Lark Atkin-Davies doubles up in Red Roses’ power-packed win over France

England stormed to a 16th consecutive win over France in their final warmup match before the World Cup kicks off in two weeks. After a close-run Six Nations finale in April England’s 6-40 win in Mont-de-Marsan was a reminder of the physical gulf between the cross-Channel rivals, with the visitors’ pack instrumental in all six of their tries.

It was fitting that the game, a friendly only in name, was scheduled amid the street festival season in south-west France – matches against Les Bleues are rarely dull affairs, even if the Red Roses have dominated Le Crunch for the past seven years.

Both teams fielded relatively full-strength sides at the Stade André-et-Guy Boniface, home to the men’s Pro D2 side Stade Montois. For John Mitchell’s team, Marlie Packer’s suspension and the head injury absence of Emily Scarratt were compensated by the returns of Ellie Kildunne and the captain, Zoe Aldcroft.

For Les Bleues, the scrum-half Pauline Bourdon-Sansus was the major absentee, as she serves a two-match suspension for criticism of the refereeing in the French domestic final.

The hosts were keen to avoid the kind of lethargic start that has often cost them dear against elite teams. England, though, picked up where they left off in the 97-7 win over Spain, with a physically dominant start, spending most of the first 40 minutes in France’s half.

The visitors were ahead within four minutes, Morwenna Talling scoring from a driving maul on the left after a lineout five metres out. The Red Roses’ second try 10 minutes later came from the same routine, this time from the right and scored by Amy Cokayne.

While Les Bleues did admirably to withstand the barrage of England attacks over the next 15 minutes, they were dealt another blow when their captain, Manaé Feleu, was shown a yellow card on the half-hour mark.

France managed their first foray into England’s 22 a few minutes later, yielding a penalty converted by Morgane Bourgeois. The Six Nations champions eventually made the most of their numerical advantage, though, with another driving maul pushing Maud Muir over the line.

As has often been the case recent Le Crunch clashes, France emerged for the second half with a newfound urgency. Bourgeois added another three points within minutes of the restart, after an impressive drive through the heart of the England defence by Teani Feleu.

England soon added a fourth try to dash any hopes of a comeback, though, with Megan Jones running in after a quick penalty from a five-metre scrum. The final half-hour was nevertheless a more balanced affair, with France stretching the opposition defence several times but undermining their efforts with repeated handling errors and poor discipline.

Momentum swung back in England’s direction in the final 10 minutes. After being held up by excellent France defence a couple of times, Atkin-Davies eventually went over for the visitors’ fifth try five minutes from time. The Bristol front-rower soon scored her second.

A late break from Joanna Grisez, appeared to promise a consolation score, taking Les Bleues to within five metres of the try-line. The resulting penalty was taken quickly, but a long kick straight into touch dashed any hopes to get the 7,500-strong crowd back on their feet.

While both sets of coaches had insisted that the final result would not be their primary concern, a 16th consecutive win for England over France (and their biggest in 15 years) will provide vindication of the work done over their summer-long training camp. For the hosts, their lone warm-up match offered something of a reality check as to the physical and technical domination of the teams they have been aiming to rival.

The two sides are expected to meet again in five weeks’ time, this time in Bristol for a blockbuster World Cup semi-final. Before then, England face the USA in Sunderland on 22 August in the tournament’s curtain-raiser, while Les Bleues take on Italy in Exeter the following day.