery (57’)
Cons – M. Amédée 2 (32’, 36’), C. Drouin (58’)
USA 23
Tries – A. Gustaitis (39’), C. Emba (70’)
Cons – A. Kelter 2 (40’, 71’)
Pens – A. Kelter 3 (16’, 45’, 56’)
TEAMS
FRANCE
1 Lise Arricastre (17 Annaëlle Deshayes 52’), 2 Gaëlle Mignot (capt.) (16 Caroline Thomas 51’), 3 Julie Duval (18 Paricia Carricaburu 51’), 4 Lénaïg Corson, 5 Audrey Forlani (20 Safi N’Diaye 46’), 6 Marjorie Mayans, 7 Julie Annery (19 Manon André 73’), 8 Romane Ménager, 9 Jade Le Pesq (21 Yanna Rivoalen 52’), 10 Caroline Drouin, 11 Camille Grassineau, 12 Élodie Poublan, 13 Carla Neisen, 14 Caroline Boujard (23 Elodie Guiglion 67’), 15 Montserrat Amédée (22 Shannon Izar 67’)
USA
1 Hope Rogers (17 Jamila Reinhardt 67’), 2 Katy Augustyn (16 Sam Pankey 59’), 3 Tiffany Faaee (capt.) (19 Nicole James 57’), 4 Stacey Bridges, 5 Alycia Washington (18 Naima Reddick 73’), 6 Abby Gustaitis, 7 Sara Parsons (20 Christiane Pheil 61’), 8 Jordan Gray, 9 Deven Owsiany, 10 Kayla Canett, 11 Kristen Thomas (23 Jessica Javelet 61’), 12 Alev Kelter, 13 Nicole Heavirland, 14 Naya Tapper (21 Jessica Wooden 73’), 15 Cheta Emba (22 Tess Feury 79’)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Tim Baker (HKRFU)
Assistants: Alhambra Nievas (FER) & Beatrice Benvenuti (FIR)
TMO: David Grashoff (RFU)
