The semi-finals won by England and New Zealand were two brilliant games which were an exhilarating advert for rugby
Wow. What an enthralling World Cup semi-final day. England and New Zealand scraped through by their fingernails. They were two brilliant games and such an exhilarating advert for the game, not just women’s rugby.
England were thoroughly tested by Canada, the only amateur side who were left in the tournament. But boy did they hardly look amateur. They embodied the underdog spirit and challenged the Red Roses from start to finish and had them on the back foot for large periods.
Canada made two big mistakes that ultimately cost them, losing two line-outs in crucial areas which would have been game-changing had they executed them.
They did not always have the finishing edge which England, as a professional side, showed. You could almost say their professionalism, as it has done so many times against the other teams in the “big four” of women’s rugby, paid off. They know how to close out a game. They know how to build a score.