Tops / Flops France-England: The perfect plan of the XV de la Rose hurts Caroline Drouin and her teammates

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England's tenacity

Even at 14 against 15, England were able to stand up to the blues.

Apart from the first minutes of the match, we never saw England in great difficulty, which must have played into the minds of the players of Annick Hayraud, the manager of the XV of France.

Solid in defence, dangerous in attack, England really lived up to their reputation and showed the Bayonne public how the best team in women's rugby plays.

The maul phases of the XV of the Rose

To thwart France, England had a very specific plan: to hurt the maul phases.

Perfect illustration from the 12th minute, Lark Davies collapses behind the line and restarts the game after the first French try.

The French suffered enormously against the collective of the Rose, Abbie Ward and Sarah Bern noticed it and widened the gap in the first period.

FLOPS

Drouin lacks precision

Complicated match for Caroline Drouin who was not as precise as her opponent of the day Emily Scarratt.

The French did not manage to transform the test of Annaëlle Deshayes which could have sounded the revolt on the French side.

Anyone who wants to “erase small mistakes before the World Cup” must become even more dangerous on conversions and penalties so as not to miss any more precious points.

France's lack of realism

Beyond Caroline Drouin's small technical errors, what marked this afternoon was the lack of realism of the French women.

Several times Annick Hayraud's XV could have scored, especially in the 36th minute when the blues spent long minutes in the English camp without scoring.

These offensive difficulties are mainly explained by the excellent work of the England defense which had as its number one target Laure Sansus who was not released from the match.