England booked their place in the Women’s World Cup semi-finals with a seven-try win over the United States in Dublin, but they will have been disappointed with their defence in the final quarter. They had the try bonus point secured in little over half an hour, but the scores did not come from the fluid, running rugby they had produced in the wins over Spain and Italy. Here they drew on the strength of their forward pack. The USA’s line speed in defence gave England little room to manoeuvre in open play but the States had no answer to the defending champions’ power at the set-piece and Katy Mclean’s pinpoint kicking game. Emily Scarratt scored the first try, Mclean putting a clever grubber behind the…

Source: The Times August 17, 2017 16:18 UTC