Latest news with #MontdeMarsan
Yahoo
10-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Rampant Red Roses make World Cup statement with warm-up thrashing of France
England ran in six tries as they completed their preparations for the Women's Rugby World Cup with a 40-6 win over France. The Red Roses, who kick off their campaign against the United States at Sunderland's Stadium of Light on Friday 22 August, were made to work hard for a 27th successive victory in Mont-de-Marsan by a French side missing first-choice scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus through suspension. England's forward power proved irresistible during the first half as they established a commanding lead, but having seen France all but reel them in before holding on to win their Six Nations grand slam decider in April 43-42, they headed for the dressing room taking nothing for granted. Sadia Kabeya provided the finishing touch to a fourth-minute rolling maul after second row partner Abbie Ward had secured possession at an early line-out, and hooker Amy Cockayne repeated the dose at the end of a powerful 15th-minute drive with Zoe Harrison adding the conversion. Handling errors and imprecision cost John Mitchell's side further tries as the French conceded a series of penalties which eventually saw lock forward Manae Feleu yellow-carded, and although Morgane Bourgeois reduced the deficit with a penalty in her absence, prop Maud Muir touched down from another rolling maul and Harrison added the extras to make it 19-3 at the break. Bourgeois kicked a second penalty to capitalise on Teani Feleu's rampaging early break as the second half got under way, but scrum-half Natasha Hunt's quick thinking after her pack had forced a scrum penalty sent centre Meg Jones over and Harrison obliged once again. France started to throw the ball around, with half-backs Carla Arbez and Alexandra Chambon both making dangerous breaks and as the England scrum came under pressure, the visitors were starved of meaningful possession. But catch and drive did the trick once again with six minutes remaining for replacement hooker Lark Atkin-Davies to go over, and she added a second three minutes later to allow Harrison to take her tally to 10 points with two more successful kicks. PA
The Independent
10-08-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Rampant Red Roses make World Cup statement with warm-up thrashing of France
England ran in six tries as they completed their preparations for the Women's Rugby World Cup with a 40-6 win over France. The Red Roses, who kick off their campaign against the United States at Sunderland's Stadium of Light on Friday 22 August, were made to work hard for a 27th successive victory in Mont-de-Marsan by a French side missing first-choice scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus through suspension. England's forward power proved irresistible during the first half as they established a commanding lead, but having seen France all but reel them in before holding on to win their Six Nations grand slam decider in April 43-42, they headed for the dressing room taking nothing for granted. Sadia Kabeya provided the finishing touch to a fourth-minute rolling maul after second row partner Abbie Ward had secured possession at an early line-out, and hooker Amy Cockayne repeated the dose at the end of a powerful 15th-minute drive with Zoe Harrison adding the conversion. Handling errors and imprecision cost John Mitchell 's side further tries as the French conceded a series of penalties which eventually saw lock forward Manae Feleu yellow-carded, and although Morgane Bourgeois reduced the deficit with a penalty in her absence, prop Maud Muir touched down from another rolling maul and Harrison added the extras to make it 19-3 at the break. Bourgeois kicked a second penalty to capitalise on Teani Feleu's rampaging early break as the second half got under way, but scrum-half Natasha Hunt's quick thinking after her pack had forced a scrum penalty sent centre Meg Jones over and Harrison obliged once again. France started to throw the ball around, with half-backs Carla Arbez and Alexandra Chambon both making dangerous breaks and as the England scrum came under pressure, the visitors were starved of meaningful possession. But catch and drive did the trick once again with six minutes remaining for replacement hooker Lark Atkin-Davies to go over, and she added a second three minutes later to allow Harrison to take her tally to 10 points with two more successful kicks.
The Guardian
09-08-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
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 last 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 for 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. France Bourgeois; Grisez, Ménager (Cissokho 59), Neisen, Arbey; Arbez (Tuy 66), Chambon; T Feleu, Champon (Queyroi 66), Escudero, Fall, Raclot (Ikahehegi 70), M Feleu (Maka 59), Bernadou (Khalfaoui h/t), Bigot (Riffoneau 50), Deshaye (Brosseau 50). Sin-bin M Feleu 29. Pen Bourgeois (2). England Kildunne; Dow, Jones, Heard, Breach (Sing 72); Harrison, Hunt; Matthews, Kabeya (Ward 63), Aldcroft, Ward (Galligan 56), Talling (Feunati 56), Muir (Bern 56), Cokayne (Atkin-Davies 56), Botterman (Clifford 56). Tries Talling, Cokayne, Muir, Jones, Atkin-Davies (2). Cons Harrison (5) Referee Aimée Barrett-Theron (SA). 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 seeing 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. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion 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 try, 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 of a score to get the 7,500-strong crowd back on their feet. While both sets of coaches had insisted before the match 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.
The Independent
07-05-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Red Roses confirm clashes with Spain and France in World Cup warm-ups
The Red Roses will play a pair of warm-up matches before hosting the Women's Rugby World Cup this this summer. As reported in The Independent last month, the Six Nations champions and two-time World Cup winners will host Spain in Leicester at the beginning of August before travelling to take on France in Mont-de-Marsan a week later. Spain, who will meet with England on August 2, will appear at their first World Cup since 2017 after winning the WXV 3 tournament last year, while France will be aiming to reach their first final of the tournament having finished third on seven occasions. England last won the World Cup in 2014 and have reached the final in all-but-one of the previous nine editions. The Red Roses will go in as strong favourites having won all 25 matches since losing the last final to New Zealand in 2022. France pushed England hard in the recent Six Nations, with England clinching the Grand Slam on the final day in a thrilling 43-42 win over the French at Twickenham to claim championship victory for the seventh successive time. The World Cup begins on August 22 with England playing the United States in Sunderland. Samoa and Australia are with them in Pool A.
BBC News
07-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
England Women's Rugby: John Mitchell's side to face France and Spain in warm-ups before World Cup
England will play two warm-up matches before their home World Cup begins later this summer. The Red Roses will host Spain at Welford Road in Leicester on 3 August, before facing France in Mont-de-Marsan a week later. John Mitchell's side beat France by just a point in a final-game thriller last month to secure a fourth consecutive Women's Six Nations Grand Slam. If England and France top their World Cup pool and win their quarter-finals they will meet in the last four in Bristol. Spain won the WXV 3 tournament last autumn to qualify for the Women's World Cup for the first time since 2017. England play the United States in the opening match of the tournament in Sunderland on 22 August.
