England off to flier after brutal ‘war of attrition’

Vickii Cornborough’s blood-andmud-soaked jersey as she trooped off the pitch here epitomised the brutality of England’s narrow win over France – and the prop who reached a half-century of Test caps had only come on as an early second-half replacement.

England’s previous Six Nations fixture was when they racked up 80 unanswered points to secure the

Grand Slam at Twickenham last March. Even England’s 41-26 win against Les Bleues last year had been too easy. This gnarly, tense and gripping affair is not just what the Women’s Six Nations needs, but what women’s rugby needs.

Having dominated the opening 20 minutes, scoring two hardfought tries, England could have pulled out of sight, but the French, playing a high-tempo offloading game, snapped into life.

England’s first try came via wing Abigail Dow after some terrific work from fly-half Katy Daleymclean and the Saracens duo, Zoe Harrison and Sarah Mckenna. Then Vicky Fleetwood pushed over off the back off a line-out drive.

Scrum-half Laure Sansus was the inspiration for the French resistance. In just her seventh Test, she fashioned a number of well-timed breaks, going on to score her side’s only try late in the first half, cutting England’s lead to just two points.

Simon Middleton, the England head coach, seemed happy with the test provided by the French, lauding their unpredictable and “erratic” style of attack. “That was a proper Test match. The women’s game needs matches like this and it had everything, didn’t it? It can only be positive to be a part of it. It is great for the Six Nations,” he said. “France are an exceptional side and you are never going to dominate them for a full game. As soon as they got a foothold in the game, it became a real fight.”

This was the first occasion since 2012 that England had posted a Six Nations win in France, which captain and No 8 Sarah Hunter described as “getting a monkey off our back”.

She said: “It was an absolute war of attrition from minute one to the 80th. The ferocity by both teams is becoming a regular part of England-france games, especially when you come to play in front of a partisan crowd. They were quite hostile, but the girls really rose to the occasion.” The French have always set the agenda in terms of the promotion of the game and this was no different. No disrespect to Doncaster’s Castle Park, which held the corresponding fixture last year, but playing in the Stade du Hameau – Pau’s home in the Top 14 – along with the partisan crowd creates one of the very few occasions in the women’s game when the atmosphere has that intangible electricity that marks it out as a Test match.

It was not just the prospect of Le Crunch which had the crowd riled up, the locals were taunting anyone they heard speak English on both rugby matters and Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. They happily booed the Red Roses off the pitch after their win, followed by some muted applause.

Hunter, however, relished the intense atmosphere. “I love playing in a place like this with a hostile crowd. It is what we want,” she said.

“When we’re at home and playing at Sandy Park, it is great when everyone is cheering. Today I couldn’t hear much apart from the French. And that is good. It is about learning to play in those big occasions and still execute.”

After the hour mark, Emily Scarratt – the world player of the year – made her mark, scoring after some fantastic work by Daley-mclean and replacement centre Amber Reed. The closing minutes were tetchy after the French converted a penalty to take them to within six points, but the Red Roses hung on.

This was the opening fixture, but it will probably decide the tournament in England’s favour and, despite Hunter and Middleton saying they would give Scotland the same respect on Sunday, the challenge for the Women’s Six Nations is to produce more games such as this. Scores

France

England

Referee