England v France rugby score: Red Roses pick up second win of Women’s Rugby Union World Cup tournament

England Women have followed up their thumping 84-19 win against Fiji with a slender victory over France to make it two wins from two in this year’s Rugby Union World Cup.

Before this match, England had won their last 10 matches against France and their last 26 Test matches in total - they made sure both of these records were extended in Whangarei, New Zealand.

Emily Scarratt did all of the point scoring for England, with her try, conversion and two penalties putting her side out of reach of their French counterparts.

France made it a nervy final 20 minutes for England when Gaelle Hermet scored a 64th minute try to open the scoring for the French- Caroline Drouin converted the try with ease to leave the score 13-7 to England with just over 15 minutes left.

The final 10 minutes were scrapy as the nervousness of the occasion began to show in both sets of players, but England did enough to seal an important victory and move one step further to sealing their place in the knockout stages of the tournament.

France came close at the end to snatching a victory they perhaps felt their efforts deserved- but England held on.

England’s final Pool match is against South Africa, whilst France will be up against Fiji.