Women's Six Nations: England beat France 19-13

England started the defence of their Women's Six Nations title with a hard-fought win over France in a gripping encounter in Pau.

Abby Dow and Vicky Fleetwood scored tries as the Red Roses dominated early on, but Laure Sansus crossed to start a France fightback before the break.

The second half was evenly contested until Emily Scarratt raced clear for a fine solo try that she also converted.

Jessy Tremouliere's penalty reduced the gap but England held on.

Although victory was England's fifth in a row over France, it was their first in France in the Six Nations since 2012.

• Ireland edge out Scotland in Women's Six Nations

France respond to strong England start

England's strong opening suggested they might be in for a comfortable time, along the lines of their 41-26 win in Doncaster in the 2019 edition of the Six Nations.

Dow had time and space to dot the ball down near the corner in the ninth minute, and Fleetwood bundled over from close range following a powerful lineout drive before the first half's mid-point.

But England, who won the Grand Slam in 2019, did not capitalise on their excellent start and France scored from their first serious attack.

A break from captain Gaelle Hermet allowed scrum-half Sansus to touch down near the posts for a converted try, and a penalty from Tremouliere reduced England's lead to two points by half-time.

Substitutes make a difference

Sarah Bern, who replaced Shaunagh Brown at tighthead at the interval, rampaged over early in the second half, but crossing in midfield by Sarah Beckett saw the try chalked off.

France began to look the stronger side in the scrum as the half wore on in temperatures of about 22C.

Emily Scarratt's try was her 46th for England

However, the match turned on a moment of brilliance from another England substitute. Amber Reed's deft offload on the 10-metre line put centre Scarratt, the World Rugby Women's Player of the Year, in the clear to race away from the France defence.

Tremouliere's boot took Les Bleues to within a converted try of victory, but England expertly ran down the clock.

They remain favourites for the title, although last year's runners-up Italy are one of their two remaining away games.

'You can barely hear each other' - reaction

England captain Sarah Hunter: "We relish playing in front of a partisan crowd. You can barely hear each other, let alone think.

"Fair play to France - they kept coming and coming.

"It's about recovery. We've got a short turnaround before we play Scotland next week.

"We've got off to a good start but we have to keep going, that's for sure."

England centre Emily Scarratt: "It was an amazing ball from Amber Reed for my try. I needed to put my head down and make sure I finished.

"The defence of the Grand Slam is back on. It's a tough way to do it this year with three away game. It's definitely the start we wanted."

England coach Simon Middleton told England Rugby: "It was intense. The phrase we've been using quite a bit is proper Test match.

"We were absolutely fantastic in the 25 minutes of the game where we did everything that we wanted to do and we did a great job of dominating the field position and keeping the crowd under control.

"France are an exceptional side and you're never going to dominate them for a full game and as soon as they got a foothold it became a real fight.

"We showed some great character defensively in that second half in particular."

France centre Gabrielle Vernier: "Our performance was a bit disappointing. We weren't at the right level in the first half.

"We had difficulties in defence. It killed our game. We did better in the second half but it was too late to come back and win the game.

"We have to be more careful with our defence for the next game. We were great in the scrum. We failed at the basics of rugby. We are of course very disappointed.

"Sometimes we weren't happy with the referee's decisions. We have to accept that and work harder in the next game."

LINE-UPS

France: Tremouliere, Boujard, Boudaud, Vernier, Banet, Bourdon, Sansus; Arricastre, Sochat, Deshaye, Forlani, Fall, Ferer, Hermet (c), R Menager.

Replacements: Thomas, Traore, Joyeux, N'Diaye, Annery, Peyronnet, Konde, M Menager

England: McKenna, Dow, Scarratt, Harrison, Breach, Daley-McLean, Hunt; Botterman, Cockayne, Brown, Cleall, Aldecroft, Beckett, Fleetwood, Hunter (c).

Replacements: Davies, Cornborough, Bern, Millar-Mills, Harper, Riley, Reed, Scott.

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