England target improvement after winning World Cup ‘arm wrestle’ with France

The Red Roses top their pool after opening the tournament with two wins

(Getty Images)

Head coach Simon Middleton insisted England must improve after the Red Roses battled to a 13-7 Rugby World Cup victory over France in Whangarei.

England controlled a bruising physical contest for large periods and 13 points from Emily Scarratt put them in command on the scoreboard too.

But France had opportunities to snatch a dramatic win after Gaelle Hermet’s 64th-minute converted try set up a grandstand finish.

“First and foremost, hats off to France,” Middleton told ITV after England had extended their unbeaten run to 27 games.

“We had them under a massive amount of pressure in that game, but they’re so tough. I think we’ve had seven or eight games against them now with less than a score.

“They are so never-say-die and dogged and rescued two or three difficult situations for them.

“But there was definitely a bit missing from our finishing, that’s why we ended up in such a close encounter.

“We’ve got to be better and putting those away, because then it looks like a different game. It turned into an absolute arm wrestle.

“I’m really proud because we showed great composure at the end.

“We won the kicking battle for territory and we ran the clock down and managed the game really well in the last five to 10 minutes. That’s massively important when you’re in huge pressure situations.”

England top Pool C with nine points from two games after backing up their opening 84-19 thrashing of Fiji.

The Red Roses complete their pool fixtures against South Africa in Auckland on October 23.

Middleton said: “We will have a few days off as everybody’s worked so hard since they’ve been here. They will be able to put their feet up a bit.

“We’ll have a look at the squad for next week.

“There are some players who deserve some game time, and get as much of the squad on the field as we can.

“But we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the synergy and combinations of the squad are right.”