England A made it a double for England Women over France today at London Welsh RFC with an impressive 38-5 victory.
Mike Barnett's side had led only 5-0 at half-time, but they pulled out all the stops after the restart to march to victory against the tourists.
England A Head Coach Barnett said: "It was good to get such a convincing win, albeit that we took a while to do it. We started well, but then made hard work of the first half and made mistakes.
"The pressure took its toll on France in the second-half and they struggled to hold on. That meant we found the gaps and exploited them. France, however, never rolled over and died. They made us work hard for the win."
England A had to wait until the 19th minute to get on the scoreboard after prop Roz Crowley had gone close but was denied. Their persistence, however, paid off with Sarah Beale crossing after picking up from the back of an England scrum and carrying over.
England and France continued to pressure each other's line before the break, but neither side were successful leaving England 5-0 up at half-time.
It was all change after the restart though, with Lichfield fly-half Danielle Knight making an immediate impact with a 41st minute try. The score came after a good England attacking line-out deep in France's 22 which England cleared out to the left wing, and Knight took her chance to find a gap and dive over the line. La Toya Mason added the conversion.
On 60 minutes winger Amber Penrith added the first of her two tries after coming on just minutes earlier, showing a tremendous turn of speed to dart up the left wing and score.
Captain Rachael Burford added try number three after a good pass from Emma Layland, before Penrith added her second, after a good England scrum saw Danielle Waterman pass out-wide to Penrith.
Wasps wing Michael Staniford finished off England A's afternoon with a 76 minute effort, and although France bounced back with late score England celebrated the 38-5 win.
England A
1 Rosemarie Crowley (Lichfield), 2 Olivia Poore (Lichfield), 3 Monica Lewinska (Bristol), 4 Rowena Burnfield (Richmond), 5 Natalie Binstead (Wasps), Sonia Green (Saracens), 6 7 Jane Leonard (Wasps), 8 Sarah Beale (Lichfield), 9 La Toya Mason (Wasps), 10 Danielle Knight (Lichfield), 11 Michaela Staniford (Wasps), 12 Rachael Burford C (Saracens), 13 Vicki Jackson (Lichfield), 14 Danielle Waterman (Blaydon), 15 Victoria Massarella (Saracens). Replacements: 16 Emma Layland (Richmond), 17 Laura Keates (Worcester), 18 Heather Fisher (Wasps), 19 Sara Anastasi (Richmond), 20 Sarah Guest (Worcester), 21 Tina Lee (Bristol), 22 Amber Penrith (Cardiff Quins).
Tries: Beale, Knight, Penrith (2), Burford, Staniford Conversions: Mason, Burford (3) Penalties: Substitutions: Guest for Mason (46), Layland for Poore (46), Penrith for Massarella, Keates for Lewinska, Fisher for Leonard, Anastasi for Binstead, Lee for Knight (all 53).
Feb 7th England A v Spain 11.45am London Welsh RFC WON 29-0 Feb 28th England A v Nomads London Welsh RFC LOST 7-14 March 15th England A v France A1145am London Welsh RFC WON 38-5 March 21st England A v Nomads 1145am London Welsh RFC
