England v France: As it happened

A cool but dry evening here at Twickenham - significantly better than forecast yesterday.

The teams are as programme, ie:

England:15 Kay Wilson, 14 Claire Allan, 13 Amber Reed, 12 Rachel Burford, 11 Ruth Laybourn, 10 Katy McLean (Capt), 9 La Toya Mason, 1 Rochelle Clark, 2 Emma Croker, 3 Sophie Hemming, 4 Tamara Taylor,  5 Emily Braud, 6 Marlie Packer, 7 Maggie Alphonsi, 8 Becky Essex

France:15 Jessy Tremouliere, 14 Laurelin Fourcade, 13 Marion Lievre, 12 Lucille Godiveau, 11 Elodie Guiglion, 10 Sandrine Agricole, 1 Helene Ezanno, 2 Gaelle Mignot, 3 Christelle Chobet, 4 Sandra Rabier, 5 Assa Koita, 6 Coumba Tombe Diallo, 7 Manon Andre, 8 Safi N'Diaye.

No new caps in either starting line-up - should be a great game.

Anthems over, and a good crowd has stayed for this - both sides of the field this time, at least 50% more than for the same fixture in the Six Nations- possibly double.

England will start.

2 Mins: Early break by Ruth Laybourn -  but just a step into touch. Good defence by Tremouliere. No try.

5 mins: French pack looks to have the upper hand in the early stages, but the English backline is always threatening and is breaking tackles.

10 mins. A couple of penalties and England get down to French 5m line - but its well defended by France. English maul not gaining ground. English scrum on 5m defended by France, but resulting in another penalty - and they chose another scrum. But again France defend well.

14 mins.Essex then Alphonsi go for the line, are held up but the narrowed French defence leaves room for Kay Wilson out wide on the left. McLean's kick from out wide  - 5 m from touchline - is good. 7-0 to England.

France defending rather too narrowly - the pace of the England line is a huge threat.

17 mins. France penalty after England kick the ball away in the ruck. Agricole from 7m from left touchline well struck. England 7, France 3.

22 mins. France kicking the ball away too easily. Great turnover by the forwards - but Agricole then kicks downfield into England's hands. Good run by Amber Reed brought down by Tremouliere, England recycle to the centre and McLean seizes on a huge gap in the French line and touches down under the posts. easy kick. England 14 France 3.

26 mins. Try for Alphonsi. She nearly broke through a few moments before, but - despite winning the ball back - again a loose kick by France gave away possession.  England cutting French defence to pieces and Alphonsi cuts through the French line and scores. McLean's kick again good. England 21 France 3

34 minutes. A French attack gets to the England 5m, but Fourcade knocks on. As soon as England get the ball the line looks devastatingly dangerous. What looked a great tackle by Tremouliere on Laybourn is ruled illegal giving an English penalty. Line out won, swept wide and another huge two player overlap results, Claire Allan touching down. Kick missed. England 26 France 3.

French heads dropping a little as the half ends, but Yahe picks up the pace with a series of quick penalties - but again it breaks down and again England get it to the backs who explode forwards.Even so, France get the ball for the final play of the game. From a scrum they move the ball across the field but cannot break through. Even so a penalty results 25m out, 10 in from right. - and Agricole converts.

Half-time. England 26 France 6.

England simply look like scoring every time they get the ball. After a promising start by the French pack - English attempts to maul coming to naught - their advantage has been effectively neutralised by England using their backline on every occasion. France far too narrow for much of the half, beginning to respond a little by the end, but too little too late. Heads were beginning to drop, but Yahe lead a charge near the end that ultimately lead to a penalty which may have lifted them - but at present France have not looked at all likely to cross the line.

Second half:

Lenaig Corson is on for France at the start of the second half.

45 minutes. Continuing as the first half. France trying to play wider by a great back row move following a great break by Alphonsi. Smashing through the line. Try for Kay Wilson - and McLean adds the points again. 33-6 to England now.

48 mins. Lievre grabs an interception try for France - under the posts. Agricole converts. 33-13.

Mignot and Fourcade off for Salles and Metier.

53 minutes. Long penalty attempt for France from Agricole falls well short. Good chase forces a English clearance kick. France having a rather better period but still not threatening the English line, and England eventually clear.

Arricastre now also on for France.

58 mins. Yahe and France warned for too many infringements at the breakdown. Possible yellow cards to come.

Kay Wilson off with a leg injury - Staniford comes on to replace. Big cheers from the crowd!

60mins Mo Hunt and Hannah Gallagher come on. Rivoalen and Pin on for France.

65  mins. The game has slowed down significantly now as the replacements come on. Fleetwood and Millar-Mills now joins the action. Ceri Large joins as well on 67 mins.

68 mins Mistimed cross-kick by Audrey Parra almost comes off with a great take by Lievre - but she steps into touch. France have spent nearly 10 minutes in the English half - but nothing has come from it.

70 mins. Sasha Acheson comes on for her England debut..

73 minutes, Finally England get the ball in space - and Laybourn scores. Reed converts. 40-13 to England.

77 mins. One of France's best attacking move of the half, sweeping across the field... but a mistake by Metier on the final pass. Has been the story of the French attacking game.

79 minsBut even so France retain the initiative and Lievre cuts round the side on the right wing and scores. Agricole adds the points. 40-20 to England.

And that is how it ends.England 40 France 20.

Overall, England clearly the better team - and have moved on from the summer. They seemed to try the "traditional" England Plan A - driving mauls, forward power - but were held, and so switched to using the backline. The result was a 20 minute period in the first half that knocked France out of the game.

The second half was, on the face of it, more even - but even so it was England who were in command. For much of the half France had possession at the England end, but rarely looked like scoring.

However this was not an isolated test for France - it was their third test in a week, and England's first. Moreover the French management had deliberately restricted the number of on-field minutes any player could play over the three games, and also allowed their main sevens players to concentrate on preparations for Dubai ahead of this game. These artificial restrictions had an effect on the game.

It is hard to say that any French players played poorly - indeedFrance seem to have unearthed a new star in Marion Lievre - two tries in her first Twickenham test. Tremouliere also had a good game - highly talented she remains something of an enigma, however, and was her failure to move up into the line which probably allowed McLean to score the second try. Yahe was inspiring and lifted the team, Rivoalen looks like the next no 9, Agricole had a good game...  the main problem seemed to be tactical. A narrow defence, perhaps to counter the English pack (which they succeeded in doing) had simply no answer to the speed of the English backline.

England, on the other hand, played possibly their best game of 2013. Handling, tackling, running was full of confidence and belief.A deserved win on the dayby England. Now on to Canada on Wednesday.