France 14 England 5
England Women had to settle for second best against France in an uncapped
friendly match in Marseille on Wednesday evening.
At a rain soaked Jean Bouin Stadium the England team, which contained five
uncapped players in the starting line-up and two on the bench, crossed for
one try but France took the honours with one converted try and a penalty
try.
The conditions took their toll on the match with both sides struggling to
find any firm footing and ball handling was tricky in the slippery
conditions. The score was therefore telling in the first half with both
sides going into the break 0-0.
After the restart though England asserted their authority and started to
dominate territory and their efforts were rewarded with Lydia Thompson going
over for a try.
England’s efforts were undone though with France taking their first
try on 63 minutes and then they made the most of the sin-binning of Kay
Wilson in the dying stages to add a penalty try.
England Head Coach Gary Street said: "This game provided us with the
opportunity to find out a lot about our new, young players. We always knew
it was going to be a tough game with so little preparation time and such a
young squad. The difficult pitch conditions didn’t help either but
that was the same for both sides and to be honest France deserved to win
this game.
"We now go into Saturday’s capped test match with a lot more
information about our players and we have the luxury of having a couple of
days on our side before being able to pick our strongest team that we have
available."
Kicking off in torrential rain, and on a rain soaked pitch, both France and
England struggled to find any rhythm initially. England, however, were the
side under pressure though with France generally having much of the
territory for the first half.
France came close to scoring after 12 minutes with fullback Jessy
Tremouliere executing a good chip deep into England’s 22 but Ceri
Large covered to keep England level pegging.
England too had their chances with captain Sarah Hunter at the heart of the
action, while Michaela Staniford and Kim Oliver were also in the thick of
it, but the visitors could not make any serious impression on the
scoreboard.
Street rang the changes for England at half time with six changes which
meant all of England’s uncapped players got their first taste of
senior international rugby.
After the break France came close to breaking the duck with wing Dsioni
Aguerre making a nice break on the left wing and crossing, but the score was
disallowed.
England, however, came back fighting and some good work by scrum half Rose
Jay at a French scrum saw her put her opposite number under pressure and
Harriet Millar-Mills picked up to get the ball out to England’s backs.
England couldn’t break through France’s strong defence so they
recycled the ball out to the left wing, where French numbers were low, and
Thompson was clear to break through and score. Large, however,
couldn’t make the conversion.
On 49 minutes France had their chance to hit back with a penalty but fly
half Aurelie Bailon missed. It did not matter though with lock Assa Koita
making up the difference and more with an important try for France thanks to
a well worked line out, catch and drive. With Tremouliere converting France
took the lead 7-5.
Matters worsen for England four minutes later when France chipped ahead a
loose ball deep into England’s 22. Fullback Wilson scrambled back to
try and save the score but she was penalised for it and sent to the sin-bin.
France had the one man advantage and made the most of it with some strong
line outs and scrums near to England’s try line immediately after. In
the end England were penalised for constant infringements as France battered
England’s try line. They were duly awarded a penalty try which
Tremouliere converted to hand France a more healthy lead and eventually the
victory.
England
15 Kay
Wilson
(Bristol), 14 Katherine Merchant (Worcester), 13
Michaela
Staniford
(Wasps), 12 Kimberley Oliver
(Bristol), 11 Lydia Thompson
(Worcester), 10
Ceri
Large (Worcester),
9 Natasha Hunt
(Lichfield),
1
Rochelle Clark
(Worcester),
2
Amy
Turner
(Richmond), 3
RosemarieCrowley
(Lichfield), 4
Harriet
Millar-Mills (Lichfield), 5
Rowena
Burnfield (Richmond),
6
Alexandra Matthews (Richmond),
7
Hannah
Gallagher (Saracens),
8
SarahHunter (Lichfield), Replacements:
16
Victoria
Fleetwood (Lichfield),
17
Laura Keates (Worcester), 18
Tamara
Taylor(Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 19 Isobel
Noel-Smith (Bristol), 20
Rose
Jay
(Lichfield),
21 Sarah
McKenna
(Wasps), 22 Emily Scarratt
(Lichfield)
Tries: Thompson (50)
Conversions:
Penalties:
Substitutions: Fleetwood for Turner, Keates for Clark, Taylor for Hunter,
Noel-Smith for Matthews, McKenna for Oliver, Jay for Hunt (all HT).
France
15 TREMOULIERE JESSY, 14 POIROT ANAÏS, 13 DI MUZIO LAURA, 12
ANASTASSIADIS AUDREY, 11 AGUERRE DIONI, 10 BAILON AURELIE, 9 TRONCY JENNIFER
(C), 1 EZANNO HELENE, 2 MIGNOT GAËLLE, 3 PORTARIES ELODIE, 4 MERT
ELODIE, 5 KOÏTA ASSA, 6 CANAL CLAIRE, 7 ANDRE MANON, 8 FORLANI AUDREY.
Replacements: 16 ARRICASTRE LISE, 17 DUPONT EMELINE, 18 BOUISSET CYRIELLE,
19 RABIER SANDRA, 20 PELLE CHLOE, 21 MAYANS MARJORIE, 22 YAHE MARIE ALICE
Tries: Koita (63), Penalty try (79)
Conversions: Tremouliere
Penalties:
Referee: Eric Lavit
Assistant Referees:Hugo Joly & Frederic Saunier
Half time score: France 0 England 0
England Autumn International Series
Nov 2nd France v England, Jean Bouin Stadium, Marseille, KO 6pm
Nov 5th France v England, Pierre de Coubertin Stadium at Chateaurenard, KO
2pm GMT
Nov 26th England v New Zealand, Twickenham Stadium, KO 5pm
Nov 29th England v New Zealand, Esher RFC, KO 7pm
Dec 3rd England v New Zealand, Esher RFC, 2pm
Tickets for the game at Twickenham on November 26th are available from
Ticketmaster.co.uk and group booking are available from the RFU by calling
0871 22 22 017, option 6. Prices range from £65 to £35. Junior
tickets cost just £15.
