England to play Ireland in the Women"s Rugby World Cup semi-finals

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ENGLAND will play Ireland in the semi-final of the Women’s Rugby World Cup on Wednesday (5pm) at Stade Jean Bouin.

After an enthralling 13-13 draw with Canada on Saturday at Marcoussis, England topped pool A on points difference and finished the group stages as third seeds behind hosts France and Ireland.

France, who beat Australia 17-3 to knock them out of the World Cup on Saturday, and fourth seeds Canada will contest the other semi-final.

But defending champions New Zealand, who beat England in the final in 2006 and 2010, are out after a 17-14 defeat at the hands of Ireland last Tuesday.

Head coach Gary Street said: “Ireland are a side we know extremely well from playing them in the Six Nations so this is a clash we are really excited about.

“They play a fast expansive game and we now have three days to prepare.

“We know that we can improve on today – we made too many silly errors, some of which were quite uncharacteristic.

“But in some ways that is the exciting thing, we still haven’t reached our potential yet.”

Drybrook fly-half Ceri Large, University of Gloucestershire students Danielle Waterman and Heather Fisher and Gloucester-born Natasha Hunt started, while former Hartpury College student Alex Matthews featured from the bench in England’s decisive group clash with Canada.

England opened the scoring with an Emily Scarratt penalty in the ninth minute but it was Canada, who had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory, who drew first blood.

Their rumbling maul crashed over in the 16th minute with Karen Paquin grounding the ball, but Magali Harvey’s conversion sailed wide.

Playmaker Large continued to open the game up for England on the attack but the backs failed to capitalise as sloppy handling and simple handling errors cost them dear.

A beautifully weighted kick found Waterman but the former Hartpury College lecturer knocked it on, and wing Katherine Merchant did the same minutes later.

A Scarratt penalty just before half-time split the posts to give England a 6-5 lead at the break.

Canada came out fighting in the second half as Kayla Mack crashed over from a driving maul in the 46th minute, but the conversion from Harvey drifted wide.

England desperately needed to find a score and it came from captain Sarah Hunter.

A driving scrum bulldozed over, with Hunter controlling the movement superbly before touching down. Scarratt kicked the conversion cleanly to give England a 13-10 lead.

Both sides continued to press for the crucial victory.

Harvey, having missed three from three kicks, got it right when she had to.

She split the posts with a penalty in the 73rd minute to level the scores at 13-13.

Despite frantic chances, neither side could break the deadlock.

ENGLAND: D Waterman, K Merchant (K Wilson, 60) , E Scarrett, R Burford, C Allan, C Large (K McLean, 60), N Hunt, R Clark, E Croker (V Fleetwood, 50), S Hemming (L Keates, 50), R Essex (J McGilchrist, 56), T Taylor, H Fisher (A Matthews, 50), M Alphonsi, S Hunter (c)

REPLACEMENTS: L T Mason

CANADA: E Alarie, M Harvey, M Marchak, A Burk, J Dovanne, E Belchos, S Bernier, M Pinault-Reid, K Donaldson, H Leith, L Blackwood, M Samson, J Murphy, K Paquin, K Russell (c)

REPLACEMENTS: L Russell, O DeMarchant, M J Kirby, T Beukeboom, K Mack, J Zussman, B Waters

Article source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jun/28/craig-mitchell-escapes-jail-brisbane-brawl

England to play Ireland in the Women"s Rugby World Cup semi-finals