England vs Australia live: Red Roses match record winning run in Women’s Rugby World Cup clash
England 47-7 Australia: The Red Roses topped Pool A despite a clunky showing in parts
England secured top spot in Pool A as they beat Australia 47-7 in despite a sloppy first-half showing in the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
The Red Roses had already booked their place in the last eight of the tournament after thrashing the United States and Samoa in their first two pool games, and matched their own record winning run of 30 matches with another victory here. The hosts were short of their best in the opening half-hour here, though, and suffered a double injury scare as both Ellie Kildunne (concussion) and Hannah Botterman (back spasm) departed. A quarter-final with Scotland in Bristol awaits.
For Australia’s Wallaroos, this was a critical fixture, and a 40-point defeat was sufficiently small to book their own place in the last eight, where Canada will be their opponents. Head coach Jo Yapp, a former England scrum half, will know the size of the task facing her side next weekend, but will have been pleased with the first half showing particularly here.
Follow all of the latest from the clash in Brighton with our live blog below:
England match record winning run with Australia victory – but sloppy first half shows World Cup vulnerability
It is the slightly peculiar aspect of this Women’s World Cup that England, winners in Brighton 47-7, might have come away only marginally more pleased with their performance than the Australia side that they thrashed. The Red Roses were pretty far short of their best in a sloppy first-half showing here, rocked and roughed up by a highly physical and intelligent Australian side.
The hosts came through to power out of sight in their trademark fashion to match their own record 30-match winning run, but play so sloppily for so long in the semi-finals or final and they may find themselves deeper in the mire.
England match record winning run – but sloppy first half shows vulnerability
Australia 'pose such a good challenge'
England's Abbie Ward speaking to BBC Sport: "Really excited to be in knockout rugby, we never get ahead of ourselves and never take anything for granted. Tonight was about tonight's game.
"I love Australia and playing against them, they pose such a good challenge.
'Amazing atmosphere' told BBC Sport:
England's Morwenna Talling to BBC Two: "This crowd was incredible. Australia came out firing. But it's just amazing. The atmosphere here now [is amazing].
"Women's rugby, there's 30,000 people here.
"We get presents all the time now. It's a privilege and an honour to be part of it."
'It took us a while to work them out': Natasha Hunt told BBC Sport
England's Natasha 'Mo' Hunt speaking to BBC Sport: "It was awesome, we are gutted because we didn't do what we wanted to do.
"Australia came our firing and it took us a while to work them out."
'We needed that' - Sadia Kabeya told BBC Sport:
England try-scorer Sadia Kabeya: "Yeah definitely, it was our toughest game so far. You can see in the first half we got put under pressure. But we needed it. A lot of things to work on and iron out.
"We have trust in the plan. We just went out there and did what we needed to do.
"We've got huge carriers across our forward pack. We've got threats across the park, our forwards can't take all the credit!"
On facing Scotland next: "We take each game as it comes. For me I'll be coming up against my Loughborough Lightning team-mates."
'We've shown we can do it'
Player of the Match – England captain Alex Matthews – speaking to BBC:
“I’m just so proud of the girls. We stuck at it in the first half, stuck to our game plan, and came out on top. That’s the challenge everyone out there has wanted us to have and we’ve shown we can do it."
Full time! England 47-7 Australia
The final whistle blows as England complete a perfect group stage defeating Australia 47-7 in Brighton for their third straight win.
England 47-7 Australia
79 mins: England press deep inside Australia’s 22, but Feaunati drops Harrison’s pass, resulting in a knock-on.
England 47-7 Australia
77 mins: England win a penalty just inside Australia’s half for an offside. They kick into the 22.
With their spot in the knockout stages nearly sealed, England come close to scoring but are held up for holding on.
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