In the opening match of the day, Scotland prove too strong for
Sweden in Pool C before France beat Canada 23-8 in a repeat of the
third place play-off at the last two World Cups to reach the semi
finals.
FRANCE 23-8 CANADA
By Nathaniel John
France left their best display in the pool stages until last
to beat Canada 23-8 and secure their place in the Women's Rugby
World Cup semi finals as Pool C winners, leaving their opponents to
sweat for a few hours to see if they will join them as the best
second placed side.
Tries from Lucille Godiveau (2), Cyrielle Bouisset and
Amandine Vaupre ensured that France got the vital victory, having
failed to pick up bonus points against Scotland and Sweden, in an
entertaining game of free-flowing rugby.
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Godiveau opened the scoring with a well taken try after only
10 minutes when the ball was quickly recycled following an initial
break from centre Sandrine Agricole for the centre to score in the
corner, putting her side 5-0 up.
Canada, who had gone into the match on top of Pool C with a
two-point advantage over France, responded almost immediately with
a well-struck penalty from Anna Schnell following a sustained
period of pressure within the French 22, reducing the deficit to
5-3.
Midway through the first half, French fly half Aurelie Ballon
extended her side's lead to 8-3, with a penalty after Canada
were caught offside.
France then scored their second try of the afternoon through
Bouisset after good work from the French pack from a lineout deep
in the Canadian 22 allowed the second row to crash over for a 13-3
lead.
Agricole, the French captain on the day, then found herself
in trouble as she was sin-binned for illegally using her hands in
the ruck, leaving her side down to 14.
In a half of to and fro rugby, Canada once again responded
promptly, with number 8 Kelly Russell diving over the line from a
five-metre scrum, bringing the score to 13-8 just before half time.
France began the second half as they did the first, putting
pressure onto the Canadian defence. The French duly scored their
third try of the game through flanker Vaupre following a lineout in
the Canada 22, allowing the pack to drive over the try-line.
Canada were unlucky not to score when a lovely backs move cut
a hole in the French defence, only for the ball to be dropped
centimetres short of the try-line.
Throughout the second half, both teams cancelled each other
out with their expansive games. Canada, looking to reduce the
deficit, were often frustrated by handling errors, while France
failed to gain territory as kicks fell short of touch.
With a little under 10 minutes left, the French
all-but-sealed victory when centre Godiveau ran unchallenged
through the Canadian defence for her second and France's fourth
try, picking up the bonus point and taking her side out to 23-8.
There was no way back for Canada, who must now wait to see
whether they have done enough to secure the other semi final place
or whether the likes of Australia or Ireland can rack up enough
points to pip them to the best second placed spot.
POST MATCH REACTION
France number 8 Claire Canal: "We are really
happy to have beaten Canada. We are in the semi finals and it's
really amazing. Nobody thought we would win the game and so it
shows that this French team is not a bad team.
"They [Canada] are a good team. We saw on the video that
they are a quick team and very athletic, they have strong forwards
but we have strong forwards too. I hope we make it to the
final."
Canada coach John Long: "We had our times
today. We showed that we can attack with the ball, but we just
didn't have the ball today and France did a great job of
stopping us from playing.
"We'll have to wait and see [if we reach the
semi-finals]. It's a case of hoping that the games go our way.
It's not in our hands anymore. You've got to play the best
to win the World Cup, so it doesn't matter who we face as long
as we go through first and foremost."
SCOTLAND v SWEDEN
By Francesca Waite
Scotland ended the pool stages of Women's Rugby World Cup
2010 on a high after beating Sweden 32-5 in the opening match of
the day at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, England, on Saturday.
The Scots, beaten 17-7 by France last time out, scored the
first try of the game after only four minutes, when a lineout deep
in the Swedish half turned into a fierce maul pushing second row
Lindsay Wheeler over the line.
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Number 8 Donna Kennedy then used her unwavering strength and
skill to make it through four Swedish defenders for a quick hand
off to fly half Erin Kerr, although it was Lucy Millard who
streaked ahead and flew towards the line to score Scotland's
second try.
Sweden's Jessica Melin stopped a speeding Katy Green from
dotting down another try, but shortly afterwards Kennedy, playing
in her fifth World Cup, used her strength to score Scotland's
first try of the opening quarter.
Ulrika Andersson-Hall, the Swedish captain and fly half, was
again the lynchpin and looking for ways to find space for her
teammates, but despite their spirit and determination it was
Scotland who went in at half time leading 20-0.
Shortly after the restart, Swedish wing Charlotta
Westin-Vines intercepted the ball to gain some territory for her
side as they spent the longest time they had in the Scottish half
of Pitch 2.
Scotland, though, remained firm and fought back, again
choosing to play expansively across the pitch. Second row Susie
Brown turned over the ball and ran forward, putting her team firmly
back into the Swedish half with Green ultimately weaving her way to
score the bonus point try unchallenged.
Millard, a livewire in the Scottish midfield, proved her
mettle again, picking up a loose ball in her opponent's half
and grounding the ball between the posts, untouched by the Swedish
defence just like Green, as the lead grew to 32-0.
Even with the score mounting, Sweden never gave up the task
in hand but handling errors meant that scoring was just beyond
their reach, until that is Andersson-Hall broke through the defence
and found centre Johanna Norberg to touch down their only points of
the match.
The win means Scotland finish third in Pool C with five
points, four more than Sweden, so while the latter know they can
finish no higher than ninth, the Scots face a nervous wait to find
out where they finish up in the seedings.
POST MATCH REACTION
Scotland coach Gary Parker: "We are really
pleased. We've played like this for the first couple of games
in spells against Canada and France. We made mistakes against
France which cost us. Today, I thought we played smart rugby, we
moved the ball around and scored three or four really good tries.
Potentially we could have, and should have, scored a couple more.
"It shows a wee test of character, we knew we had to
score five points today to give ourselves a chance of getting
ourselves into the middle bracket and we said to the girls all
week, all we can do is our job and I'm really pleased because
today, again in spells we looked a really good rugby side compared
to what Scotland has been in the last 12 to 14 months."
Scotland captain Lynne Reid: "The girls are
really pleased and I'm really pleased with the performance. I
think confident that we still continued to play like we have in the
previous two games. However I think the difference was certainly in
the first 20 minutes and first half performance.
I guess we certainly looked inside ourselves and individually
and know what we had to do coming into this game. It was very
important that we didn't lose sight of the fact that we needed
to win the game and just play our style of rugby that we've
been showcasing all of this competition and we knew if could
execute the points would come."
Scotland try scorer Lucy Millard: "I'll
be disappointed [if we miss out on the fifth to eighth play-offs]
but you take the chances when you are there. We didn't take a
point against France when we arguably should have tried to get one.
We are put where we deserve to be so we will take whatever comes at
us."
Sweden captain Ulrika Andersson-Hall: "I'm extremely disappointed; I think we gave away too many penalties and made too many mistakes in the beginning. We were very psyched up for this game, maybe too psyched up. Maybe we too full on, we made the mistakes and gave away the penalties.
"We came here saying every game that we can win is good. We want to climb the rankings, so we'll have to go for the [number] nine spot and that's climbing one position in the rankings."
Sweden coach Jonas Ahl: "It's one of
those days nothing works. The focus wasn't there and we dropped
too many balls. Just one of those days where we went to work and it
didn't work, and we have to pick it up from here.
"You make mistakes and you have to learn by it and talk
it through, and it's the same with this (Women's RWC 2010)
- we're going to be a better staff, better squad, better team,
better country after this. Everything's going to be better
after this."
