Women’s Rugby World Cup: England set up World Cup final rematch

from Scrumqueens:

By Ali Donnelly

Two first half tries and a penalty late in the game were enough to put England through to the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final as they edged a tight encounter with Australia. Tries from Catherine Spencer and Danielle Waterman helped England through but they were pushed all the way by a battling Wallaroo outfit.

England will play New Zealand in the final after they hammered France.

England were always going to look to express their dominance and strength up front early in this game and that’s exactly what led to their first try after seven minutes.

Alice Richardson found good space with a break through the middle and it took a massive tackle from Kristy Giteau to stop her from scoring.

England had too much power at the resultant scrum though and skipper Catherine Spencer just had to control at the base and go over for the first try with Katy McLean converting.

Unsurprisingly Australia were finding life in the scrum hard going as England applied maximum pressure using their greater bulk and nous to good effect as the Walaroos struggled to get a foothoold and give their pacey backs the ball they needed to shine.

Nicole Beck then had the crowd on their feet with an immense tackle on flying England wing Fiona Pocock who looked certain to score. Pocock who has been in fine form this tournament didn’t recover from the massive hit and was replaced by Michaela Staniford.

Australia did enjoy a period of possession with Alex Hargreaves, and Beck making some hard yards but a turnover in England’s 22 means the chance to get on the board was missed. England ended the half attacking with some lovely handling displays

England came out firing after the break with Waterman and Maggie Alphonsi darting through the tackles but Australia hung on – much like they were forced to do in the opening quarter of the game. They did it well however managing some crucial turnovers and also managing to frustrate England who just couldn’t make their total dominance pay off with points.

They had chances. Barras came close out wide and it then took another thumping hit from Kate Porter to stop a try on right wing and the fine defensive effort seemed to give heart to Australia who never gave up in attack as they took it to England midway through the half.

Sharni Williams and Campbell worked hard in the middle as England looked frustrated to not have pushed further ahead.

Surprisingly England coach Gary Street made a raft of substitutes very early in the second half, among them his captain Spencer and flyhalf McLean who you felt the home team might badly need in the last 20 minutes.

Australia were pressing and England had Alphonsi to thank a couple of times for some vital turnovers and tackles. Beck almost flew in in the corner with Waterman this time making the crucial tackle as the Wallaroos were finally on top in the match.

The all important score eluded them though and even when England were reduced to 14 players with Heather Fisher binned for flying into a ruck off her feet, they couldn’t quite get there as the English defence held firm.

Richardson wrapped the win up with a penalty before the death as defences stayed on top and England saw the game out.

Read our live updates from the game HERE

England: Danielle Waterman, Charlotte Barras, Emily Scarratt, Alice Richardson, Fiona Pocock, Katy McLean, Amy Turner, Rochelle Clark, Amy Garnett, Rosemarie Crowley, Tamara Taylor, Jo McGilchrist, Heather Fisher, Margaret Alphonsi, Catherine Spencer

Replacements: Michalea Staniford (for Fiona Pocock 15), Sophie Hemming (for Clark 47), Rebecca Essex (for Tamara Taylor 50) , Emma Croker (for Garnet 56), Sarah Beale (for Spencer 60), Rachel Burford (for McLean 60) , Toya Mason (for Turner 71)

Australia: Tricia Brown, Kristy Giteau, Sharni Williams, Cheyenne Campbell, Nicole Beck, Tobie McGann, Cheryl Soon, Danielle Meskell, Silei Pololeuiligaga, Lindsy Morgan, Chris Ross, Kate Porter, Rebecca Trethowan, Alex Hargreaves, Debby Hodgkinson,

Replacements: Rebecca Clough (for Porter 55) , Se’ei Sa’u (for Meskell 58) , Cobie-Jane Morgan( for Campbell 64) Shannon Parry (for Hargreves 70), Iliseva Batibasaga (for Soon 75), Ruan Sims (for McGann 78)