England 64-0 France: Leah Burke scores four tries as England overwhelm France
- Published
Leah Burke also scored a hat-trick against Papua New Guinea at the World Cup
Women's international |
|---|
England (30) 64 |
Tries: Burke 4, Hoyle, Renouf, Partington, Stanley, Dodd 2, Peach, Hardcastle Goals: Stanley 8 |
France (0) 0 |
England marked their first game under new coach Stuart Barrow with a comprehensive 12-try win over France in Warrington.
The hosts had been beaten in their last match by New Zealand in last year's Rugby League World Cup semi-final.
But this time they were far too strong for a disappointing France side who committed too many errors.
St Helens winger Leah Burke scored four tries as they continued their unbeaten record against the French.
Barrow told Sky Sports: "I'd mark that performance as seven out of 10, with room for improvement, but 10 for application and effort."We've had limited time together and we talked about a process game. We had some really specific goals of what we wanted to achieve today, around a high completion rate, and I thought we executed it really, really well."
With Barrow at the helm and new captain Jodie Cunningham leading the team on the field, England wanted to make a big statement and produced the perfect start, forcing an error by France from the kick-off.
From the goalline drop-out, the hosts had plenty of space on the left and eventually played the ball out to Burke, who went over in the corner.
France looked shocked and England quickly began to dominate, earning a scrum that led to Burke going over for her second, doubling the lead after less than nine minutes.
England looked far more cohesive in both defence and attack as France struggled to complete their sets and create any sort of pressure.
Burke's club-mate Shona Hoyle showed great determination to power over after 21 minutes, skipping through the defence with Tara-Jane Stanley adding the extras, and four minutes later Tamzin Renouf marked her return to the England team with a try - Stanley again adding the extras.
England were threatening to run riot and scored a third try in seven minutes with Eboni Partington marking her senior international debut in style as she put her side 24-0 up.
Stanley, the reigning Woman of Steel, went over herself for a try and added the extras to leave England well in control at the interval.
France needed a stronger start to the second half but the errors soon arose again.
Second-rower Hollie-Mae Dodd, who will shortly be heading to play with Canberra Raiders in the women's NRL, escaped a France tackle to go over under the posts with Stanley's kick making it 36-0.
Stanley's beautifully measured kick enabled Burke to go over for her hat-trick before Dodd powered through once more.
Sinead Peach, another making her return to the England fold, was continuing to exert her influence on the game after coming off the bench and the York Valkyrie player went over on 64 minutes.
Burke, who was one of England's stars of the World Cup, showed her skill on the wing with her fourth try four minutes later.
"I'll watch that game back straight away," said Burke. "I always look out for the mistakes first, but I don't think there were many of them from us today as a team. It was really good.
"As a wing, it's obviously my job to finish tries, but I think it's a reflection of what the middles did today, and a whole team performance."
The final word went to Amy Hardcastle, who scored her 27th England try three minutes from time, taking a pass from captain Cunningham, with Stanley kicking her eighth goal of the day to complete the rout.
"It's a new team and a young team so we must work to match England," said French coach Romain Maillot.
"We lost our confidence following the drop-out at the kick-off and it's difficult to stay in the game from there but we need to work on it."
England: Stanley, Partington, Renouf, Hardcastle, Burke, Harris, Roche, Wood, Bennett, Hoyle, Rudge, Dodd, Cunningham.
Interchange: Peach, Whitfield, Field, Molyneux.
France: M Sararra, Ramazeilles, Biville, Guillerot, Canal, Pommier, Canet, Legout, Ramos, Zaghdoudi, Akpa, Kuresa, D Samarra.
Interchange: Michel, Menaa, Segala, Roses.
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