England Women ran in thirteen tries against a young Welsh side this evening in an 81-0 win in their first Six Nations match at Cardiff Arms Park.

England led from the 2nd minute, when good handling put Worcester’s Kim Shaylor in for the first of her three tries. But, despite dominating possession and territory throughout the first half, a mixture of some spirited Welsh defence and basic handling errors meant England only led 22-0 at the break.

The second half started much as the first with an England try by Shaylor inside the first two minutes. Following a drive up field by Shannon Baker, Sue Day returned a loose Welsh kick to half way, before her well timed pass put Shaylor clear to score under the posts. This marked the turning point of the match with England’s back line clicking into gear as the Welsh began to tire.

With Susie Appleby’s arrival at fly half England scored nine ties and 59 unanswered points in a dazzling second half display. As well as Shaylor’s hat-trick of tries, there were two tries a piece for Paula George, Sue Day and Lichfield’s flyer – Charlotte Barras. Barras also converted six of the second half scores to finish the match with an impressive 22 points.

England Head Coach, Geoff Richards praised the performance of his young England side:

“We are very pleased with the final result. We struggled to find our rhythm early on and were pretty unhappy with our first half performance. But we got it together after the break and in the end played some exhilarating rugby. I was particularly pleased for some of the younger girls – Rochelle (Clark), Michaela (Staniford) and Charlotte (Barras), who I thought all had excellent games.”

England’s next match is against France at Imber Court on Sunday 13th February 2005. France who beat England in the Grand Slam decider in last year’s Six Nations beat Scotland this evening 22-15.

In England’s other representative match this evening The Students beat a strong Army side 19 points to 10 with tries from Heather Fisher, Leanne Plunkett and Joanna McGilchrist.

Scoring sequence

2 min – Try Kim Shaylor (0-5)
15 min – Try Rochelle Clark (0-10)
30 min – Try Selena Rudge (0-15), converted Karen Andrew (0-17)
39 min – Try Paula George (0-22)

Half time 0-22

41 min – Try Kim Shaylor (0-27), converted Karen Andrew (0-29)
47min – Try Shannon Baker (0-34)
52 min – Try Charlotte Barras (0-39)
56 min – Try Sue Day (0-44), converted Charlotte Barras (0-46)
58 min – Try Paula George (0-51), converted Charlotte Barras (0-53)
62 min – Try Sue Day (0-58), converted Charlotte Barras (0-60)
75 min – Try Charlotte Barras (0-65), converted Charlotte Barras (0-67)
76 min – Try Emily Cooke (0-72), converted Charlotte Barras (0-74)
80 min – Try Kim Shaylor (0-79), converted Charlotte Barras (0-81)

Full time 0-81

England team

1. ROCHELLE CLARKE (HENLEY)
2. SELINA RUDGE (WASPS)
3. VANESSA GRAY (WASPS)
4. JENNY SUTTON (RICHMOND)
5. RACHEL VICKERS (RICHMOND)
6. SHANNON BAKER (CLIFTON)
7. HELEN CLAYTON (SARACENS)
8. CATHERINE SPENCER (FOLKESTONE)
9. JO YAPP (WORCESTER)
10. KAREN ANDREW (SARACENS)
11. KIM SHAYLOR (WORCESTER)
12. PAULA GEORGE (WASPS)
13. MICHAELA STANIFORD (THIRSK)
14. CHARLOTTE BARRAS (LICHFIELD)
15. SUE DAY (WASPS)

16. ANN O’FLYNN (ARMY)
17. VANESSA HUXFORD (WASPS)
18. KAREN JONES (WASPS)
19. LOIS MOULDING (WORCESTER)
20. AMY TURNER (WASPS)
21. SUSIE APPLEBY (CLIFTON)
22. EMILY COOKE (CLIFTON)

Other Six Nations results
France 22 Scotland 15

Other representative game
Army 10 England Students 19

Ends