France beat England in Marseille

The uncapped friendly was the warm-up act to the a full test between the sides this weekend with the home nation drawing first blood.

At the rain soaked Jean Bouin Stadium both sides, who featured a wide range of new faces in their match day squads, struggled with the conditions in the first half.

France came close to scoring after 12 minutes with fullback Jessy Tremouliere executing a good chip deep into Englands 22 but Ceri Large covered to keep the home side scoreless.

England too had their chances with captain Sarah Hunter at the heart of the action, while Michaela Staniford and Kim Oliver were also in the thick of it, but the visitors could not convert their efforts on the scoreboard.

England coach Gary Street rang the changes at half time with six players coming on which meant all of Englands uncapped players got their first taste of senior international rugby.

After the break France came close to scoring early with wing Dsioni Aguerre making a nice break on the left wing and crossing, but the score was disallowed.

England came back fighting and some good work by scrum half Rose Jay at a French scrum saw her put her opposite number under pressure and Harriet Millar-Mills picked up to get the ball out to Englands backs. England couldnt break through Frances strong defence so they recycled the ball out to the left wing, where French numbers were low, and Thompson was clear to break through and score. Large, however, couldnt make the conversion.

On 49 minutes France had their chance to hit back with a penalty but fly half Aurelie Bailon missed. It did not matter though with lock Assa Koita making up the difference and more with an important try for France thanks to a well worked line out, catch and drive. With Tremouliere converting France took the lead 7-5.

Matters were made worse for England four minutes later when Wilson was sent to the sin bin for conceding a penalty in her own 22, and France made the most of their one player advantage with some strong line outs and scrums near to Englands try line immediately after. In the end England were penalised for constant infringements as France battered Englands try line. They were duly awarded a penalty try which Tremouliere converted to hand France a more healthy lead and eventually the victory.

Nathalie Amiel, France assistant coach said: "The changes we made at halftime made a difference and we played better in the second half. Jessy Trmoulire had a very good game for us having played at number 10 last week against Italy.

England Head Coach Gary Street said: This game provided us with the opportunity to find out a lot about our new, young players. We always knew it was going to be a tough game with so little preparation time and such a young squad. The difficult pitch conditions didnt help either but that was the same for both sides and to be honest France deserved to win this game.

We now go into Saturdays capped test match with a lot more information about our players and we have the luxury of having a couple of days on our side before being able to pick our strongest team that we have available.

England

15 Kay Wilson (Bristol), 14 Katherine Merchant (Worcester), 13 Michaela Staniford (Wasps), 12 Kimberley Oliver (Bristol), 11 Lydia Thompson (Worcester), 10 Ceri Large (Worcester), 9 Natasha Hunt (Lichfield), 1 Rochelle Clark (Worcester), 2 Amy Turner (Richmond), 3 RosemarieCrowley (Lichfield), 4 Harriet Millar-Mills (Lichfield), 5 Rowena Burnfield (Richmond), 6 Alexandra Matthews (Richmond), 7 Hannah Gallagher (Saracens), 8 SarahHunter (Lichfield), Replacements: 16 Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield), 17 Laura Keates (Worcester), 18 Tamara Taylor(Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 19 Isobel Noel-Smith (Bristol), 20 Rose Jay (Lichfield), 21 Sarah McKenna (Wasps), 22 Emily Scarratt (Lichfield)

Substitutions: Fleetwood for Turner, Keates for Clark, Taylor for Hunter, Noel-Smith for Matthews, McKenna for Oliver, Jay for Hunt (all HT).

France

15 TREMOULIERE JESSY, 14 POIROT ANAS, 13 DI MUZIO LAURA, 12 ANASTASSIADIS AUDREY, 11 AGUERRE DIONI, 10 BAILON AURELIE, 9 TRONCY JENNIFER (C), 1 EZANNO HELENE, 2 MIGNOT GALLE, 3 PORTARIES ELODIE, 4 MERT ELODIE, 5 KOTA ASSA, 6 CANAL CLAIRE, 7 ANDRE MANON, 8 FORLANI AUDREY.Substitutions16 ARRICASTRE LISE, 17 DUPONT EMELINE, 18 BOUISSET CYRIELLE, 19 RABIER SANDRA, 20 PELLE CHLOE, 21 MAYANS MARJORIE, 22 YAHE MARIE ALICE