Thompson and Burford return to England squad for semi-final

England, the current world number ones and defending World Cup champions, will face off against France in the Women’s World Cup semi-finals. The tournament favorites confirmed their place in the semis after a seven-try victory over the USA and will now head to Belfast to take on France in order to move one step closer to retaining their status as world champions. They could come up against New Zealand in the final after they comfortably beat Canada 48-5, qualifying for the semi-finals as the top seeds.

England were impressive in their display against the USA. Emily Scarratt was in great form, scoring the first try, a penalty try and landing five conversions. Marie Packer waded in with a brace and Katy Mclean went over too. They led 33-7 at half-time, with the job pretty much done. Amy Wilson-Hardy and Amy Cockayne added further tries after the break for England and even though the USA rallied back, England’s first half dominance was enough to see them go through.

Now the Red Roses have France to contend with and then they’re likely to meet New Zealand in the final, should they get there. France have been in superb form throughout the tournament so far and had to be at their best again to end home nation Ireland’s hopes of making it to the semi-finals. France have also won two out of the last four Six Nation titles, so England can’t afford to treat this game lightly. All reputable online betting operators like Unibet - have England as odds on favourites at 4/7, whilst France is 27/20. However, the match will be close and extremely competitive.

Les Bleues will be hoping that it’s seventh time lucky for them in terms of reaching the semi-finals. They’ve got to this stage on six other occasions but have never made it further than this point. They are heading into the game against the Red Roses in top form though and England haven’t faced anyone on the same level as France so far in the competition. It certainly dispels the rumour that Les Bleues don’t travel well, especially after such an emphatic win over host nation Ireland.

England’s biggest advantage is that they’re the only professional side in the competition. That combined with their forward pack offers them the biggest chance of overcoming France to make the World Cup final. The Red Roses yielded three of five scores against New Zealand in June thanks to their driving maul and against the USA in their last game, four out of their seven tries came in the same manner. It’s certainly a weapon that they will look to use against Les Bleues but they will face tougher resistance then they have so far from their previous opponents in the tournament.

France will be looking to their firepower to help them make it to the World Cup final. Caroline Ladagnous and Shannon Izar won’t pass up chances to finish and Safi N’Diaye will be looking to combat the likes of Marlie Packer and Sarah Hunter.

It should be a very intense, thrilling and gripping match that arguably sees the best side in the world, England, take on the form side of the tournament, France. The winner of the tie will have it all to do in the final as you’d expect New Zealand to be waiting for them.

The winner of the contest will face either New Zealand or USA in the final of the tournament to be played on 26th August.

England line-up to face France in semi-final:

Team: D Waterman (Bristol); L Thompson (Worcester), E Scarratt (Lichfield), R Burford (Harlequins), K Wilson (Richmond); K Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park), N Hunt (Lichfield); V Cornborough (Harlequins), A Cokayne (Lichfield), S Bern (Bristol), A Scott (Darlington Mowden Park), T Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park), A Matthews (Richmond), M Packer (Bristol), S Hunter (Bristol, capt).

Replacements: V Fleetwood (Saracens), R Clark (Worcester), J Lucas (Lichfield), H Millar-Mills (Lichfield), I Noel-Smith (Bristol), L Mason (Darlington Mowden Park), A Reed (Bristol), M Jones (Bristol).