England v France live: Red Roses battle past bitter rivals in Women’s World Cup semi-final

England prop Hannah Botterman was also immense today and has discussed England’s performance as well as the prospect of playing Canada in next weekend’s final.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Botterman said: “She [Ellie Kildunne] played well, didn't she? A few girls could have taken it [player of the match], but she does score wonder tries, doesn't she but everyone was deserving.

"I have really enjoyed playing these big games. We were excited and we wanted to get this job done, and we have one more massive job to do next weekend. I wanted to put a marker down, put my best rugby out there and I did that in certain areas but we have a massive week coming up."

On Canada in the final: "No surprise, they have been playing very good rugby, a different style, but we are excited to play them.

"We will fire into this week and hopefully go one further. No celebrations (tonight) - we have not won anything.”

Meg Jones was everywhere today and she’s given her thoughts on the win

Jones told BBC Sport: “I feel like I am on a massive comedown already, so much elation and I am super proud of the girls. We fronted up in defence, there is a lot of passion in our defence, we are relentless, and we have earned the right for another week, and we go again.

"In attack we can brush up on a few things, trust the process, but we are super confident going in to next week."

Ellie Kildunne was named player of the match and has reflected on England reaching the final.

Kildunne told BBC Sport: "It's insane. I have stolen that (player-of-the-match award) from the rest of the team, all the forwards, the defence they put in I barely had to make a tackle, so I don't know why I have got it!

"The rest of the team do the work, it was insane. I am buzzing, it is all we have been dreaming of, we will keep our heads down, we know what is coming and you're all going to be excited to watch. I don't know what to say any more!"

Hardly a flawless performance from England but a few individual displays did light up Bristol.

Meg Jones was one of those as the centre tore around the pitch like a back row, winning turnover after turnover at the breakdown.

And she got herself a well-deserved try at the death as well

And so England, just about, march on, the Red Roses winning machine and the 82,000 that will accompany them rolling into Twickenham next week.

How hard they had to work, though, to book their ticket to their own party, how deep they had to go to overcome a French wave that threatened to sweep away their World Cup dreams.

Forget the final scoreline, an 18-point margin not reflecting how close a contest this had felt. If the first semi-final between Canada and New Zealand had produced a performance to remember, this was a final-four clash of old school charm, niggly, nervy, and contested with hellacious physicality in spaces open and tight.

Crucially, though, the Red Roses go on – the thought of a dispiriting final week with the hosts’ competition over dismissed in two flashes of Ellie Kildunne’s bright white boots. This was not a performance to leave Canada quaking yet England’s World Cup chances remain very much alive.

Read Harry Latham-Coyle’s full report from Ashton Gate:

Here are some of the highlights from that hard-fought 35-17 victory:

Two spectacular solo tries and Ellie Kildunne deservedly named player of the match for her performance. She made 273 metres on the ground.

Hannah Botterman joking that Kildunne stole it from her but it’s hard to argue (although Botterman was sublime)

Harrison boots into the stands and England win! That wasn’t always convincing from the heavy favourites but they’ve battled through and beaten their biggest rivals.

Defensively, the Red Roses were superb and at the breakdown, they were great. Not brilliant in attack where they wasted chance after chance, France were right int he game but England managed to pull away late on.

Canada await in the World Cup final and dare I say that England will need to improve to win that one.

The icing on the cake! Meg Jones gets a try that her work-rate and overall performance today more than deserve.

Aitchison grubber kicks through, it bounces off the post and into the hands of the chasing Jones, who can dive over the line. Job done for the Red Roses

England just seeing this game out now and they know that Canada await in the World Cup final.