Red Roses 35-17 France: Nervy England eventually secure home Women's Rugby World Cup final place

Amy Cokayne scored one of England's five tries in their Women's Rugby World Cup semi-final victory over France

A nervy Red Roses Women's Rugby World Cup semi-final performance eventually saw England kick on to defeat France 35-17 at Ashton Gate and secure their place in a home final. 

Huge tournament favourites, England were totally outplayed by France in the first half in Bristol but the visitors could only score once despite a wealth of pressure, possession and territory.

That was never likely to be enough against a squad as strong as England's, who scored five tries through full-back Ellie Kildunne (two), hooker Amy Cokayne, lock Abbie Ward and centre Meg Jones. Fly-half Zoe Harrison also kicked flawlessly to land five conversions.

France, who were fortunate to progress past Ireland into the last four, scored three times via centre Nassira Konde (two) and wing Kelly Arbey, with full-back Morgan Bourgeois adding one conversion, and though always in the contest, ultimately made too many errors to take advantage of the chance presented to them.

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A tight start to the contest saw England strike for the opening points out of nothing, the returning Kildunne showing her exceptional pace on counter-attack ball to score - the TMO clearing a potential knock-on by Natasha Hunt, ruling it had come off the scrum-half's boot.

Star full-back Ellie Kildunne raced in for the opening try in just the fifth minute

France responded with several lengthy-phase attacks, but England's defence held firm: Jones winning a phenomenal breakdown turnover by her own try-line and Ward halting a close-range rolling maul.

Eventually, on 24 minutes, French pressure told for a try as the visitors kept attacking and keeping the ball alive for Konde to slide over.

Bourgeois poorly missed the conversion wide, however, to leave England in the lead.

In the 29th minute a potential Tatyana Heard try for the hosts was denied when TMO replays proved the centre had knocked the ball on before going on to score.

The remainder of the half saw France pepper England for chances but fail to score.

Nassira Konde scored twice for France, but they failed to make the most of a big chance to beat England

First, wing Marine Menager raced on to a Pauline Bourdon Sansus chip kick but failed to pass inside to flanker Lea Champon for a certain try.

Moments later a Menager try out wide was ruled out for a forward pass as England just about maintained their lead.

The half-time stats made for startling reading: France having had 69 per cent possession, 58 per cent territory, 86 carries to England's 26 and a whopping 342 metres to England's 186.

Despite being considerably the better team in the first 40, they scored just one try from seven 22 entries, though.

England were thoroughly second best during the first half but stuck in the contest

England began the second half with plenty of vigour and were denied an Abby Dow try by a marginal forward pass refereeing decision.

Moments later, the home side's sucker punch to France arrived as Cokayne touched down off the back of a powerful driving maul.

When Harrison converted, suddenly the gap was nine points.

The French reply was quick: Arbey sliding over in the corner after a wealth of attacking pressure.

Bourgeois landed a beauty of a touchline conversion too, narrowing England's lead to just two.

Buoyed by their impactful bench, the Red Roses set about landing another timely blow and just ahead of the hour mark they got it: Ward crashing through tackles to leave the score 21-12 to the hosts.

Abbie Ward crashed over for a crucial third England try with the semi-final in the balance

With 11 minutes to play Kildunne capitalised magnificently on a poor defensive error to score from range and firmly take the game away from France.

Kildunne's skill and pace for her two tries on the day were superb

The away side hit back again through Konde's second try after more sustained attacking, but there remained too much to do, with Jones adding gloss to the scoreline late on after showing quick reactions to take advantage of fortune with the ball coming to her off the post padding to score.

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England's Hannah Botterman told BBC Sport:

"We are obviously excited but we knew we had to get this job done first and we still have one massive job to go and do next weekend.

"No celebrations yet - we haven't won anything.

"I wasn't surprised [Canada beat New Zealand]. They have been playing very good rugby, a different style to one most play."

Player of the match Ellie Kildunne told BBC Sport:

"I am buzzing. This is all we have been dreaming of. We are going to keep our heads down as we know what we have got coming.

"I have stolen this [player of the match award] from the rest of the team.

"Hannah Botterman, Maud Muir, all the forwards, Meg Jones - you saw the defence today so I don't know why I got it.

"Scoring tries doesn't mean anything really as the rest of the team do the work. It was insane.

"We have got a final to go to and we need the fans there. We feel the love and this is not the end."

Mitchell: We broke France eventually

England head coach John Mitchell told BBC Sport:

"We weren't accurate in the first half but no one really remembers how you win in these tournaments. You just have to win.

"France were always going to fight, they are a special rugby country and threw everything at us. We were able to break them eventually.

"I said to the girls that it would take a long time - and it probably took a bit longer than I thought!

"They were putting pressure on us through our errors and we needed to put the pressure on them, so the girls went back to the process.

"They stayed calm - or tried to.

"You have the two best teams in the world in the final [England and Canada], which is awesome for the game.

"Canada are playing great rugby and we are playing very effective rugby. We have had to fight hard all tournament."

What's next?

England's Red Roses will now host Canada in the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham on Saturday September 27 (4pm kick-off).

France will face defending champions New Zealand earlier on the same day in the Bronze final at Twickenham (12.30pm).