England have work cut out against France in Women's Six Nations, says Simon Middleton
Tuesday 5 February 2019 21:37, UK
Head coach Simon Middleton has warned England will need to be at their very best to topple France on Sunday in what is already being billed as a Women’s Six Nations decider.
England scored eight tries in their crushing 51-7 victory over Ireland at Donnybrook last weekend, but France were equally impressive with Elodie Thomas scoring a hat-trick of tries in a 52-3 win against Wales.
France are the reigning Women's Six Nations champions after completing the Grand Slam last year and travel to Doncaster for Sunday' showdown with the Red Roses, live on Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports Mix.
"It will be a massive game because it is two good sides and they are certainly a side in form," Middleton told Sky Sports News.
"They've got a really balanced game. It will be high-tempo. They play quite a high-risk game, they move the ball at every opportunity out of contact so they like to offload.
"They don't mind the ball going on the floor, they'll pick it up and go again so there will be an air of unpredictability about them and certainly they will be difficult to break down in defence.
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"They are a very good defensive side, so we have to get some things in place to make sure we pose them some problems. We know it will be tough but we need to be as ready as we can be."
Jessy Tremouliere's last-minute try gave France an 18-17 win in Grenoble last year, ending England's Grand Slam hopes.
And Middleton says the Red Roses have to take that experience into Sunday lunchtime's mouthwatering clash at Castle Park.
"Every defeat hurts," he admitted.
"You learn from that, and one of the things we learned from last year's defeat is that we have got to be clinical when we get chances.
"We had more than enough chances to win that game and we didn't take them."
