There will be a great many more in the audience at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, should England make the World Cup final on home soil later this year, but if this thunderous encounter is to prove a dress rehearsal, there is some occasion in store. This was a fierce, frenetic and frankly fabulous collision of contrasts, France giving the Red Roses the precise sort of fright they perhaps required if they are to fulfil their destiny come September.
The margins, come the close, were fine – in fact as fine as they could be. By a single point, England clung on for a 15th consecutive win over their rivals, in the process showing flaws not readily apparent before. The deep exhales of relief on the pitch as France contrived to fumble the restart after Joanna Grisez’s sensational solo try and drawn them within a kick of victory told the tale of an England side not used to being tested so significantly; perhaps this is a performance that will ultimately serve them well come the World Cup, but first there must be deep reflection on a game they so nearly threw away.
It is at the semi-final stage rather than in the showpiece decider itself that John Mitchell’s side are likelier to meet France but crikey do they now look a threat. It had not been a vintage tournament for this French side, yet they often find a way to raise their game come Le Crunch. They would have been deserving winners – but England, by hook or by crook, found a way.
But survive they did – as they, all bar once in the last six years, always seem to. A seventh successive title was again achieved without defeat; a run of grand slams broken only by the Covid-enforced curtailing of the competition. They were given all that France had here, England singed by a flamethrower fightback having surged into a huge first-half advantage.
Yet even in defeat, France perhaps showed a blueprint of how to beat them. Unbowed by a horror half-hour that saw them fall 31-7 behind, they stuck to their guns, going shot for shot with their exalted hosts. Defensively, this was a poor performance from Mitchell’s side, falling off too many tackles and missing the scavenging of Marlie Packer and Sadia Kabeya. But having survived a thorny afternoon, the Red Roses look set to go into another tournament with a long unbeaten run intact.
Their highly developed depth had dominated discussion in the build-up, so many decisions to be made by head coach Mitchell. His biggest selection call had arguably been at fly half, where Zoe Harrison’s controlling qualities were preferred to the perhaps more eye-catching distributing and running game provided by Holly Aitchison.
It took the Saracens playmaker a matter of minutes to justify the faith placed in her, a hanging up-and-under drawing a knock on and a scrum from which England went to work, before Harrison threaded a gorgeous grubber out to the right wing. With Abby Dow the recipient in space, the outcome was in little doubt.
France replied quickly through a jinking Carla Arbez after some deft interplay from their forwards, but the Red Roses were soon into their flow more fully. An Emma Sing try – seizing a Meg Jones offload, a score and her chance in the absence of Ellie Kildunne – showed off their backline handling before a powerful maul drive showcased their forward might. Three tries, 12 minutes – a familiar England experience in this competition.
It took just five minutes more for Sing’s second to secure a superfluous bonus point. Somehow, things would get worse for France. England centre Tatyana Heard had earlier been fortunate not to draw sanction for a high tackle; France prop Assia Khalfaoui was not so lucky, the tighthead sent off in this fixture last year and sent to the sin bin this. Claudia MacDonald soon enough had a fifth.
France’s second-half rally two years ago should have been recent enough in England’s memory to ensure that there was no switching off, but they charitably provided a lifeline. A wretched Natasha Hunt pass gave the visitors a lifeline, Pauline Bourdon Sansus draping hand over ball for the simplest of scores after Harrison had fumbled in her own in-goal, while Marine Menager gave them further hope.
Momentum appeared to be with the French emerging out of the interval but England soon gained grasp of the contest again. A worrying World Cup-year injury for Claudia MacDonald – bravely carrying on briefly with her knee strapped but soon forced off – took the air out of the contest, the crowd only enlivening again when the hosts constructed a thing of beauty from just inside their own half. Harrison was at its heart, showcasing her range of passing like a deep-lying midfielder, before pivoting deftly around the French press to slip captain Zoe Aldcroft in.
Kelly Arbey’s tango along the touchline tightrope past Sing and Dow kept France just about alive but it wasn’t long before Harrison was orchestrating again. After replacement scrum half Lucy Packer had sent her forward pack repeatedly around the corner, her half-back partner produced the perfect parabola to put wing Dow in once more.
But France were far from done. Their offloading game had caused England, not used to dealing with such dexterity, all manner of problems, with Morgane Bourgeois squeezing over in the corner. The full-back’s superb conversion left the gap eight with 10 to play; it should really have been three or one as Menager was guilty of trying to dance past Sing rather than put a teammate away. It left them agonisingly short as Grisez danced in and Bourgeois converted again – England may have been smoked in the second half but for France it was a case of close, but no cigar.
