How England's breakdown brilliance denied France and could decide the final

A captivating set of Women's Rugby World Cup semifinals leave two key questions: Can Canada produce the same sort of performance that dethroned New Zealand again on the sport's biggest stage?

- HARRY LATHAM-COYLE

And can England afford to be as clunky and disconnected as they were for much of their win over France and still emerge as champions on home soil? In its totality, here was a weekend of glorious contrast that this tournament perhaps needed, two beautiful battles in very different ways contested with an intensity befitting an event that has catapulted women's rugby into a spotlight it deserves.

One would still suspect that the Red Roses, now 32 games unbeaten, will take some stopping at Twickenham next week on their day of destiny, but assessing the finalists only on their most recent outing provides a straightforward conclusion. Even England would probably admit that the finest performance of the weekend came from the Canadians, vanquishing the Women's World Cup's perennial final boss with a performance of extreme accuracy and the clinical edge that the rest of the last four lacked.

But England scrap onwards, surely better for their first true test of the tournament. There were times at Ashton Gate on Saturday afternoon where the crowd knew not what to make of France's superiority - but the final 20 minutes showed how Les Bleues had erred in not making the most of their earlier opportunities to build scoreboard pressure. Coaches crave efficiency in the opposition 22 above almost all else; at halftime, France had ventured into the English “red-zone” eight times and had just five points to show for it.

It was a difficult defensive performance in many ways from the home favourites, cut repeatedly in the outside channels and losing plenty of collisions in close-in combat, but there was one area where the Sarah Hunter-drilled defence excelled. Ellie Kildunne may have taken the plaudits as the official player of the match, but every Red Rose after the win sought to highlight the contributions of Hannah Botterman and Meg Jones, the loosehead and outside centre, brilliant at the breakdown on a day of the jackal that England needed.