U20 Summer Series – England v France
Our starting point: a 74-0 walloping of the English by the French in April in Rouen.
On three minutes wonderful combinations led to an opening try for Steph Else, who spotted a weak edge to a ruck near the line. The move started from a solid scrum, which was a relief for the English forwards coach. Lia Green converted. 7-0
Then France showed their true colours. Enoé Neri somehow stepped out of a tackle, accelerated and fed Hawa Tounkara who had the field to herself. 7-7
Now France showed their full array of skills, steps, off-loads inside and outside passes to players arriving at top pace. England held on, till a scrappy piece of play was compounded by a pass straight to Marie Morland, who had no-one between her and the line. 7-14
A promising move from England ended with a pass from Green behind her target winger. Then a sequence becoming ever more frequent: a deep diagonal from Amelia MacDougall, a clean take and return by Kelly Arbey, and Green dropped the return near touch. It led directly to the next piece of magic from the French backs, Arbey with the honour of completing, her third try in three matches. 7-21
Then straight back to earth. The kick-off was knocked on and a player interfered off-side.
England reverted to the tried and trusted: a line-out, a drive and No 2 Niamh Swailes spun round and over. Green’s kick was her trickiest yet. 14-21
With two minutes left to the break, France took the wise decision to kick a penalty to the posts. Maé Levy obliged. 14-24
As the 40 arrived, Eneke Labeyrie flashed an outstanding flat pass wide to Suliana Sivi, who ran round unopposed. Four tries in one half.
Half-time: 14-29
England were having great difficulty in pinning French runners down. Time after time they were able to step out again, despite being apparently brought to earth. Then imaginative off-loads compounded the defenders’ problems.
England restarted by running the ball in their 22 and knocking on the final overhead pass. They paid the penalty. Marie Morland picked and ran, outpacing Tyla Shirley. Cléo Hagel stepped free of the last tackle, and that was another nail hammered in where it hurts.14-34
Even when England counter-rucked successfully, Tori Sellors’ box-kick went straight out.
By now, England were looking harassed and negligent. Even line-out steals were being lost. Yet another long flat pass from Labeyrie to Hagel found defenders short of numbers. 14-39
Scrub that off; we’re forgetting the TMO. He judged that a foot was in touch before the try was scored. 14-34.
No matter, along came another sizzling try. It was that French speciality, the quick reverse pass by the No 9 that always seems to set the receiver away into space. It was Labeyrie’s fourth pass in the move, and now Suliana Sivi was running. As she was covered, she slipped the ball back to the No 9 for another damaging score.
(Before I watch another second, I must query the management’s decisions over replacements. I’m no lover of an eight-strong bench, but in the circumstances – great heat and a mounting debit account – I fail to see why the cavalry wasn’t called for. The first number above 15 I spotted was 23, Carmela Morrall, not a forward, which seemed the logical choice. That was 41 points in 51 minutes.)
Now Sivi did it all on her own. A French chip ahead was caught then lost by England. The winger took the ball and seemed to beat half the opposition as she threaded her way to the line. She survived the embraces of the rest of her team. 14-48
57 minutes and Marion Zdzioblo brought up the half-century under the posts. The white shirts were having the greatest difficulty in landing any first-time tackles. 14-55, and 15 points for the Montpellier fly-half.
Only now was it time for the last water-break of the tournament. Ella Cromack replaced MacDougall, with the task of creating 42 points in 20 minutes.
She restarted by failing to kick ten. A French chip ahead found grass, it bounced into Arbey’s hands, and she was over! 14-60
At last England put a move together; as the ball came back to the forwards in front of the posts, they found no way through. Out to the backs, and France had their turnover.
With a new loose-head in place, England were driven off their own scrum. A well-timed pass to Arbey, and she raced down the right wing for her hat-trick and France’s tenth. Nobody could touch her. 14-65
The next try was even more extraordinary. It needed a lateral run – I suspect by Sivi – to get round a tiring defence – but starting close to her own 22. She found Anna De Almeida in support, and she scampered over to reach the same total as I offered you at the top. Two more points made it 14-72.
