Canada got their Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 off to a
flying start against Scotland with a bonus point victory, while
France had to dig deep to defeat a Swedish side returning to the
showpiece event in the Women's Game after a 12-year absence.
FRANCE 15-9 SWEDEN
By Nathaniel John
France began their Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 campaign
with a slender 15-9 victory against Sweden in the second Pool C
game at a grey and windy Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, England,
on Friday.
Tries from captain Sandra Rabier and Claire Canal (2) were
just enough to guide France to victory over a spirited Sweden side
making their first appearance on the Women's Rugby World Cup
stage for 12 years.
France began the game the stronger of the two sides with a
series of rolling mauls gaining considerable amounts of territory.
The French forwards took control of the game from the outset, while
Sweden were left to defend their line, with the majority of the
opening stages played in their own 22.
The French, semi finalists at the last World Cup in Canada
four years ago, broke the deadlock after eight minutes with number
8 Rabier crossing over from a five-metre scrum.
Sweden, though, almost hit back immediately with a 25-metre
penalty from their own captain Ulrika Andersson-Hall, but the fly
half's effort crashed against the bar. Andersson-Hall made no
mistake at the second time of asking midway through the first half,
slotting a penalty to reduce the French lead to 5-3.
Minutes later, the Swedish captain - one of four survivors
from their last Women's Rugby World Cup appearance in 1998 who
lined up against France - kicked her side into a 6-5 lead with a
penalty after the French pack were penalised for not rolling away
at the ruck.
France regained the lead on the half-hour mark after good
work from wing Anais Lagougine found flanker Canal, who scored in
the corner to bring the score to 10-6.
On the stroke of half time, French loosehead prop Stephanie Loyer was sin-binned and from the resulting penalty, Andersson-Hall kicked Sweden to within one point of their opponents at the break on Pitch 2.
The teams were evenly matched during the opening stages of the second half with the French backline failing to penetrate a resolute Swedish defence, often due to handling errors.
Midway through the second half, Sweden found themselves down to 14 when second row Madeline Lahti was sin-binned for not rolling away at the breakdown, although Sandrine Agricole missed the subsequent 40-metre penalty.
In contrast to the first half, both teams tried to play a running game, but with the clock running down, France resorted to their successful rolling maul and were duly rewarded when Canal crossed for her second try of the afternoon, increasing her side's lead to 15-9.
Despite all their hard effort, Sweden failed to muster an attack
in the final minutes, leaving the dedicated French fans proudly
singing "Allez Les Bleus" from the stands. France will
now face Scotland on Tuesday, while Sweden tackle another WRWC 2006
semi finalist in Canada.
POST MATCH REACTION
Sweden coach Jonas Ahl: "We came here as an
underdog so we are here to enjoy the game. We hope to get better
when we finish the tournament from now, we have nothing to lose and
we played a top performance already today and it's just getting
better from this so you can't really say you are disappointed.
"We are going to approve our attacking game a bit out in
the backline and looking to get forward balls so we can move
further out and get more variation in the games. We are going to
work on the scrimmage a bit more to take advantage of the big pack
we have."
Sweden captain Ulrika Andersson-Hall: "It was a
loss but we played one of the best games ever. I think we showed we
are in this tournament and that we actually can pick up some
points. We are disappointed that we lost, the girls were crying
afterwards because it was such a good game and we were hoping for
maybe a draw or a win but I mean it was a very good start of the
tournament for us and I'm very pleased, very proud of the
girls.
"[We will take] a lot of positives, especially
defensively. I think our centres and flankers were absolutely
amazing. It was hit after hit after hit and our forwards really did
a job with playing a good tight game.So I think we're going to
take that on and hopefully develop our attack a little bit more for
the next game.
"It's a great thing for us to be here. We are really
sucking in every moment of it, really enjoying it. That is what we
told ourselves as well. We are here to enjoy it and we are really
excited to be here obviously."
France captain Sandra Rabier: "We are very pleased to win the first match of our tournament despite not getting a bonus point but the Swedish team stopped us from doing that. It was very important to win because the main aim is to win the pool."
CANADA 37-10 SCOTLAND
By Francesca Waite
Canada got their Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 campaign
off to an impressive start with a 37-10 victory over Scotland in
the opening match of the tournament at a windy and overcast Surrey
Sports Park in Guildford.
The Canadians got off to a flying start with fly half Anna
Schnell kicking an early penalty before a break by Paige Knauf from
the halfway line set up flanker Barbara Mervin to score the opening
try to give her side a 10-0 lead.
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While Canada looked to utilise their talented backline at
every opportunity, Scotland opted to use their forward pack when it
came down to the crunch in an attempt to keep their opponents at
bay.
It wasn't long, though, before Canada stretched their
advantage after Scotland conceded two penalties and then outside
centre Mandy Marchak touched down between the posts with Schnell
kicking the conversion.
Even with some strong displays from Scotland outside centre
Lucy Millard and right wing Celia Hawthorn, Canada's defensive
line was simply impenetrable with the Scots simply unable to get on
the scoreboard.
With just minutes remaining in the first half, Canadian wing
Maria Gallo slipped through the Scottish backline for her
side's third try to send the WRWC 2006 semi finalists in with a
25-0 lead at the interval.
Canada picked up where they had left off within seconds of
the restart as Marchak claimed her second try of the match, with
Schnell's conversion taking them out to 30-0.
Scotland, though, kept plugging away and were rewarded when
Millard found space and touched down in the corner for her
side's first points.
There was no let up from Canada though with a repost coming
quickly with wing Heather Moyse, the top try scorer from WRWC 2006,
finding a hole in the defence to race clear and touch down near the
posts.
Canada lost Mervin to the sin-bin around the hour mark and
Scotland made the most of their player advantage with Lindsay
Wheeler scoring a second try for her side to cut the deficit to
37-10.
Moyse made a couple more dangerous breaks down the right
wing, but Canada were unable to cross the Scottish whitewash again.
However, with a bonus point in the bag, they now look forward to
facing Sweden on Tuesday while Scotland will hope to bounce back
against France the same day.
POST MATCH REACTION
Canada coach John Long: "We put the
structures in place that we wanted to play against Scotland and
those came to fruition. We started fast, which was what we aimed to
achieve to make sure we put Scotland on the back foot and came away
with some good quality tries. There is always that pressure on the
opening game of the tournament, but the girls came through very
well.
"If you had given me 25-0 in the first half of the first
game before we had even started I would have taken that. We have
still got areas we can develop and we will go back to the video and
keep those in mind when we play Sweden."
Canada captain Leslie Cripps: "It was a
really good start to the game, the girls we came prepared mentally
and we didn't let the fact that we were the opening game of the
World Cup 2010 get to us so that was great. Some of the play was
fantastic, others of it we are going to look at and we have to
improve, but overall happy that we have won the game and now we
look forward to Sweden."
"That was our starting marker, I think there is lots to
improve, as a team, as a squad when we came off we all knew
individually there were things we could have done better."
Scotland captain Lynne Reid: "I guess there are
positives and negatives, disappointing with the result but in the
second half I think we definitely challenged Canada, played a lot
of rugby in there half and were able to score some tries and put
some points on the board.
"I think both the coach and the players, the whole squad
just reminding ourselves that we are here by the right of
qualification, we are here to compete up with Canada and any other
teams we face a challenge with and I think certainly in the second
half our set piece and ability to run in the backs can match the
likes of Canada.
