August 31st, 2006

England 18 USA 0
England Women overcame a physical and hard-hitting USA side on their IRB Rugby World Cup curtain-raiser opener at Ellerslie Park, Edmonton, Canada tonight (Thursday) with an 18-0 victory.

The reigning Six Nations Grand Slam champions, who are ranked second for the tournament, took their time to get into their stride with the 1991 World Champions’ aggression at the breakdown and execution of some hard hitting tackles upsetting England’s rhythm initially.

The restart, however, saw England confirm the control they had finally managed to seize late in the first-half, with the Red Roses amassing all their 18 points in the final 40 minutes. 

England took an early blow with the loss of Saracens fly-half Karen Andrew, who took a knock to her pelvis after just 17 minutes, but replacing her was Wasps number 10 Shelley Rae who did a sterling job to steady the ship with some excellent place and tactical kicking.

More upsets followed for England with Clifton’s Georgia Stevens and Henley’s Rochelle Clark both forced off the field with blood injuries but their replacements, Saracens’ Helen Clayton and Clifton’s Katy Storie, made a huge impact in their absences. For prop Storie, her call-up also marked her first England cap.

As half-time neared England regained control of the match and the Eagles had to give everything they had to keep their opponents from breaking their try-line and they did just that, keeping England at bay to leave the half-time score at 0-0.

On 51 minutes the deadlock was finally broken with Rae striking a successful penalty kick which also kick-started England’s momentum as they took advantage of the sin-binning of US replacement Kelly McMahon.

This time the glory went to Clifton centre Kim Oliver who touched down for a crucial try and at the same time claimed her first score for her country after seven previous outings.

The try was an impressive effort with Saracens flanker Maggie Alphonsi making vital space up-field. She was pulled down but managed to retain possession to set-up skipper Jo Yapp who used the platform to recycle the ball out to the left wing through Rae and then into the hands of Oliver who, with ease, sliced her way through America’s defence. Rae added the conversion to put England 10-0 up with 64 minutes gone.

Rae then increased England’s lead further with a second penalty before Henley prop Clark had the final word of the game with a 83rd minute try. This time Worcester’s Kim Shaylor, who was in impressive form all game, played a huge role in setting up Clark with a magnificent run up the left wing.

Shaylor came close to scoring herself, but was held up just short of the line. Alphonsi used her muscle to keep the move going for England, but it was Clark in the end that claimed the honours and handed England a hard-earned, but well deserved 18-0 victory. 

Head coach Geoff Richards said: “We always knew this was going to be a difficult game. The US are a tough side who are very fit, strong and can boast a lot of pace.