England A 35 - Spain 5
England women's rugby sent out a warning to their Six Nations rivals with it's A team dominating Spain 35-5 at Imber Court Sports Club in Surrey on a very wet and windy Saturday afternoon.
The 2004 England A team comprises of a mixture of experienced players such as Chris Diver and Sue Day and up and coming players including Rochelle "Rocky" Clarke and Amy Turner.
England A took a positive approach from the start, exerting strong pressure through the forwards and were awarded a penalty after ten minutes. Katie McLean slotted the ball over the post, setting the tone for the rest of the game. The England A fly half added another penalty in the 24th minute before England took control of the game with tries from Vickers (27th minute) and Diver (39th minute), and a conversion from McLean. Spain showed some resolve in breaking through the strong English defence in the 32nd minute with their only try of the game. They failed to convert the try, and England went into the half time break with a healthy 18-5 lead.
England A continued their dominance in the second half with well organised set pieces, and they added three more tries from Spence (45th minute), Diver (58th minute) and Clarke (70th minute), with McLean adding one more conversion. England A could have capitalised more on their possession and territory if it were not for a number of handling errors, perhaps understandable given the weather conditions. England A's overall performance showed great promise, given that this was a first outing for the squad. They can now build on this win as they work towards their next game away against France A on 27th March.
The full England first team squad will travel to Zaragoza on 15th February to play Spain in their first game of the 2004 Six Nations Women's Championship, where they will start the defence of their 2003 Grand Slam.
Ends
Scoring Sequence
Min Player Score
10 McLean 3-0
24 McLean 6-0
27 Vickers 11-0
28 McLean 13-0
32 Spain # 5 13-5
39 Diver 18-5
HT England A 18 - Spain 5
45 Spence 23-5
58 Diver 28-5
59 McLean 30-5
70 Clarke 35-5
FT England A 35 - Spain 5
Scorers
Diver 10 pts
McLean 10 pts
Vickers 5 pts
Spence 5 pts
Clarke 5 pts
England A Team
1. Rochelle Clarke (Clifton)
2. Ann O'Flynn (Army)
3. Vanessa Gray (Wasps)
4. Tamara Taylor (Novocastrians)
5. Rachel Vickers (Richmond)
6. Shannon Baker (Clifton)
7. Sam Buckingham (Wasps)
8. Catherine Spencer (Folkestone)
9. Amy Turner (Wasps)
10.Katie McLean (Thirsk)
11. Sam Spence (Thirsk)
12. Margaret Alphonsie (Saracens)
13. Sue Day (Wasps)
14. Chris Diver (Richmond)
15. Vicky Massarella (Lichfield)
Replacements
16. Charlotte Keys (Worcester)
17. Katie Storie (Blaydon)
18. Heather Fisher (Clifton)
19. Jaine Lock (Worcester)
20. Danielle Waterman (Clifton)
21. Dawn Airton (Saracens)
22. Shauna Vetch (Wasps) |
