'We have different strings to our bow': Hat-trick hero says there is more to England's game

England’s hat-trick hero Rosie Galligan believes that her team demonstrated a multi-dimensional game during the 75-0 demolition of South Africa in their final World Cup pool game.

England came under fire from some corners after their 13-6 win over France for a perceived lack of enterprise in attack, criticism that head coach Simon Middleton labelled ‘hilarious’ and ‘disrespectful’ to a French defence that made over 200 tackles.

“It was pretty disrespectful to France because they are the best defensive side in the world. They have some great players and that was a real arm wrestle of a Test match,” he said.

Against South Africa, the Red Roses found it tough going in the opening quarter as new combinations tried to get going.

They had to resort to the set-piece and the rolling maul to get scoreboard dominance, playing a ‘safe’ game to build a cushion.

“We said in the first half we wanted to play it safe, we wanted to get back into it” Galligan told RugbyPass.

“The first twenty minutes was a bit disjointed but we haven’t played as a team in awhile like that.

“So just getting back on track, making sure we got our front foot ball.”

Galligan, who netted three tries in her first World Cup appearance, said that once there was a healthy margin of points on the board England flicked the switch to show a more expansive game.

“In the second half we said ‘right, we’ve got the points, let’s start playing a little bit’,” she said.

“Start playing a different England way, being able to stress and stretch and pull people around the pitch.”

England played a wide running exit strategy in the second half which gave left winger Jess Breach a tsunami of opportunities after a quiet first half out on the edge.

The Roses attack found a rhythm and began to dismantle South Africa with more than just the rolling maul.

Galligan’s hat-trick try came after a swerving run from winger Abby Dow on a kick return.

“It does show we have different strings to our bow, we know that we’ve got a lot in Zoey [Harrison] and Holly [Aitchinson] at No 10 who can pull the strings in different ways.

“It’s believing in ourselves to put different things out there, show what we can do and score some good tries.”

England’s emphatic win wasn’t enough to secure top seed overall after Canada and New Zealand picked up bonus points in all of their pool matches.

They will play Australia in their quarter-final before a potential semi-final showdown with Canada or the USA.