WNC: South Africa surprise France
On the opening day of the Women’s Nations Cup at Appleby College in Ontario, Canada, South Africa, not one of the powers in women's rugby, surprised France who managed only a last-gasp 17-all draw while England cruised home 36-7 against the USA.
South Africa were unlucky not to open their Women’s Nations Cup campaign with a victory, a last-minute try from replacement Manon Andre snatching a draw for their fellow tournament debutants France.
The try came when South Africa were down to 14 players with replacement Phumeza Gadu having been sent to the sin bin for diving in at a ruck, something which France head coach Christian Galionnier admitted was a crucial development.
Galionnier said: “We had a real lack of possession. we're not especially fast and we dropped far too many balls. It was much easier for our forwards after the yellow. The sin-binning then opened the field up for our backs and we were able to score.”
South Africa had taken the lead through wing Marilize Jordaan’s try, but the French forwards drove towards the line to create a score for Aurelie Bailon to level the match at 7-7.
Enjoying the edge in possession and dominating set pieces, South Africa again edged ahead with flyhalf Zandile Nojoko slicing through the French defence to touch down. Once more though France came back with Babrile Mutis’s try cutting the deficit to two points.
Nojoko kicked a penalty from near the touchline to put South Africa within touching distance of the first victory, but fatigue began to set in and the sin-binning gave France the impetus to create the one final score following a series of pick and goes.
South Africa coach Denver Wannies said: “we'll take the draw, but naturally there'll be some disappointment after we boasted a fairly comfortable 14-7 lead.
“But we must not forget that France are a team who regularly compete on the international stage, and so this result does goes a long way in telling us where we are in terms of our performances against competitors.
“Obviously we'd like to win more matches and that will come with some regular matches. we'll take all the positives from this performance and try and work on some of the negatives that is still in our game. Hopefully, we'll get the winning result against Canada.”
Scorers:
For South Africa:
Tries: Marilize Jordaan, Zandile Nojoko
Conversions: Zandile Nojoko 2
Penalty: Zandile Nojoko
For France
Tries: Aurelie Bailon, Babrile Mutis, Manon Andre
Conversion: Aurelie Bailon.
England, the defending champions, had led only 10-7 at half-time but upped the momentum after the restart and scored tries from lock Sarah Beale, wing Fiona Pocock and centre Emily Scarratt (2).
USA had actually started the brighter, opening the scoring in the eighth minute when an interception led to a try for wing Amy Daniels, but England responded with scores from Jo McGilchrist and Pocock.
England coach Gary Street said: “Just as expected it was a physical challenge from the outset and the USA started brightly. We knew, however, that our conditioning would take over and eventually our superior skill set showed and we dominated the second half in territory and possession. It was a good start overall.”
Kathy Flores, the Women’s Eagles coach, admitted that while her side had put their opponents “under a lot of pressure that England is not used to” ultimately errors allowed the defending champions to emerge victorious.
Flores said: “All throughout the game we struggled with the basic skills and there was a lot of dropped ball. England is a professional side and once you allow these types of breakdowns, they will take advantage. Once they get out in front, it’s difficult to play catch up against such an experienced squad.”
Scorers:
For England:
Tries: Jo McGilchrist, Fiona Pocock 2, Sarah Beale, Emily Scarratt 2
Cons: Katy McLean 3
For the USA:
Try: Amy Daniels
Con: Stephanie Bruce
From the IRB