Lightning Lydia scoops winner
A DRAMATIC last minute try by wing Lydia Thompson earned the Red Roses a thrilling victory over France at Sandy Park.
In bright sunshine in front of 9,699 in Devon, England recorded their fourth win in a row against Les Bleues off the back of a 20-10 win in Clermont- Ferrand last weekend, the Red Roses' first win in France since 2012.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, where England came closest to scoring but an excellent defensive tackle prevented Emily Scarratt from crossing, it was Jessy Tremouliere's penalty that gave the visitors the lead.
France then got the opening try of the game when scrum half Laure Sansus kicked over the top inside the 22, and beat the covering defence to the bounce to hack forward her own kick and then gather to cross.
After missing her first attempt from the tee, Scarratt got England on the board through a simple penalty in front of the posts, and after England worked through a number of phases to earn a second penalty, she knocked that over for a 6-8 half-time deficit as well as reaching 500 points in Test rugby.
The first points after the break went England's way with another Scarratt penalty and some territory inside the France 22 was rewarded with more points, again from Scarratt's boot for a 12-8 lead.
The French crossed for a second time on 65 minutes to retake the lead when, from a five-metre scrum, Sansus darted down the blindside to work a two-onone and fed Caroline Boujard for an easy score, with Tremouliere adding the conversion.
England played the closing stages of the game a player down after Zoe Aldcroft was sent to the sin bin for her clearout but Romane Menager was also shown a yellow card minutes later for being offisde.
A poor clearance kick allowed the Red Roses to secure their last minute try when the ball was worked to the right wing and Scarratt fed Thompson who sprinted in and dived over for the victory.
TEAMS
ENGLAND: McKenna, Thompson, Scarratt, Harrison, Dow; Daley-McLean, Riley; Botterman, Davies, Bern, Aldcroft, Scott, Beckett, Packer, Hunter (c). Replacements: Kerr, Perry, Brown, Cleall, Fleetwood, Hunt, Scott, Breach
FRANCE: Tremouliere, Boujard, Boudaud, Vernier, Jason, Peyronnet, Sansus; Deshaye, Sochat, Joyeux, Corson, N'Diaye, Ferer, Hermet (c), R Menager. Replacements: Thomas, Domain, Traore, Roux, Annery, Bourdon, Castel, M Menager
REFEREE: Rebecca Mahoney
ATTENDANCE: 9,699
Star player Emily Scarratt – England
