England A Women - Win in France!

by Dave Barton RFU Press Office

 French Women A 15 - 22 England Women A. 

Amanda Bennett’s side had gone into the break 15-0 down as England A initially failed to cope with the agility and pace of their French opponents.

But it was a completely different story after the restart with England taking control of the game and running in three good tries.

French captain and backrow Maud Camatta led her side well, taking France into a 5-0 lead after 25 minutes. The score was the result of some persistent French pressure in England’s 22. England’s defence held strong for a while but after a line-out and two scrums France used their forward power to drive over the line for a try. Cellier missed the conversion, but struck a penalty moments later.

The sin-binning of England A skipper Katy Storie didn’t help the tourists cause. The prop went off the field after 32 minutes and France immediately took advantage by converting a penalty.

Number eight Claire Canal then took France into a 15 point cushion with a try just before half-time. Again France played to their strengths and used all their muscle up front to force their way over the line from a break from a scrum. Cellier converted.

But England’s spirits were not dampened and instead they took control after the restart. Bennett’s side were unlucky not to score through backrow Heather Fisher who was held up on the line. It didn’t matter though with Wasps’ Karen Jones instead going over for a pushover try. Club and country teammate Shelley Rae added the conversion.

England soon closed the deficit to just a three point gap with Clifton player Fisher this time making the try-line. A break from Rae down the left wing set-up Fisher who took an accurate out-side pass to dive over the line.

Rae this time missed the conversion, but the fly-half soon made amends with a crucial late try. Rae and her teammates had done the hard work, getting into France’s 22. A scrum piled even more pressure on the home side’s defence and Rae was quick to exploit this, breaking through a gap in their defence as the ball was popped cleanly out to her. She converted to take England into a 19-15 lead before later adding a penalty to steal a 22-15 victory.

Bennett said: “If ever there was a game of two halves this was it! In the first-half we clearly went out there without our minds on the game. We were thinking too much about the occasion but that certainly changed after the break. We came out and forgot about where we were playing and started to focus our minds on the job. That meant we started to keep possession, we started to take control and we started to cross the line. Coming back from a deficit of 15-0 shows not only great ability but also great heart. I am extremely proud of all the players.”

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