Thompson’s late try denies France again
Less than a minute was left on the clock when Lydia Thompson broke down the right flank and scampered over the line to ensure England avoided defeat against a resurgent France.
This narrow victory was made possible by Emily Scarratt’s offload to pick out the Worcester winger and deny Annick Haynaud’s young side the revenge they sought after falling short in Clermont-Ferrand last weekend.
England’s first win across the Channel since 2012 was the Red Roses’ most celebrated milestone since the Rugby Football Union upgraded 28 players to professional contracts in January.
Simon Middleton’s side fell behind early through the boot of Jessy Tremouliere and the astuteness of industrious scrum-half Laura Sansus, who was unchallenged for her try, after chasing her own grubber kick to slide over.
“There are things we’ve got to learn from,” said Middleton. “I’m a little bit frustrated with a couple of the things that we did. International rugby is about learning quickly and we made a few errors that we made last week. We’ve got to get past them.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely thrilled with the win. One of the things we’ve learnt is to win tight games.”
Scarratt stroked home a penalty on the cusp of half-time to cut the deficit to two points and bring her international points tally to 500. Immediately after the break she slotted another to squeeze England in front but, like in Clermont, the Red Roses fell victim to their own inconsistency and their scrum was thrust back from five metres out, allowing Sansus to pop the ball up to Caroline Boujard to score.
Things worsened when Zoe Aldcroft was shown yellow for a neck roll, but England hung on. Their victory at the home of the Exeter Chiefs was, in part, down to France’s ill-discipline and Romane Menager’s late yellow evened the stakes and provided a crucial platform for England’s late score, to the delight of the crowd, who Middleton was quick to praise, saying: “They were probably the difference between winning and losing.”
Scores 0-3 Tremouliere pen; 0-8 Sansus try; 3-8 Scarratt pen; 6-8 Scarratt pen; 9-8 Scarratt pen; 12-8 Scarratt pen; 12-13 Boujard try; 12-15 Tremouliere con; 17-15 Thompson. England S McKenna; L Thompson, E Scarratt, Z Harrison (E Scott 74), A Dow (J Breach 66); K Daley-Mclean, L Riley (N Hunt 50); H Botterman (E Perry 64), H Kerr (R Marston 70), S Bern (S Brown 58), Z Aldcroft, A Scott, S Beckett (P Cleall 54), M Packer, S Hunter. Yellow card Aldcroft. France J Tremouliere; C Boujard, C Boudard, G Vernier (P Bourdon 52), I Jason (M Menager 58); M Peyronnet, L Sansus; A Deshaye (Joyeux 74), A Sochat (C Thomas 56), C Joyeux (M Traore 56), L Corson (J Annery 58), S N’Diaye, C Ferer, G Hermet, R Menager. Yellow card Menager. Referee Rebecca Mahoney (New Zealand).