April 16

England Students 15 Sweden 10

JO WHATMORE touched down two second-half tries as England Students beat the Swedish national side at RAF Halton.

The Thirsk full-back fielded two cross-kicks to touch down as the Students bounced back from a 13-0 defeat against Holland to finish their international programme on a high.

Loughborough wing Lucy Lynch also scored as England recovered from trailing 10-5 at the interval against the visitors who are preparing for this month’s European Championships.

"It was really good to come back from the defeat against Holland and we played some really good rugby at times today," said England Women’s Academy coach Gary Street. "We were competitive at the breakdown, willing to move the ball and it was a good end to our season.

"We’re pleased to see Jo Whatmore score two tries – she has been impressive for us all season and she and George Roberts really stood out in the backs today.

"And we’ve been able to bring on several players this season and in this game we were able to give debuts to Natalie Smith, Jenny March and Sam Jameson."

Ulrika Andersson-Hall kicked a 16th minute penalty to give Sweden an early advantage after their positive start to the game.

England were back in front within three minutes, though, after Lynch went on a weaving run down the right and beat three defenders on her way to the line.

Swedish snatched the half-time lead when full-back Karin Ljungkvist cut her way through the England midfield to score with Andersson converting.

But the second-half belonged to England as their fitness told and captain Nancy Stone twice combined with Whatmore for tries.

First she found Whatmore with a high ball into the right-hand corner 13 minutes after the break before repeating the trick on the opposite side of the field for the full-back collect the ball on the first bounce and score again 10 minutes from time.

England Students: Jo Whatmore (Thirsk), Lucy Lynch (Loughborough), George Roberts (Bath), Nancy Stone (Marjons, captain), Sarah Gardner (Loughborough, rep by Charlotte Boggis (Exeter) 60 mins), Sonia Clatworthy (Marjons, rep Adrienne McAlpine (Loughborough) 41), George Rozario (Marjons, rep Rachel Chidgey (Marjons) 41), Natalie Smith (Durham, rep Katherine Smith (King’s College London 41), Sarah White (Leeds, rep Sam Jameson (Leeds Met 50), Tracey Balmer (Birmingham), Jo McGilchrist (Wasps), Gemma Sharples (Worcester), Vicki Blair (Loughborough, rep Terri Cormack (Marjons) 41), Amy Frost (Kings College London, rep Jenny March (Bath) 41), Leah Carey (Coventry).

ends