England Women fight back to make winning start to Six Nations with 26-13 victory over France Women

England Women 26 France Women 13: Emily Scarratt kicks 16 points as world champions fought back from a 13-0 deficit to beat the reigning Six Nations holders

Sunday 05 February 2017 06:03 EST
Comments
Emily Scarratt scored 16 points to lead the turnaround
Emily Scarratt scored 16 points to lead the turnaround (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

England Women produced a stunning comeback to recover from a 13-point half-time deficit and defeat reigning Women's Six Nations champions France.

Emily Scarratt kicked 16 points as the Red Rose eventually triumphed 26-13 to start this year's tournament with a win.

The hosts began slowly at Twickenham and they were behind inside five minutes when Shannon Izar intercepted a loose pass and ran 80 yards to touch down.

A penalty from Christelle Le Duff increased the lead before a 32nd-minute try from skipper Gaelle Mignot put the French in a commanding position at the break.

Simon Middleton's side had plenty of work to do and they finally registered on the scoresheet four minutes into the second period through a well-struck penalty from Scarratt.

Danielle Waterman then dummied her way through to score in the corner and Scarratt added the conversion as the fightback gathered momentum.

England celebrate the victory at full-time
England celebrate the victory at full-time (Getty)

Scarratt's success with the boot continued and she made a match-winning contribution by kicking three penalties inside 13 minutes to put the home side six points ahead with time running out.

England Women celebrate their victory over France Women
England Women celebrate their victory over France Women (Getty)

After the disappointing first half performance, England managed to keep France's attack at bay in the second and they made sure of a memorable victory when Scarratt converted after Amy Wilson Hardy danced through to touch down late on.

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in