England thrash France in final World Cup warm-up

Prop Maud Muir scored Englands third try of four in their comprehensive win over France

France (3) 6

Pens: Bourgeois 2

England (19) 40

Tries: Talling, Cokayne, Muir, Jones, Atkin-Davies 2 Cons: Harrison 5

England made a major statement in their final warm-up match before the 2025 Rugby World Cup as their forward supremacy told in a comprehensive victory away to France.

The Red Roses dominated in the maul throughout the match at Stade Guy Boniface, scoring their three first-half tries through forwards Morwenna Talling, Amy Cokayne and Maud Muir.

A moment of quick-thinking extended the lead after half-time. As France gave away a penalty from a scrum and the packs came up, scrum-half Natasha Hunt span the ball to the left and Megan Jones collected to score unopposed.

Replacement hooker Lark Atkin-Davies bowled over for two late tries which added gloss to the scoreline. Both were converted by Zoe Harrison, who kicked well all night - converting five tries and hitting the post with the other effort.

While not a note-perfect performance, it extends Englands winning run against France to 16 successive matches.

And with the Red Roses potentially set to face the French - ranked fourth in the world - in the World Cup semi-finals, it will give further confidence to John Mitchells side that they can get their hands on a second World Cup trophy.

Mitchell had told his players that the priority in Mont-de-Marsan was performance, rather than extending their winning streak to a 27th match.

That said, England recording their biggest win over France since a 43-8 win in the 2009 Nations Cup, and their largest margin of victory across their last 30 meetings, will not have gone amiss.

And his side look relaxed - smiling their way through the national anthem, doing their trademark rodeo celebration following Jones try - and confident, executing their game plan where needed and playing to their strengths.

The clear strength is in the pack.

Harrison, who retained her spot at fly-half from the 97-7 demolition of Spain, kicked for the corner wherever possible. England dominated the line-out, and when it broke into a maul it nearly always led to a try.

There are still questions to be answered, particularly among the backs. The loose passes seen here may be punished by New Zealand or Canada next month. And there were opportunities for more tries, however knock-ons at inopportune times stopped the scoreline being even more lopsided.

But this was a showing to demonstrate exactly why England are world number ones and favourites for the World Cup.

Even with errors, it was far more ruthless than the last meeting with France, when a 24-point lead was squandered to allow Les Bleues to get within a point in a classic that ended 43-42 to Mitchells side.

Here, England were undaunted by a partisan crowd of around 7,000, nor the competitiveness of the hosts which belied the term friendly in Frances only World Cup warm-up game - with captain Manae Feleu sin-binned in the first half amid a ferocious breakdown battle.

It bodes well for 22 August, when England kick off their home World Cup campaign against the United States at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.