VALKYRIES duo Lydia Thompson and Rochelle Clark helped England Women book their place in the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup final last night (Tuesday) after seeing off France 20-3 at the Kingspan Stadium, Belfast.
The Red Roses will return to the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday to take on New Zealand, live on ITV (kick-off 7.45pm), as Simon Middleton’s side look to secure back-to-back World Cups after picking up the gong in 2014.
In a closely-fought first-half, penalties from Emily Scarratt and Shannon Izar kept the sides level at 3-3 going into the break.
But clinical kicking from the boot of Scarratt allowed England to regain the lead, before Sarah Bern crashed over for the game’s opening try, and her first at international level.
France had a score ruled out after a try-saving tackle by Meg Jones, before the centre latched onto a handling error to score England’s second try and book a place in Saturday’s showpiece final.
Middleton said: “It was game befitting of a World Cup semi-final. France have been incredible in this tournament and we’ve seen both sides of them with the flair, but they showed their toughness tonight.
“We had to fight every inch of the way but I’m absolutely thrilled. We said at half-time if we were patient and we kept the tempo up, tweaked what we were doing a little bit and were patient in the 22, we would get on top of them.
“We dominated the second-half, or large periods of it, and it was testament to France’s defence that they were in the game right until the end.”
England have scored the second most points of any team in the tournament so far, with 179 picked up against pool stage opponents Spain, Italy and the USA and France in the semi final.
They have only conceded 47 points, giving them a score difference of 132, but New Zealand will prove to be their toughest test yet.
The Black Ferns have scored a devastating 258 points on their route to the final, including a 121-0 demolition of Hong Kong.
Middleton added: “We’ve been in a lot of tough situations this year, a lot of pressurised situations and have come out of the right side of them all, and we’ve one more to do.
“They won’t need pointing in any direction and they’ll know exactly what it will take on Saturday.”