England A Women 15 Nomads 17

England A Women had to settle for second best on Friday night but only by the narrowest of margins with the Nomads holding on to a 15-17 victory at Clifton RFC.

It was a 78th minute try by Fiona Pocock which had set England up for the potential draw, but to England’s disappointment Clifton centre Kim Oliver could not add the conversion and it was instead the Nomads, a representative team similar to that of the Barbarians, celebrating at the final whistle.

England A head coach Amanda Bennett said: “We are obviously disappointed to lose and the missed goals would have made the difference but generally to put on a performance like this in just our second outing this season sends out a strong message about the potential of this side.

“I am really pleased for the squad because this was an outstanding defensive performance against the Nomads who were big, powerful, well organised and probably one of the best Nomads teams ever.

“We wanted to step up our performance from last Sunday’s win over France A and we did that, with particular credit going to the pack who had to work hard and front up physically. It was their pressure which created the tries for the backs which Katherine Merchant and Fiona Pocock finished brilliantly.”

In fact it was England A who drew first blood with Saracens fullback Vicky Massarella touching down after just three minutes. Wasps fly-half Shelley Rae kicked a loose ball out of England’s 22 which Worcester wing Merchant collected and although she was tackled to the ground England retained possession and moved the ball out-wide for Massarella to collect and score. Rae missed the conversion.

The Nomads hit back with their own try just five minutes later with their forwards making vital space up-field. The ball was then moved out-wide for former England wing Sarah Marsh to touchdown.

Worcester’s Merchant handed England a 10-5 lead on 22 minutes after some terrific England defending turned the ball over and turned the tables with England making space up-field with a long kick. The Nomads defended by booting the ball back up-field but Merchant, on the counter-attack, collected and cut through the Nomads’ defence to gallop 60 metres and score.

It was, however, the Nomads who had the final word before the break with a 39th minute Leslie Cripps try. A chip-kick by former England scrum-half Susie Appleby set-up the Nomads with Canadian prop Cripps charging through the midfield to score. Fellow Canadian Sarah Ulmer added the conversion to put the Nomads 10-12 up at half-time.

England A did well to keep the score to just a two point deficit after the break with the Nomads attacking from every platform, but eventually their defence broke on 71 minutes when scrum-half Appleby dived over the line from a rolling maul.

Pocock hit back for England when Wasps flanker Jane Leonard drove forward after an England penalty. The forwards then floated the ball out-wide to Pocock, who ran through three Nomads and from 50 metres out ran in England’s third and final try. Oliver, however, missed the conversion leaving England A to settle with a 15-17 narrow defeat.

England:

1 Sophie Hemming (Clifton), 2 Sam Dale (Worcester), 3 Roz Crowley (Lichfield), 4 Natalie Binstead (Wasps), 5 Emma Dresser (Lichfield), 6 Sonia Green (Saracens), 7 Jane Leonard (Wasps), 8 Leah Carey (Lichfield), 9 Georgina Rozario (Plymouth Albion), 10 Shelley Rae (C) (Wasps), 11 Fiona Pocock (Richmond), 12 Kim Oliver (Clifton), 13 Georgina Roberts (Thirsk), 14 Katherine Merchant (Worcester), 15 Vicky Massarella (Saracens). Replacements: 16 Pippa Crews (Worcester), 17 Katie Smith (Richmond), 18 Sara Anastasi (Richmond), 19 Laura Jenkins (Richmond), 20  Harriet Slynn (Richmond), 21 Jo Watmore (Thirsk), 22 Vicky Jackson (Lichfield).

Tries: Massarella, Merchant, Pocock
Conversions:
Penalties:
Substitutions: Watmore for Massarella (46), Jackson for Rae (64), Slynn for Rozario (65), Smith for Hemming (65), Anastasi for Binstead (71), Jenkins for Carey (71), Crews for Dale (73).

Nomads:

1 Leslie Cripps (VC) (Canada), 2 Claire Purdy (England), 3 Vanessa Huxford (England), 4 Alex Pilkington (England), 5 Jenny Lyne (England), 6 Karen Jones (England), 7 Helen Clayton (England), 8 Claire Frost (England), 9 Susie Appleby (C) (England), 10 Rimma Petlevannaya (Scotland), 11Sarah Marsh (England), 12 Selena Rudge (England), 13 Assunta de Biase (England), 14 Lou Latter (England A), 15 Nicky Milner (Ireland). Replacements: 16 Maxine Edwards (England), 17 Lotty Keys (England A), 18 Helen Durman (England A), 19 Helen Siwek (Ireland), 20 Sarah Ulmer (Canada), 21 Julie Gilbert (Canada Rep), 22 Claire Davies (England Students).

Tries: Marsh, Cripps, Appleby
Conversions: Ulmer
Penalties:

Half-time score: England Women A 10 Nomads 12

Referee: Alan Biggs
Touch Judge 1: Shane Cameron
Touch Judge 2: Trevor Hunter

Ends…