Scotland Women 5 England Women 22

Henley’s Danielle Waterman marked her return to international action with one of England Women’s four tries in their Six Nations victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday night.

Waterman returned to the England starting line-up this week after a series of injuries which has kept the wing out of England’s Six Nations victories over Wales and Spain this month.

Waterman’s Henley teammate Michaela Staniford and Worcester’s Nicola Crawford also crossed for tries with Saracens’ Karen Andrew converting a penalty try. The victory, which also saw England down to 14 women for 20 minutes of the game with Jo Yapp and Selena Rudge in the sin-bin, puts England in confident spirits ahead of their all-important clash against current Six Nations holders France in two weeks time.

Scotland were the first to get the scoreboard ticking over with an early Lindsay Wheeler try but despite Andrew missing a penalty soon after, England bounced back to draw 5-5 with a 19th minute Staniford try. The centre benefited from a good England break in the mid-field, which saw the ball moved out-wide, before Staniford got possession and charged over the line to score.

Good work in the line-out set up England’s second try, this time for Worcester wing Crawford. The England forwards overpowered their hosts on their own line-out to steal the ball and move it out-wide again. Good passing from Staniford then set-up Crawford who scorched her way over the try line.

Minutes later and the tourists took a healthy 15-5 lead when Waterman marked her comeback with a 41st minute try. Again England dominated Scotland’s own line-out to steal the ball. This time Wasps hooker Selena Rudge cleaned up the ball for Staniford, who then set up a waiting Waterman who crossed over the line with relative ease.

Waterman, however, was unlucky not to claim a brace of tries on her comeback when, after the restart, she failed to cling on to the ball after clearing the try-line. The try-scoring opportunity was however not entirely lost with England being awarded a penalty try just minutes later (60 minutes) when Scotland were penalised for pulling down in a driving maul. Andrew took the kick successfully to hand England a deserved win on Scotland turf.

England Women’s head coach Geoff Richards said: “Because of the cold and windy conditions it was a bit of a scrappy game. We had plenty of possession, but Scotland slowed our ball down a lot and both sides struggled at the breakdown but at the end of the day a win is a win and that is what we came here to do.

“It was also good to see Danielle back in action for England and marking her return with a try. She did a good job today and fully deserved to be out there on the wing.

“We now have three wins out of three and are still on course for the Six Nations and Grand Slam titles which is exactly where we want to be. However, we next take on France in France and that is going to be a massively challenging game. We have got a lot of work to do in the next two weeks to ensure that we will step-up to the challenge that awaits us on March 11th.”

England: 1 Rochelle Clark (Henley), 2 Selena Rudge (Wasps), 3 Vanessa Gray (Wasps), 4 Jennifer Sutton (Richmond), 5 Tamara Taylor (Thirsk), 6 Georgia Stevens (Clifton), 7 Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens), 8 Catherine Spencer (Folkestone), 9 Joanne Yapp (Worcester) (C), 10 Karen Andrew (Saracens),
11 Danielle Waterman (Henley), 12 Kim Oliver (Clifton), 13 Michaela Staniford (Henley), 14 Nicola Crawford (Worcester), 15 Susan Day (Wasps). Replacements: 16 Amy Garnett (Saracens), 17 Vanessa Huxford (Wasps),
18 Jenny Lyne (Richmond), 19 Helen Clayton (Saracens), 20 Shelley Rae (Wasps), 21 Charlotte Barras (Lichfield), 22 Vicky Massarella (Saracens)

Tries: Staniford, Crawford, Waterman, Andrew (Penalty try)
Conversions:
Penalty:

Scotland: 15 Lucy Millard (Murrayfield Wanderers), 14 Melanie Christie (Blaydon), 13 Katie Davies (Hillhead/Jordanhill), 12 Veronica Fitzpatrick (RHC),
11 Rhona Shepherd (Murrayfield Wanderers), 10 Rimma Petlevannaya (Murrayfield Wanderers), 9   Paula Chalmers (Murrayfield Wanderers) (C), 1 Lynne Reid (RHC), 2 Victoria Wiseman (Richmond), 3 Gail Russell (Hillhead/Jordanhill), 4 Lee Cockburn (RHC), 5 Lindsay Wheeler (Watsonians),
6 Susie Brown (Hillhead/Jordanhill), 8 Donna Kennedy (Worcester), 7 Shona Watt (Supermarine). Replacements: 16 Iona Frickleton (Watsonians), 17 Karen Findlay (Richmond), 18 Sarah Mee (Watsonians), 19 Claire Muir (Richmond),
20 Mary Pat Tierney (Watsonians), 21 Chris Ovenden (Richmond), 22 Lynsey Douglas (Worcester).

Tries: Wheeler
Conversions:
Penalty:

Half-time score: Scotland 15 England 5

Match Referee: Alan MacDowell (Ireland)

England Women’s Six Nations fixtures:

England v Wales, February 4th, Old Albanians RFC, won 38-15
England v Spain, February 11th, La Ciudad Universitaria Madrid, won 86-3
England v Scotland, February 25th, kick-off 715pm, Murrayfield, won 22-5
England v France, March 11th, kick-off 5pm, Bondoufle, Paris
England v Ireland, March 18th, kick-off 3pm, Old Albanians RFC

Ends…