79 minutes, and would you believe it? An England penalty set them up in the corner, for Lucy Calladine to score their third – all of them to forwards from short range. What would any fair-minded Kiwi have to say about that? Green converted superbly from way out.
Once more England were completely outplayed at this age-level.
Result: England 21 France 72
Referee: Amber Stamp-Dunstan (WRU)
Teams:
England:
15 Lia Green (Loughborough Lightning, Winscombe), 14 Katie Shillaker (Harlequins, Horsham), 13 Sophie Langford (Exeter Chiefs, Hong Kong), 12 Millie Hyett (Gloucester-Hartpury, Worcester Girls), 11 Sophie Hopkins (Sale Sharks, Fullerians), 10 Amelia MacDougall (Saracens, Old Albanian), 9 Tori Sellors (Saracens, Sevenoaks), 1 Chloe Flanagan (Saracens, Old Albanian, 2 Niamh Swailes (Sale Sharks, Ryton), 3 Hannah Sams (Exeter Chiefs, Kingsbridge), 4 Lilli Ives Campion (c) (Loughborough Lightning, Telford Hornets), 5 Jorja Battishill (Gloucester-Hartpury, Gloucester-Hartpury), 6 Tyla Shirley (Harlequins, Hove), 7 Annabel Meta (Trailfinders Women, Wimbledon), 8 Steph Else (Gloucester-Hartpury, Scarborough)
Bench
16 Lucy Calladine (Loughborough Lightning, Burton), 17 Amelia Williams (Loughborough Lightning, Medway), 18 Kira Leat (Trailfinders Women, Havant), 19 Joia Bennett (Saracens, Old Albanian), 20 Ellie Roberts (Loughborough Lightning, Basingstoke), 21 Alex Wilkinson (Henley Hawks, Henley Hawks), 22 Ella Cromack (Harlequins, Reading), 23 Carmela Morrall (Loughborough Lightning, Dubai Hurricanes)
France
15 Kelly Arbey (Stade Toulousain) 14 Cléo Hagel (Lyon OU) 13 Hawa Tounkara (Bobigny) 12 Enoé Neri (Grenoble) 11 Suliana Sivi (Stade Rennais) 10 Maé Levy (Montpellier) 9 Eneke Labeyrie (Lyon OU) 1 Mailys Borak (Stade Bordelais) 2 Marion Zdzioblo (Stade Bordelais) 3 Iliana Acolatse (Grenoble) 4 Kiara Zago (Stade Toulousain) 5 Taina Maka (Grenoble) 6 Zoé Jean (captain, Stade Toulousain) 7 Lou Roboam (Stade Toulousain) 8 Marie Morland (Lyon OU)
Bench
16 Agathe Fournie (Romagnat) 17 Solenne Mpari (Lyon OU) 18 Amalia Bazola (Stade Toulousain) 19 Patrice-Grace Libali (Stade Rennais) 20 Victoire Foulon (Lyon OU) 21 Anna De Almeida (Montpellier) 22 Anna Macipe (Montpellier) 23 Léa Trollier (Lyon OU)
In the final moments England produced two good scrums. The second led to some half-breaks, but all too typically a long pass to the left-wing flew straight into touch.
Afterthoughts
Surely the English management played a wrong hand. They had their good reasons for picking the starting XV, though the margins must have been tight. Given the conditions and the score, I can’t begin to understand why so many of the pack were asked to last so long on the field.
Now is probably not the most diplomatic moment to recall that LJ lewis was in charge of a disintegrating Wasps club as they lost every game they played last season.
Caroline Suné, the `French manager, decided early in her preparations that she would limit her squad to U20s and include no more than 28 players. This would allow more time for each player to develop in training sessions and on match days. She sensed she had a squad strong enough to produce results.
The French dominated in the crowd too, their chanting pleasing them as much as their team’s performance.
