WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 3RD/4TH PLAYOFF

The battle for third place in the Women’s World Cup was a decidedly one-sided affair, with the experienced England side putting the French to the sword on a sultry evening.

The opening quarter was a scrappy affair, with both teams spilling lots of ball and conceding penalties as they tried to gain control of the match.

England’s first try came after just five minutes. Prop Emma Slowe proved she is anything but, making a 30metre break before offloading to Danielle Bound, who raced in between the posts.

After a penalty for use of the knees five metres from their own line, France conceded again after 25 minutes, Slowe once again the provider. After drawing in three defenders, she offloaded to Clare McGinnis who went over from close range, captain Natalie Gilmour adding the extras.

McGinnis was in for her second soon after, brushing off French defenders to scamper over from ten metres after England had forced a goal-line drop-out.

Jodie Cunningham then crossed for England’s fourth, in a fruitful spell towards the end of the first half, after a sweeping passing move from one side of the pitch to the other, Gilmour keeping her 100% kicking record to make the score 24-0.

With the first half drawing to a close, France put pressure on the English line with back-to-back sets, but failed to capitalise, and knocked on close to the try line.

England punished the mistake, going the length of the field in one set of six to score in the corner through Gilmour, who converted her own try to make the score at half-time 30-0.

England were almost in again a minute after a break from Lois Forsell, but the final pass missed its target and was collected by France’s Elisa Ciria.McGinnis claimed her hat-trick after 50 minutes, hitting a great line to slice through before stepping round the full back.

Just before the hour mark England were in again through Gilmour. Katie Cooper-Birkenhead’s short pass sending Beth Sutcliffe galloping through a hole, before again drawing Ludivine Miorin and passing to Gilmour who raced in for her second, which was shortly followed by a try from scrum-half Kirsty Moroney.

Tempers flared with ten minutes to go, which resulted in France’s Houita Ben-Choung being sent to the sin-bin for what looked like a kick on Sutcliffe.

Good passing brought up England’s half century and sent Cunningham in for her second, which Gilmour once again converted to finish with a total of 28 points.

England coach Chris Chapman, in his final match in charge, said, “I was really pleased with the second half performance; we were much better on the edges and things clicked for us.

“The tournament has been great, we’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve had a great group of girls to work with.”

“The girls are in a great shape and I’m sure that whoever coaches them in the future will be very successful.”

ENGLAND
Anfield, Stallwood, Hardcastle, Gilmour, Cunningham, Walsh, Moroney, Slowe, Bound, Dobson, Sutcliffe, Twibill, Rudge, McGinnis, Forsell, Freestone, Cooper-Birkenhead

FRANCE
Miorin, Boina, Guigue, Ben-Choug, Jean, Ciria, Zagdhoudi, Signoret, Delas, Decarnin, Fauvelle, Lacoste, Mikalef, Lenet, Maurouard, Cousseau, M’Raidi