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.
