• Bonus point victory hands England top seeds status
• Waterman’s brace of tries wins her Woman of the Match accolade

England 37 USA 10

England head into Wednesday's Women’s Rugby World Cup semi finals as top seeds after a third consecutive bonus point win in the pool stages, this time over America, at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford on Saturday evening.

The host nation will now take on Australia at the Twickenham Stoop on Wednesday September 1, kick off 8.15pm, after Australia qualified as the best runner up. Reigning world champions New Zealand meanwhile take on France in the other semi final at the Stoop, kick off 6pm.  

England, who had already defeated Ireland and Kazakhstan, booked their place in the final four with a hard earned and impressive 37-10 victory. Full back Danielle Waterman grabbed a brace of tries and Katherine Merchant, Emily Scarratt, Amber Penrith and Margaret Alphonsi also all touched down.

The scoreline by no means reflects the intensity of this encounter with USA firing on all cylinders despite having only a slim chance of semi final qualification. As predicted the USA were physical and battle hardened and it wasn’t until half time that England looked comfortable in securing the top seed position.

England put the pressure on early and were camped on the Eagles’ try line, from the kick off but the defence held firm and drove them back. The USA managed to turnover England ball but a poor clearance kick saw an on form Charlotte Barras collect the loose ball and charge back up field. Waterman was in support and Barras offloaded to the full back, who showed tremendous footwork to carve her way through the US defence and score after just three minutes. McLean missed the conversion, but quickly overcame the blustery conditions to slot home a penalty after 13 minutes.

Breathing space

The tempo of the match remained fast with the USA looking dangerous when their wingers got the ball, and after some good pressure by the underdogs they went close to scoring, only for flanker Alphonsi to put in a try-saving tackle. But the ball was recycled out to the left wing and wing Natalie Marchino  showed her pace to charge over the line and score the first points against England all tournament.

With just three points separating the two sides with half an hour gone, the game was tense but England showed their superiority with skipper Catherine Spencer going close twice with some good pick and drives.

It was, however, wing Merchant who handed England some breathing space with a 34th minute try thanks to a well executed chip through by Katy McLean. Waterman then secured England a more comfortable 20-5 lead at half time with her second try. With the home side taking advantage of a USA sin binning she found the space in the midfield to carve her way through America’s defence.

Heading into the second half with just one try needed to secure the bonus point win, England came back out fighting. Some good pressure gave them territory, and that paid off when scrum half Amy Turner got the ball out to the right wing through McLean, Waterman and then Scarratt.  Centre Scarratt, who had been well marked all evening, barged her way through the defence to score the all important fourth try on the right wing.

America continued to battle though, and scrum half Kim Magrini secured their second try on 67 minutes. Fly half Christy Ringgenberg couldn’t add the conversion though and they were soon back chasing England.

Replacement Amber Penrith ran in try number five for England before Alphonsi deservedly took the last try of the evening in extra time to the rapturous applause of the sell out Guildford crowd.

England Head Coach Gary Street said: “I'm pleased with that performance, we certainly would have taken that before the match started. The girls really showed their determination and physicality tonight. The forwards were tremendous and set the platform, and the backs capitalised. This was a good day in the office.

“The Americans really hit the breakdowns hard and they put in some hard tackling. I think we just kept our resolve, and in the second half especially we played in the right areas and took our chances when they came.

“Australia next and that is going to be an exciting one. We have played them very little so there is a sense of the unknown here. They won the Rugby World Cup 7s last year so we know they are used to the big stage, and I think it is going to make for a really thrilling semi final clash.” 

All three WRWC match days have sold out so far, but tickets are still available for the semi final and final at the Twickenham Stoop on Wednesday, September 1 and Sunday, September 5. You can buy tickets now via RFU.com or by calling calling Ticketmaster on +44 (0)844 844 2010. For a full schedule of fixtures and to follow England in the WRWC visit www.rfu.com/wrwc

England

15 Danielle Waterman (Worcester), 14 Charlotte Barras (Saracens), 13 Emily Scarratt (Lichfield), 12 Rachael Burford (Richmond), 11 Katherine Merchant  (Worcester), 10 Katy McLean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks) (Vice-Captain), 9 La Toya Mason (Wasps), 1 Rochelle Clark (Team Northumbria), 2 Amy Garnett (Saracens), 3 Sophie Hemming (Bristol), 4 Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 5 Jo McGilchrist (Wasps), 6 Sarah Hunter (Lichfield), 7 Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens), 8 Catherine Spencer (Bristol) (C), Replacements: 16 Emma Croker (Richmond), 17 Rosemarie Crowley (Lichfield), 18 Becky Essex (Richmond), 19 Sarah Beale (Lichfield), 20 Amy Turner (Richmond), 21 Amber Penrith (Worcester), 22 Fiona Pocock (Richmond).

Tries: Waterman (2), Merchant, Scarratt, Penrith, Alphonsi

Conversions: McLean (2)

Penalties: McLean

Drop Goals:

Substitutions: Turner for Mason (51), Beale for Spencer, Croker for Garnett (57), Crowley for Clark, Essex for McGilchrist, Penrith for Merchant (all 63), Pocock for Scarratt (68)

USA

15 Ashley English (C), 14 Vanesha McGee, 13 Amy Daniels, 12 Lynelle Kugler, 11 Nathalie Marchino, 10 Christy Ringgenberg, 9 Kim Magrini, 1 Farrah Douglas, 2 Lisa Butts, 3 Jamie Burke, 4 Blair Groefsema, 5 Sharon Blaney, 6 Phaidra Knight, 7 Kristin Zdanczewicz, 8 Mel Denham. Replacements: 16 Maurin Wallace, 17 Lara Vivolo, 18 Kitt Wagner, 19 Stacey Bridges, 20 Claudia Knudsen-Braymer, 21 Mel Kanuk, 22 Victoria Folayan

Tries: Marchino, Magrini

Conversions:

Penalties:

Drop Goals:

Referee:  Nicky Inwood

Assistant Referees:  Joyce Henry & Gabriel Lee

Half time score: England 20 USA 5