England Women’s Under 19 rugby tourists opened their two-match tour in fine style when they defeated Canada Under 19s 27-5 in Vancouver yesterday (Thursday, Mar 2).

The victory was a personal triumph for Petersfield winger Fiona Pocock, who claimed a hat trick as the England girls run in five tries.

Although Canada opened the scoring with an early try by their captain and wing Pateer, the England girls settled well on their first outing together and were leading 10-5 at half-time thanks to Pocock’s opening try and a second from Thirsk Sharks prop Kelly Wallis.

Pocock then put the tourists in the clear with two tries in four minutes mid-way through the second-half before Richmond fly-half Tina Lee wrapped up the try scoring with England’s fifth, which centre April Brown from Sudbury converted.

“We played really well and very confidently,” said Manager Nicky Ponsford. “Considering this was their first game together they were very assured and I’m sure we’ll only get better for the second game. I’m confident that even with new players coming into the team, we’ll see a step up on Sunday.”

Coach Gary Street was equally up-beat about the display. “I was really pleased with the performance, not just the result.” he said. “They tried to play good rugby from first to last and all the players showed a good attitude in both attack and defence. We competed well at every breakdown.”

Pocock, as befits a player sponsored by Dowers Bespoke Kitchens, was predictably ecstatic about her hand-crafted, three-try display. She said: “It was completely awesome. The best moment was to score my first try for England and I can’t wait to play again.”    

The England young-guns will take on their Canadian counterparts again on Sunday at Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island (kick-off 10pm GMT).

England Under 19s:  

1 Roz Crowley (Lichfield, sponsored by Calor Gas & Poores), 2 Ollie Poore     (Lichfield, sponsored by Calor Gas & Poores), 3 Kelly Wallis (Thirsk, sponsored Vitalograph, Philips Auto and Druid Pubs), 4 Sara Anastasi (Henley, sponsored by The WRT Group), 5 Lucinda Howland (Folkestone, sponsored by Boedromion Ltd), 6 Rebecca Roby (Fullerians, various sponsors), 7 Samantha Cornborough (Richmond, sponsored by Richmond RFC), 8 Helen Clewer (Thirsk, sponsored by The Stephen Brown Trust); 9 Cathy Freeman (Fullerians, various), 10 Tina Lee (Richmond, sponsored by Richmond RFC); 11 Roz Lambe (Thornbury, various sponsors), 12 April Brown (Sudbury, various sponsors), 13 Francesca Matthews (Camberley, sponsored by Chloride Group plc), 14 Fiona Pocock (Petersfield, sponsored by Dowers Bespoke Kitchens); 15 Meg Youden  (Chester, various sponsors)

Replacements (all used)                 

16 Stephanie Cousins (Worcester, sponsored by Calor Gas & Poores), 17 Laura Keates (Worcester, Calor Gas & Poores and Oppo Music Coffee House), 18 Hannah Shield (Thirsk, sponsored by The Stephen Brown Trust), 19 Kate Hall (Blaydon, sponsored by Morpeth RFC/Dodd and Co Accountants/Acklington Mart/Ward Hadaway), 20 Lorna Smith (Thirsk, sponsored by Buxton RFC), 21 Justina DeBrett (Crawley, sponsored by East Grinstead RFC).             

22        Joanne Watmore (Thirsk, sponsored by PPL Sport & Leisure)

Canada U19s: T Pateer

England U19s: T: Pocock 3, Wallis, Lee.  C: Brown