Bruising win for Red Roses over France showed need for more variation in their attack and better game management in the 22s to ensure their dominance against stronger sides in tournament; close scorelines just what the World Cup needs
Sunday 16 October 2022 12:07, UK
England's win over France was a battle of attrition. I don't think I have seen a game as close as that in a long, long time for the Red Roses - but it's exactly what they needed at this stage of the World Cup.
It might have been England's 11th straight win over their rivals, but this contest was a little different to the recent match-ups. In those games, France had managed to establish a lead but were overtaken by England sides who dominated the final quarter, often edging out the French in the final moments of the game.
On Saturday, England led but were pushed close in the final stages and will have felt an element of relief to come away with the points. The French suffered two critical setbacks within a 10-minute period during the first quarter of the match (losing the inimitable Laure Sansus and impactful Romane Menager to injury) but in spite of that, I genuinely felt that France still had opportunities to win the game.
Undoubtedly, the contest would have been very different if those key players had stayed on the pitch, but once France had recovered from losing them, they came out the stronger side in the second half and really tested England. Unfortunately for them though, they were hampered by a few critical unforced errors and some poor decision making which meant they were not able to capitalise on the opportunities they created.
In fact, the game was littered with missed opportunities and unforced errors from both sides. England made a number of handling errors, perhaps a result of the defensive intensity that France presented and they certainly knew they had been in a physical battle by the time the final whistle went.
The main takeaway for England is that variation is key, particularly if their key 'weapon' (line-out to driving maul) isn't functioning as well as possible or is countered well by the opposition. In this match, England had 21 line-outs without scoring, which is pretty unheard of for them. Both France and last week's opponents Fiji have demonstrated it is possible to halt England's driving maul, particularly if it is not managed strongly by the officials. For the Red Roses, they need more variation in their attack and better game management in the 22s to ensure their dominance against stronger sides in this tournament.
On this occasion, they seemed to be running into France's defensive wall time and again, getting held up and turned over. England had 68 per cent possession against France and dominated territory so will be disappointed they didn't do more with it. They had over 10 minutes of time in France's 22, yet only scored one try and you know that is something that will need to be addressed.
Using their backs a little earlier is one way in which they can change things up, and I'd like to see more play like the phase that led to Emily Scarratt's try - challenging defences to make good decisions when multiple threats are at the line. Getting the ball moved into the wide channels much faster and giving Lydia Thompson and Claudia MacDonald one-on-one opportunities will potentially stretch defences and allow spaces to open up in the centre of the pitch. If England can do that when attacking the opposition's line, with the quality of players they have in their squad, I think we will see a more dominant and varied England attack that could prove to be a test too far for every other team in the tournament.
It was interesting to see on social media some of the reaction to England's win with people saying this side, who let's not forget have just stretched their unbeaten run to 27 matches, is beatable. I am not sure I would go that far, although I have emphasised the opportunity for England to develop that 'plan B' and highlighted that there are areas for other sides to exploit, I'm still not sure that any other team in the tournament will be able to do so.
I think the France game will be a reminder that they need a little tweaking of their attacking work and this was the nudge they needed. Hopefully, when it comes to the latter stages of the tournament, all these areas of their game have been ironed out and we will see an England team hitting their absolute potential, if they do then I am confident that they will lift the World Cup, and even if they cannot quite manage those improvements, they are still an incredibly dominant outfit.
It should be a low-key few days for England as they allow some of those battered bodies to recover - especially for those players who have had two lots of 70/80 minutes over the last couple of weekends. I think back to when we played at the 2017 World Cup in Ireland and how we only had four days to recover between the semi-final and final. This tournament allows proper time for recovery with it being six weeks long and it's worked well that England have had this battle now in the middle of the tournament.
I expect quite a bit of rotation for England's final group match against South Africa next weekend. There are nine girls in the squad who have not had any rugby so far since arriving in New Zealand, so it would not surprise me if we see a raft of changes.
We saw on Saturday three close games and that's exactly what this World Cup needs, Scotland's narrow 14-12 loss to Australia, USA beating Japan 30-17 (but only after running in three late tries) and then the 13-7 battle that was France-England. Those are the games, and those are the sort of scorelines that we want for the competition, not those big 80-pointers.
It really feels that the tournament is starting to come to life and the matches more competitive, it's what we're all desperate to see and long may it continue.
