WXV: three unbeaten sides, 154 tries, and England held

The WXV Global Series has played 15 of its 39 matches, across two weekends split between Europe, Hong Kong and the Pacific. England have dropped their first points, three teams are still unbeaten, and France won a match while down to 11 players against 15.

Canada hold England at Exeter

Seven days after putting 48 points on Australia in Manchester, England were held to a 26-26 draw by Canada at Exeter. Four tries each, and the only drawn match of the 15 played so far. Canada stay unbeaten, with one win and one draw, having already scored 64 points against Scotland in Edinburgh.

Three teams with two wins from two

New Zealand, Fiji and the Netherlands are the only sides to have won both their matches. The Black Ferns beat France 28-14 in Lyon, then Scotland 66-14 in Edinburgh: 94 points scored, 28 conceded, 14 tries.

The Netherlands hold the best differential of the tournament, 87 points scored against 15 conceded, with a 70-0 win over Samoa followed by a two-point win in Brazil, 17-15. Their wing Kika Mulling is the leading try scorer with five, ahead of Spain’s Valentina Pérez Márquez on four.

France rescue their fortnight a player down

Beaten 28-14 by New Zealand in Lyon, France turned over Australia 29-26 in Aix-en-Provence while playing most of the match short-handed. Two red cards, Ambre Mwayembe on 20 minutes then Cloé Correa on 22, and two yellows in the same passage: for around ten minutes France played 11 against 15, before finishing with 13.

It is the only match in the tournament to have produced two red cards. The other two went to Canada’s Brittany Kassil, in Edinburgh, and South Africa’s Danelle Lochner, in Cardiff.

A tournament running at 10 tries a game

The 15 matches have produced 154 tries, 10.3 per game, and an average of 66 points. The gap between sides varies widely from one fixture to the next: seven matches ended with at least 30 points between the teams, six others with seven points or fewer.

Two defences have given way more than the rest. Scotland conceded 130 points in two home matches in Edinburgh, against Canada then New Zealand. Samoa have conceded 131 for 21 scored, including that 70-0 against the Netherlands.

What comes next

The third round is played on 26 September. France host Canada in La Rochelle, England meet New Zealand in London, Scotland face Australia and Wales host the United States, 40-36 winners in Dublin on their opening weekend.