England book place in World Cup final after seeing off brave France

It will be a seventh successive Women's Rugby World Cup final for England , who will take on Canada in showpiece game next week.

Ellie Kildunne scored two tries on her comeback for the hosts, thrillingly slicing the France defence open either side of the halftime break.

France though showed good fight and were never out of the contest, only trailing 7-5 at the interval.

Kildunne, who had scampered in for the game's opening try after four minutes, then seized on Marine Menager's heavy attempt to control the ball with her foot and weaved through the remnants of the France defence to make it 28-12 with a little over 10 minutes to go.

France centre Nassira Konde crossed for her second try to close the gap, but Meg Jones ensured England had the final say as she latched on to replacement Holly Aitchison's kick to dot down.

The cheers that greeted Kildunne's player of the match award from the 25,478-strong crowd were just as loud.

Canada, who outplayed defending champions New Zealand on Friday night, await in the 82,000 sell-out at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium next Saturday.

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