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England come within touching distance of World Cup glory

by Julia Hutton


	Jenny Sutton Secures Line Out Ball photo by Getty Images

September 17th, 2006 England 17 New Zealand 25
England came within touching distance of becoming the first ever nation to hold both the men’s and the women’s Rugby World Cup titles today (Sunday) following a gallant team display at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Canada.

Geoff Richards’ side were just three points adrift of New Zealand when an injury-time try for New Zealand full-back Amiria Marsh sealed a phenomenal third consecutive World Cup final win for the Black Ferns.

England, however, can hold their heads up high with a performance that easily ranked as not only the most pulsating match of the tournament, but also a tremendous advertisement for women’s rugby as a whole.

The Red Roses certainly had the Black Ferns, who’d cruised into the final conceding only 17 points in four matches, rattled from the very first whistle with Saracens fly-half Karen Andrew underlining England’s intentions with a perfectly struck third minute penalty.


Karen Andrew is consoled at the final whistle photo by Getty Images

For the next half-hour England took the game to New Zealand, dominating possession and territory. The Black Ferns dodged several England bullets’, including a near touchdown for Folkestone number eight Catherine Spencer, who drove her way to the line after a pick-up from the base of a scrum. She was held-up painfully short and in the end England paid the price for not converting their efforts into points with their rivals taking a 10-3 lead at half-time after a 38th minute try.

New Zealand, who had earlier drawn level with an Emma Jensen penalty, benefited from a well executed cross-field kick by Marsh. She found a gap on the right to set-up Melissa Ruscoe, who then offloaded to scorer Monalisa Codling. Scrum-half Jensen added the conversion to create the seven point cushion and with Andrew missing a long-range penalty minutes later the Black Ferns headed into the break ahead.

England took another cruel blow after the restart with wing Stephanie Mortimer claiming her first try following some terrific team play between the backs and the forwards.

Jensen missed the conversion and England were back playing catch-up and they did so in style. Crushing tackles from the likes of Maggie Alphonsi, Kim Shaylor and Rochelle Clark as well as domination by the pack up-front saw England back on top and dominating possession.

New Zealand found themselves under severe pressure in their own 22 for much of the next 15 minutes and England’s efforts were finally rewarded when referee Simon McDowell awarded a 48th minute penalty try for consistent infringements in the scrum. Andrew duly converted to put England 10-15 adrift.

With England’s commitment unrelenting and New Zealand also stepping up a gear the scene was set for a tremendous finale. England, however, couldn’t find the overlap to get the points on the board while the Black Ferns continued to attack from side to side. Wing Claire Richardson nearly touched down to score, but Shaylor again executed another superb try-saving tackle to keep England within touching distance.

Finally the deadlock was broken on 72 minutes when New Zealand lock Victoria Heighway collected off the top of the line-out and was driven over by her fellow forwards for her second try of the tournament, stretching their lead to 20-10.

England weren’t down and out though and a well executed line-out, catch and drive saw England’s most capped player of all time, Helen Clayton, being driven over on 79 minutes. Replacement Shelley Rae struck the conversion to put England three points adrift, only for a break by Mortimer who found Marsh, who again had the pace and space, claiming the final score of the day in injury-time.

England head coach Richards said: “I’m not disappointed with the performance. I am disappointed with the result. Our players were absolutely magnificent. They gave it everything they had.

“We wanted to pressurise New Zealand up-front, take the game to them and deny them any space and we did that for most of the game. Unfortunately, we were unable to convert all the territory we had into points. We were the far better side in the first-half but we went down 10-3 at the break because of that reason.

“After the break we clawed our way back to 20-17 and we still had hope. It was a magnificent performance from the team after the early New Zealand try. The players just refused to give up and showed phenomenal spirit and determination.

“Despite the result I am so proud of our players, the management team and all our supporters who have come out to Canada as well as all those at home. Everyone has been magnificent.

“From here, we’ll regroup. We’ve got an exciting young crop of players coming through, some of whom were here today. We have the system in place and our programmes are producing rugby players who can take on the best in the world.”

England

1 Rochelle Clark (Henley), 2 Amy Garnett (Saracens), 3 Vanessa Gray (Wasps), 4 Jennifer Sutton (Richmond), 5 Jenny Lyne (Saracens), 6 Georgia Stevens (Clifton), 7 Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens), 8 Catherine Spencer (Folkestone), 9 Jo Yapp (Worcester) (C), 10 Karen Andrew (Saracens), 11 Kim Shaylor (Worcester), 12 Kim Oliver (Clifton), 13 Sue Day (Wasps) (VC), 14 Danielle Waterman (Henley), 15 Charlotte Barras (Lichfield). Replacements: 16 Selena Rudge (Wasps), 17 Vanessa Huxford (Wasps), 18 Tamara Taylor (Thirsk), 19 Helen Clayton (Saracens), 20 Amy Turner (Wasps), 21 Shelley Rae (Wasps), 22 Nicky Crawford (Worcester).

Tries: Penalty try (Andrew), Helen Clayton
Conversions: Rae
Penalties: Andrew
Substitutions: Taylor for Lyne (62), Huxford for Gray (65), Rae for Andrew (67), Turner for Oliver (74), Clayton for Spencer (74), Rudge for Garnett (74).

New Zealand

1 Diane Maliukaetau, 2 Farah Palmer (C), 3 Casey Robertson, 4 Monalisa Codling, 5 Victoria Heighway, 6 Melissa Ruscoe, 7 Rochelle Martin, 8 Linda Itunu, 9 Emma Jensen, 10 Anna Richards, 11 Stephanie Mortimer, 12 Exia Edwards, 13 Huriana Manuel, 14 Claire Richardson, 15 Amiria Marsh. Replacements: 16 Fiao'o Fa'amausili, 17 Helen Vaaga, 18 Kimberly Smith,
19 Shannon Willoughby, 20 Waimania Teddy, 21 Rebecca Hull, 22 Hannah Myers.

Tries: Codling, Mortimer, Heighway, Marsh
Conversions: Jensen
Penalties: Jensen

Half-time score: England 3 New Zealand 10

Referee: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Touch Judge: George Ayoub (Australia)
Touch Judge: Christine Hanizet (France)

England’s World Cup Schedule:

August 31st   England v USA at Ellerslie Rugby Park, Edmonton,
KO 12am BST WON 18-0
September 4th England v South Africa at Ellerslie Rugby Park, Edmonton    KO 9.30pm BST WON 74-8
September 8th England v France at St. Albert RFC, Edmonton
   KO Mid-night BST WON 27-8
September 12th Semi-finals:
New Zealand v France, Ellerslie Rugby Park , 930pm BST
England v Canada, Ellerslie Rugby Park, WON 20-14
September 17th Final (Commonwealth Stadium)
England v New Zealand, LOST 25-17

Ends…