Red Roses rampant in French victory

A dominant second-half display allowed England to ease to a 33-10 victory against France in the first of their back-to-back autumn internationals. The Red Roses continued their Six Nations form to punish a potent but wasteful French XV in Grenoble.

Despite the opening try from Harlequins hooker Amy Cokayne, England failed to build on that early advantage and the score was tied at 10-10 going into the break.

But further tries from Alex Matthews and Jess Breach allowed the visitors to pull away as the second period progressed. Emily Scarratt produced a captain's performance to kick 18 points as England romped to their 10th win against France in their last 11 meetings.

"The girls put in a real shift. We had a lot of youngsters out there today. There is no crowd but this is a really tough place to come and play. It was a real squad effort," Scarratt said.

"We are a very proud rugby nation and we go about our business in a way that we want to be the best we can be."

The two sides meet again on Saturday 21 November at Twickenham as part of a double-header with the men, who play Ireland in the Autumn Nations Cup.