England Women 36 France Women 10: Craig Richards relaxed about World Cup plans after encouraging display

The Lionesses’ preparations for the tournament on home soil have so far amounted to matches against Wales and France in a repeat of last year’s fixtures.

Fresh from a hard-fought win in Newport, England impressed against a physical French side ranked fifth in the world rankings, two places below England.

“It was a real tough test on the back of an absolutely fantastic camp,” said Richards.

“The French just get better every year and it was a fantastic test we can take loads out of.”

If that turns out to be England’s last hit-out before the tournament, Richards is not going to lose any sleep.

“The way Super League is at the moment, with the top three or four teams we’re going to get the collisions and the intensity,” he added.

“We know that now. The girls have GPS and we’re getting there.

“But as an England side it’s real tough to get somebody to run against.

“If we do, we do and if we don’t, we’re not going to sit about and moan. We’ll find different ways of challenging each other.”

With Leeds Rhinos half-backs Courtney Winfield-Hill and Georgia Roche pulling the strings, England had too much quality for the gutsy French.

England claimed a 40-4 victory in Perpignan last October but that did not tell the full story.

It was a similar tale at the Halliwell Jones Stadium with France throwing everything at the Lionesses in the opening exchanges.

England withstood the early pressure and soon found their groove, York City Knights back-rower Hollie Dodd scoring the opening try on 17 minutes after being put through a hole by Roche.

Leeds winger Caitlin Beevers extended England’s lead thanks to a smart pass by Jodie Cunningham and the hosts were celebrating a third try just before the half-hour mark when Amy Hardcastle powered through a tiring France defence.

But the visitors did not allow their heads to drop and had a reward for their first-half efforts in the shape of Cristina Song Puche’s try with England scrambling on the last tackle.

France lost Elodie Pacull to a yellow card for a late hit just after the interval and England made the most of the numerical advantage, Hardcastle showing good strength and agility to get the ball down to extend her record try haul to 21 in as many internationals.

Vincent Baloup’s team were resolute throughout but England had superior quality when chances came their way.

Even when Leah Burke was denied by a courageous last-ditch tackle by France full-back Elisa Akpa, England found a way on the next play thanks to Roche’s step and finish.

Lively hooker Fanny Ramos went over from dummy-half to give France another moment to savour but England scored twice in the final five minutes to round off a good day at the office.

Cunningham laid on both tries, first putting Roche over for her second with a nice flat pass before giving Fran Goldthorpe the chance to finish in the corner.

Winfield-Hill caught the eye on debut, leaving Richards excited about her partnership with Leeds team-mate Roche.

“It’s a really strange dynamic with the girls because generally wherever Georgia Roche is, the girls listen to her and want to get the ball to her,” said the England boss.

“What Courtney did was even it up a little bit. It was a little bit too much Georgia Roche in the first half but what you saw from Courtney when she built into it was some fantastic plays off the back of it.

“We’ve now got a balance. We’ve got a couple of halves that everybody trusts. They were fantastic and our shape was good.”

England Women: Stanley, Burke, Goldthorp, Hardcastle, Beevers, Winfield-Hill, Roche, Field, Jones, Wood, Dodd, Rudge, Cunningham.

Substitutes: Hoyle, Bennett, Travis, Whitfield.

France Women: Akpa, M. Samarra, Canal, Biville, Puche, Varela, Ciria, Bessahli, Nontsarrat, Menaa, Pacull, Mansard, Alvherne.

Substitutes: Borak, D. Samarra, Fourcroy, Ramos.