February 25th, 2006

England A 29 Nomads 5

A brace of tries from Thirsk centre Shauna Vetch helped ease England A Women to their second win of the year, this time against the Nomads at a sunny, but blustery Henley RFC.

Vetch was one of four scorers for Amanda Bennett’s side, who also defeated Italy 17-10 at Imber Court two weeks ago.

The Nomads, a team consisting of some of the best Premiership and former internationals around, crossed the line just once. It was an early score with Saracens lock Helen Durman ploughing her way over the line to immediately put England A on the back foot with just six minutes gone.

But the early set-back didn’t put England A off their stride and instead they bounced back with Vetch claiming their first of her two scores after just 19 minutes. Wasps centre Amy Turner played a vital role in setting up the score, cleverly spotting a supporting Vetch to pass the ball accurately overhead. Thirsk fly-half Katie McLean missed the conversion, but only narrowly, with the ball hitting the posts.

Lichfield and Army prop Ann O’Flynn added England’s second try on 31 minutes when a successful rolling maul from a line-out catch and drive manoeuvre put her over the try line. McLean this time added the conversion to hand the home side a 12-5 lead at the break.

The early points haul gave Bennett the confidence to make several first-half replacements with Worcester’s Alice Richardson taking over the fly-half and kicking duties. Richmond’s Emma Layland came on for O’Flynn in the front-row and Clifton’s Sophie Hemming took over at prop from Hannah Dawson.

Vetch, however, was the next to add to England’s tally with a 56th minute try. This time Wasps’ Sarah Marsh intercepted a pass to set up a flying Vetch who scored under the posts.

Sarah Hunter, a second-half replacement, made an immediate impact on the game with a 69th minute score. Again, a well worked line-out, catch and drive move saw England A power their way over the line. With Richardson striking the conversion successfully, Bennett’s side moved into a 24-5 lead.

Worcester wing Amber Penrith then rounded off an impressive afternoon of action for England A, scoring on the 75th minute. Some fantastic forward work follow-up with some exciting passing moves, set Penrith loose and through into the corner and over the line. 

England A head coach Bennett said: “This is a really pleasing win. The squad have proved that they have moved on since our win over Italy by defeating a very experienced and talented Nomads team, who can boast players like Susie Appleby and Maxine Edwards.

“We secured a lot of possession, which is notoriously hard against the Nomads. We did the simple things right and also showed a lot of control. We met them head on in every aspect of the game.

“This win is the perfect platform to set us up to play France A in France in two weeks time. We know that France A will be a very tough team to beat especially playing them in such a hostile environment but this victory will set the team up well and give us a lot of confidence to go to France.”

England A: 1 Hannah Dawson (Thirsk),  2 Ann O’Flynn (Lichfield/Army), 3 Katy Storie (Clifton) (c), 4 Rebecca Essex (Worcester), 5 Emma Dresser (Lichfield), 
6 Heather Fisher (Clifton), 7 Lois Moulding (Worcester), 8 Karen Jones (Wasps),
9 Louisa Seymour (Saracens), 10 Katie McLean (Thirsk), 11 Sarah Marsh (Wasps), 12 Amy Turner (Wasps), 13 Shauna Vetch (Thirsk), 14 Amber Penrith (Worcester), 15 Claire Allan (Worcester). Replacements: 16 Emma Layland (Richmond), 17 Sophie Hemming (Clifton), 18. Jo McGilchrist (Wasps), 19 Sarah Hunter (Lichfield) , 20 Sonia Green (Saracens), 21 Alice Richardson (Worcester), 22 Rachael Burford (Henley). All replacements used

Tries: Vetch (2), O’Flynn, Hunter, Penrith
Conversions: McLean, Richardson
Penalties:

Nomads: 1 Leslie Cripps (Saracens), 2 Charlotte Keys (Worcester), 3 Maxine Edwards (Saracens), 4 Audrey Rowley (Richmond), 5 Helen Durman (Saracens),
6 Eryka Wessell (Richmond), 7 Raquel Eldridge (Wasps), 8 Deena Aiken (Wasps), 9 Susie Appleby (Clifton), 10 Anika Tiplady (Richmond), 11 Lou Latter (Wasps), 12 Julie Gilbert (Saracens), 13 Amanda Cahill (Wasps), 14 Oli Davies (Richmond), 15 Nicola Meston (Richmond). Replacements: 16 Helen Swiek (Richmond), 17 Sharon Whitehead (Richmond), 18 Claire Purdy (Wasps), 19 Sara Bula (Wasps), 20 Charleen Holden (Wasps), 21 Helen Harding (Wasps), 22 Kerry Barber (Worcester)

Tries: Durman
Conversions:
Penalties:

Half-time score: England A Women 12 Nomads 5

England A fixtures & results:

England A v USA, January 29th, Imber Court, lost 8- 21
England A v Italy February 12th, Imber Court, won 17-10
England A v Nomads, February 25th, Henley RFC, won 29-5 
England A v France, March 11th, Bondoufle, Paris, kick-off 3pm
England A v Nomads, March 18th, Old Albanians RFC, kick-off1pm

Ends…