England Women’s Rugby Union and Men’s League sides both cruised to comfortable wins on the weekend as they set sights for World Cup glory.
England’s Women thrashed South Africa 75-0 to top pool C and set up a tantalising quarter-final against Australia.
A heavily rotated Red Roses side ran in a remarkable 13 tries as they overpowered the Springboks in Auckland, with hat-tricks from second row Rosie Galligan and and hooker Connie Powell.
Coach Simon Middleton was full of praise for his side, but admitted frailties in the opening exchanges of Sunday morning’s triumph: “I’m absolutely thrilled. We knew it would be a tough game and it was. We were just a little bit loose with the ball and South Africa put us under pressure.
“But we composed ourselves and went to a game that got us a good foothold in the match and we were able to work the game how we wanted.”
Middleton’s team have extended their record streak to 28 wins and are now potentially three matches from World cup glory.
The Red Roses’ first hurdle in Australia have proved surmountable in recent history; their last meeting in 2017 saw England win 53-10 in the International Women’s Rugby Series in Wellington.
Beyond the Wallaroos challenge lies a potential semi-final clash against Canada and a grandstand final on 12 November, with France or New Zealand the most likely to progress on the other side of the draw.
It was further World Cup elation for England, with the Men’s Rugby League team running out 42-18 winners against France on Saturday.
Host nation England tallied up seven tries in all, with wingers Ryan Hall and Dominic Young contributing two each, and are officially through to the quarter-finals after Samoa’s victory over Greece.
It was another case of a rotated line-up for England; head coach Shaun Wane made five alterations to the matchday squad of 17 that battered Samoa 60-6, but Wane says changes can only be a positive.
“We’re a good team, we’ve got a good (squad of) 24 and we need to keep that competition.
“I don’t want to make my team selections easy, I want them to be really hard and I want a conversation to be had. I’ve got a great group of staff who work so hard to prepare these players.”
England’s final group game sees them face bottom of the group Greece in Sheffield, who hopes of maintaining their 100% record and getting through unscathed for the real tests in the knockout stages.
