Result: England 75 South Africa 0 Player of the Match: Rosie Galligan
The result was what we expected, but what some, including World Rugby, feared.
Although the bald figures make the game look totally one-sided, the Boks caused the English plenty of worries, committing them to a torrent of early tackles. But the underdogs weren’t allowed to maintain accuracy as the defensive cover gave them precious little time to survey options.
For the Red Roses, the one huge disappointment is the split in the thirteen tries they scored; the backs completed one. Yes, the ball frequently travelled through their hands on its way to the line, but future opponents may take a grain of confidence from the Boks’ ability to limit Jess Breach and Abby Dow to that single winger’s score, No 14 Dow on the far left, by the way.
Not for the first time England had to withstand an onslaught at the start; Rosie Galligan knocked on. It would be a relief to see them clear their lines more readily. Galligan more than compensated soon enough; just five minutes on the clock and she completed the first of a flurry of rolling mauls from line-outs.
Inaccuracies seen in previous games persisted. Now Zoe Harrison missed touch from a penalty. Much later in the game her replacement Holly Aitchison did likewise.
On 12 minutes England let the ball run; Tatyana Heard, who had an outstanding game in the centre, made good ground, but Lauren Jenner called a penalty for crossing. A moment later Catha Jacobs was shown yellow for a high tackle on Poppy Cleall, her Sarries’ chum. Once again ‘mitigation’ came to her rescue.
On the quarter-hour the analysts gave 51% possession to the Boks.
It took the Red Roses another eight minutes to get their second score: Dow drove through the middle for Cleall to complete the job. It was good to see Lucy Packer make a telling break, but as she presented the ball, the support wasn’t there in time – was that precisely what led Bemand and Middleton to omit Mo Hunt? (Yes! Ho, hum.)
By the half-hour the Red Roses were all over the Boks, who received a final warning for misdemeanours at the line-out. Another try came from a rolling maul, then Dow added a new colour to the paint-box by chipping down the line to win an attacking penalty.
Yet another try (Shaunagh Brown) from a maul brought a yellow for Nolusindiso Booi, the Boks’ skipper.
With her team again short of full strength, it was no surprise that England added two more tries before the interval.
Half-time: 29-0
As England didn’t switch to an all-court game, allowing the wingers to warm their hands, let’s assume Middleon wanted to keep a few secrets in his back pocket. But it was a grave disappointment to see the same ritual continue for some time.
Breach was allowed her first run, but Hannah Botterman incurred another penalty. No doubt Sarries have their patent system of forfeits.
After plenty of Bok possession England at last ran the ball to the wing via a loop. Good.
As the first changes were made, Marlie Packer enjoyed another outstanding though familar one-two-one with Cleall to swoop over the line; her 27th test try. Was she pleased!
Now the ball swung across the field both ways with beautiful interplay; Galligan’s hat-trick. Later she was to be denied a fourth as the TMO spotted the ball leaving her grasp by a millimetre as she dived over the line.
The ninth try (by Cleall) was a beauty, highlighted by an off-load from Heard and an excellent thrust by Muir. That brought up the half-century.
A point of concern: the line-up now included both the specialist No 7s, today’s skipper and Sadia Kabeya. Perhaps Alex Matthews is seen as a perfectly decent alternative.
The last quarter brought four more tries, marred only by a yellow card shown to Sarah Bern for a high tackle. Kabeya scored two of them, Connie Powell completed her hat-trick (who needs Cokayne and Davies?). Abby Dow was allowed the backs’ solitary offering. Strikes are all the rage at the moment.
Teams:
England: 15. Sarah McKenna, 14. Abby Dow,13. Holly Aitchison, 12. Tatyana Heard, 11.
Jess Breach, 10. Zoe Harrison, 9. Lucy Packer, 1. Hannah Botterman, 2. Connie Powell, 3. Maud Muir, 4. Rosie Galligan, 5. Cath O’Donnell, 6. Morwenna Talling, 7. Marlie Packer (captain), 8. Poppy Cleall
Bench: 16. Amy Cokayne, 17. Vickii Cornborough, 18. Sarah Bern, 19. Zoe Aldcroft, 20. Sadia Kabeya, 21. Leanne Infante, 22. Ellie Kildunne, 23. Helena Rowland
Note: Emily Scarratt was replaced pre-start by Ellie Kildunne. We can guess the reason.
South Africa: 15. Eloise Webb (9 caps), 14. Nomawethu Mabenge (10 caps), 13. Simamkele Namba (8 caps), 12. Chumisa Qawe (9 caps), 11. Nadine Roos (10 caps), 10. Zenay Jordaan (35 caps), 9. Tayla Kinsey (23 caps), 8. Aseza Hele (15 caps), 7. Lerato Makua (6 caps), 6. Lusanda Dumke (18 caps), 5. Catha Jacobs (8 caps), 4. Nolusindiso Booi (captain, 32 caps), 3. Babalwa Latsha (19 caps), 2. Roseline Botes (7 caps), 1. Sanelisiwe Charlie (6 caps)
Bench: 16. Micke Gunter (3 caps), 17. Yonela Ngxingolo (18 caps), 18. Azisa Mkiva(1 cap), 19. Nompumelelo Mathe (8 caps), 20. Sizophila Solontsi (15 caps), 21. Rumandi Potgieter (3 caps), 22. Jakkie Cilliers (2 caps), 23. Chuma Qawe (3 caps)
Officials:
Referee: Lauren Jenner (NZR)
ARs: Hollie Davidson (SRU) and Tyler Miller (RA) TMO: Lee Jeffrey (NZR)
Notes
Only two Red Roses were retained from their two previous bouts, Zoe Harrison and Marlie Packer, now appointed captain for the first time.
England top the try-scoring chart with 27.
South Africa were already eliminated from the tournament, making this one of the most one-sided contests to be staged, far from the wishes of World Rugby and the organising committee.
Quarter-finals
The Sunday results leave us with the following line-up for next weekend:
France v Italy
New Zealand v Wales
England v Australia
Canada v USA
All eight are delighted to be there; it’s just a pity that once more they involve two local derbies.
Familiarity breeds…?
