It is the slightly peculiar aspect of this Women’s World Cup that England, winners in Brighton 47-7, might have come away only marginally more pleased with their performance than the Australia side that they thrashed. The Red Roses were pretty far short of their best in a sloppy first-half showing here, rocked and roughed up by a highly physical and intelligent Australian side.
The hosts came through to power out of sight in their trademark fashion to match their own record 30-match winning run, but play so sloppily for so long in the semi-finals or final and they may find themselves deeper in the mire.
In the end, perhaps everyone got what they desired. England know they will have to overcome tough tests if they are to fulfil their World Cup destiny, and for half an hour here, they were in a proper contest, pushed back on to the ropes by Australia in a way that few have managed against the women’s rugby heavyweights. That they came through to win, again, in such style will serve them well, with Scotland next up in the quarter-finals and France likely to come after that.
Only a shock defeat to the Auld Enemy at Ashton Gate next Sunday after topping their pool will stop them from surpassing the streak set in the lead-up to the last World Cup final. Australia, meanwhile, booked their own last-eight spot, an encounter with Canada waiting in Bristol next Saturday. Certainly, there was a blueprint here that they could use to cause plenty of problems for a familiar Pacific Four Series foe.
England head coach John Mitchell has been insistent that his side will have to overcome adversity at this tournament, and there was plenty here. Not only did a clunky first half reveal plenty of flaws and an uncharacteristically sloppy Red Roses, but a double injury blow could leave Mitchell fretting, too. The likely loss of World Player of the Year Ellie Kildunne, who failed a head injury assessment after a nasty whiplash incident between her head and the firm surface, is damaging, but prop Hannah Botterman’s acute back spasm is cause for major concern, too, given the loosehead is paramount to England’s ruck and scrum operation.
The USA’s 60-0 win over Samoa had clarified the equation for Australia, a defeat by any margin short of 75 points enough to book their spot in the quarter-finals. In the week, they had been insistent, though, that their initial objective would be victory; it took them little more than five minutes to prove that intent. Twin errors from Kildunne – first tip-toeing the touchline trying to retrieve a clever kick from Faitala Moleka, then letting a pass slip through her fingers – afforded the Wallaroos field position, from which Adiana Talakai and the rumbling mass, shielding her capitalised for a well-constructed maul score.
England had spoken in the week of proving themselves predator, not prey, and roared back rather like a big cat with a bloodied nose. After Abby Dow had made inroads down the right, space opened on the left, Jess Breach collecting a lovely flat pass from close chum Zoe Harrison to mark her 50th Test cap with a 53rd Test try. It was a rare opportunity for the Red Roses to stretch their legs, though, in an opening quarter that Australia dominated.
Manipulating England cannily with the boot and bringing a physical edge around the fringes, the Wallaroos did not just match the World Cup favourites but outmuscled, hustled and harried them, drawing uncharacteristic errors at the lineout and in phase play.
They were unfortunate not to add to their opening seven, held up over the line before being denied by sharp work by Natasha Hunt and Kildunne, the scrum half impudently flicking a blind offload to allow her full-back to clear, having scrambled back to collect a rubber. England weren’t at all finding their flow, as perhaps shown when even their mighty maul malfunctioned: Amy Cokayne first spilling as she went to ground before the hooker failed to find her jumper in the middle to send a second error message a minute later.
Brighton had been the scene of one of the great upsets in Rugby World Cup history, Japan stunning the Springboks in 2015 in a seismic shock that set up a transformative home tournament for the nation in 2019. With Australia due to host the next edition of this event, it looked for half an hour like something similar may be on the cards, a 29-match winning run seemingly in peril.
The departure of Botterman, so important to England at the scrum and breakdown, to an acute back spasm might have further had alarm bells ringing in the home coaching box, but their side would soon steady a few nerves. Abbie Ward pilfered a try from a matter of millimetres after sustained pressure before Sadia Kabeya extended the lead as the lineout drive found its full, frightening form just before the interval.
It had been, though, an illuminating half for some of England’s likely rivals later in the tournament. No doubt, the Black Ferns, Canada and France would have watched closely how Australia destabilised both lineout and scrum, and how they turned the Red Roses’ back three. Dow, Breach and Kildunne are outstanding players going forward, but there is a sense that the latter two, particularly, are rather more vulnerable on the turn.
Kildunne’s departure was a shame, with the full-back now set to be sidelined for the quarter-final at least, but it did not stall England’s second-half surge. They were given a gift as Hunt and Kabeya connected following an errant pass from Australia scrum half Samantha Wood, before Kelsey Clifford, on early for Botterman and perhaps taking on a role of great importance in eight days, helped herself to a double under the posts while Australia fly half Moleka was in the sin bin.
Fellow replacement prop Sarah Bern extended the advantage before being shown a yellow for a high tackle; an inaccurate end to an inaccurate day from England.
