England Women power to comfortable Nations Cup victory by Julia Hutton

England 43 France 8



Home Nations rivals France proved little competition for England as they powered to a 43-8 victory in the second round of the Nations Cup last night (Thursday) in Toronto.

Worcester wing Katherine Merchant was a major player putting a hat-trick of tries on the scoreboard while Team Northumbria’s Danielle Waterman also added a brace. There were also tries for replacements Emily Scarratt and Alice Richardson.

France, however, like the USA were the first to break the opposition’s line and through turning over a scrum close to England’s line, they made a break through the backs and scored in the corner through Emile Moreaux.

But England soon bounced back and after 16 minutes fullback Waterman opened England’s account after a great clearing pass from Saracens hooker Amy Garnett. Some clever lines from the English backs then saw Waterman power through to score under the posts to draw the score level at 5-5.

England went 8-5 behind on 21 minutes when Christelle Leduff converted a penalty but that was where France’s charge ended.

Just before half-time Merchant ran in for the first of her three tries with a great booming hand off and storming 40 metre run which fly-half Katy McLean converted.

France were slow to react to a quick England lineout and then some excellent interplay between the forwards and backs saw Merchant finish off the move. With McLean converting, England led 19-8 at half-time.

After the restart England’s dominance continued. Following a well executed lineout, a scintillating backs move ended with Merchant coming off her wing to claim her hat-trick.

A quick tap penalty from Richmond No. 8 Karen Jones and a great clearing pass from Lichfield’s Sarah Hunter then saw Waterman scorching through the midfield and finding Richardson in great support for try number five.

The 65th minute saw a powerful England scrum and a blindside attack once again finished off by Waterman and converted by McLean, before Scarratt and Waterman finished off proceedings for England.

Graham Smith, England’s Forwards Coach, said, “We're still making too many basic errors but we are only two games into our season. It was a fantastic result and we know we can continue to improve throughout the tournament.”

Hat trick hero Merchant added: “Although it's nice to score a hat trick, I was in the right place at the right time. It was a great team performance and I am really looking forward to our next test against South Africa on August 19th.”

You can watch all the Nations Cup games on http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-rugby

England

15 Danielle Waterman (Team Northumbria), 14 Katherine Merchant (Worcester), 13 Claire Allan (Saracens), 12 Kim Oliver(Bristol Rugby), 11 Charlotte Barras (Saracens) Captain, 10 Katy McLean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 9 Amy Turner (Richmond), 1 Claire Purdy (Wasps), 2 Amy Garnett (Saracens), 3 Katy Storie (Team Northumbria), 4 Rebecca Essex (Richmond), 5 Jo McGilchrist (Wasps), 6 Sarah Hunter (Lichfield), 7 Gemma Sharples (Worcester), 8 Karen Jones (Richmond). Replacements: 16 Sophie Hemming (Bristol), 17 Rochelle Clark (Team Northumbria), 18
Sarah Beale (Lichfield), 19 Heather Fisher (Wasps), 20 Georgina Rozario (Plymouth Albion), 21 Alice Richardson ( Richmond), 22 Emily Scarratt (Lichfield)

Tries: Merchant (3), Waterman (2), Richardson, Scarratt.
Conversions: McLean (8)
Replacements: Beale for McGilchrist (52), Richardson for Oliver (56), Scarratt for Allan (56), Hemming for Garnett (62), Fisher for Sharples (62), Roazrio for Turner (62), Clark for Storie (62)

England Nations Cup playing schedule:

All games to be played at Appleby College in Toronto. KO’s all BST

England v USA August 10th KO 1130pm WON 36-7
England v France August 13th KO 630pm WON 43-8
England v South Africa August 19th KO 930pm
England v Canada August 22nd KO 10pm