Megan Wellens
Digital Sports Journalist @MegWellensX
England Women 64-0 France Women: Leah Burke scores four tries as England run riot against France
Leah Burke scored four tries for England against France; Shona Hoyle, Tamzin Renouf, Eboni Partington and Tara-Jane Stanley scored for England in the first half; Hollie-Mae Dodd, Sinead Peach and Amy Hardcastle went over in the second
Last Updated: 29/04/23 6:06pm
Leah Burke scored four of England's 12 tries as the hosts cruised to a 64-0 win over France at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington.
England started the first half strongly as France struggled to find their feet, a double from Leah Burke plus tries from Shona Hoyle, Tamzin Renouf, Eboni Partington and Tara-Jane Stanley giving them a 30-0 lead at half-time.
The second half saw England just as rampant as the first, Hollie-Mae Dodd scoring twice before Sinead Peach went over.
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A terrific afternoon was rounded off for Burke too as she added two more tries to her tally, with Amy Hardcastle scoring England's 12th try to secure a comprehensive 64-0 win.
Story of the game
After an error from France on the kick-off gifted England possession they made their territory count, sending it out wide through hands for Burke to go over in the corner just two minutes in.
The winger then replicated her early try just eight minutes later as England worked the ball from the scrum, Stanley with the final pass to send Burke flying over to make it 8-0.
France then managed to soak up some pressure but more errors proved costly, prop Hoyle using some nice footwork to weave through the France defence and go in before Renouf showed her speed to go over in the corner, Stanley adding the extras for both to bring the score to 20-0 after 25 minutes.
A try on debut came for Partington as England once again sent it through hands from the scrum, Stanley then slicing through the French defence in the 34th minute and converting her own try to give England a 30-0 lead at the break.
England came out for the second half and continued in the same form as the first, NRLW-bound Dodd powering over in the 43rd minute from close range, with Stanley adding the extras to extend England's lead to 36-0.
It was then time for Burke to complete her hat-trick as she brilliantly caught a Stanley kick in the corner, before Dodd claimed her double just four minutes later as she broke downfield and threw a brilliant dummy to go in under the sticks.
Peach got England to the half-century mark as she barrelled over from short range in the 64th minute, Burke then going in for her fourth down the short side with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Hardcastle rounded off England's afternoon as she slid through a gap from a Jodie Cunningham pass, Stanley converting to seal the 64-0 victory.
What they said
Player-of-the-match Leah Burke:
"It was really important we completed our sets, and if we completed our sets we knew we'd get the win on the back of it.
"We spoke about playing our own game, and I think that's what we did today.
"Obviously as a winger, it's my job to finish for tries, but I think it's a reflection of what the middle did today and it was a whole team performance."
England head coach Stuart Barrow:
"We've had limited time together and we talked about the process. We had some really specific goals of what we wanted to achieve today and did it really, really well.
"We're going to have an autumn international and we'll build towards that, and expand on what we've done today. This is the learning blocks...and we'll go away and work on what we need to improve on."
