England crush France in final Women's Rugby World Cup warm-up

The England Women's Rugby team concluded their warm-up matches before the 2025 Rugby World Cup with a comprehensive 40-6 demolition of France in Paris on Saturday. That represented the biggest winning margin over their cross-Channel rivals in 16 years and  strengthens the position of the Red Roses as firm World Cup favourites. 

France, ranked fourth in the world, are England's potential World Cup semi-final opponents which should give a further shot in the arm to the confidence of the tournament hosts. 

England's scored three tries in each half with a dominant performance from the Red Roses' forward line. If there are any issues around the team's performance it is in relation to the backs, whose loose passes are likely to be punished by the likes of New Zealand and Canada in the World Cup. 

England boss John Mitchell made 11 changes to the side that recorded a 97-7 victory over Spain the previous weekend with the visitors needed less than four minutes to make their mark, scoring on their first visit to the French 22. The six England’s tries came from Morwenna Talling, Amy Cokayne, Maud Muir and Meg Jones, augmented by two late scores from Lark Atkin-Davies,. 

Attention now turn to England's World Cup opener against the USA in Sunderland on August 22nd. 

Catch all the match highlights here: