After England claimed a record 25th consecutive Test win heading into the World Cup, fans may have thought it would not be too challenging to tag another six on and take the title.
As the ball bounced perfectly for Joanna Grisez late in England’s pool game against France, Red Roses supporters were served an early-morning wake-up call.
Grisez pounced on Caroline Drouin’s kick, found flanker Gaelle Hermet and suddenly France were within six points of victory.
Eventually England did hold on to claim a 27th win in a row with a 13-7 victory and strengthened their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals as winners of Pool C.
But on another day, in a higher-stakes knockout game, it could have been a different story.
“That’s what I’ve been saying since I came here,” England head coach Simon Middleton agreed.
“I understand where the favourites tag comes from, but I think too many people are making us out to be too big a favourite.
“If that’s a quarter-final or a knockout game, you are one bounce of the ball from being on the plane home.
“That is what it’s going to be like when you get to the biggest games. Hopefully it is a reality check for everybody who was probably making us more favourites than we are.”
‘We made them doubt’ – France’s Hermet
A reality check for England fans, and a ray of hope for the Red Roses’ fellow title contenders France and New Zealand.
England may well face France again in the knockout stages, and victory against hosts and holders New Zealand could also be necessary to win the trophy.
France captain Hermet believes vulnerabilities have been shown in England’s victory.
“We made them doubt clearly,” she said. “We made them doubt at the end.
“It was not the most important game of the competition. I want to tell them and I hope they will see us again very soon.”
England have not lost since July 2019 and have been top of the world rankings since November 2020, having now beaten France 11 times in a row.
But France’s impressive defence stopped the Red Roses from being as clinical as usual as players were repeatedly held up over the tryline and they struggled to convert their possession into scores.
Former England wing Ugo Monye sees the same cracks as Hermet.
“If they are to come away from New Zealand with the World Cup then this level of performance, if repeated, might mean that doesn’t happen,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“They have never been better prepared, but their execution was their massive Achilles heel today.
“They need to make sure they don’t get a repeat of this performance, because if they do in three weeks’ time they might be going home.”
‘We don’t have to be the finished article now’ – Hunter
Middleton said the match was a “barometer” of the level expected in the semi-finals and final.
What does not knock you out of a World Cup makes you stronger, and England experimented in a game that would be unlikely to cost either side a place in the quarter-finals.
Instead of relying on their line-out drive for tries as they have so often in the past year, the Red Roses chose to break off quickly from the maul and see if they could find gaps around the edge.
Ultimately, their only try came through the backs as centre Emily Scarratt crossed, but captain Sarah Hunter suggested they would have the move finessed later in the tournament.
| France | England | |
| Territory | 30% | 70% |
| Possession | 32% | 68% |
| Metres made | 195 | 407 |
| Defenders beaten | 5 | 23 |
| Tackles attempted/missed | 214/23 | 74/5 |
| Turnovers won | 6 | 4 |
| Penalties conceded | 11 | 11 |
“We’ve got a very potent and successful driving maul, but teams will learn how to defend that so it was putting variety in that to ask questions of the defence,” she said.
“We don’t have to be the finished article now. We don’t have to peak in the second game of the pool stages.
“You don’t want to have big scorelines and not be tested. It helps us learn about ourselves.
“We have to review, analyse and work out how we improve our performance for the next game.”
