England end 2013 on a high

Two tries from prop Sophie Hemming and one from winger Lydia Thompson, along with the boot of Katy Mclean, helped England to a strong win, and the hosts led 21-3 at the break.

It was in truth an error strewn first half with penalties and dropped passes making it too stop start for either team to build much momentum.

Canada’s aggressive defence, led by skipper Kelly Russell, put lots of pressure on the hosts in the opening exchanges but it was England who took the lead after four minutes with Mclean knocking over a penalty to make it 3-0.

Canada’s Jackie Tittley, who made her international debut last week in France, attempted a 40 m penalty soon after but was just wide. Mclean, was heavily involved in the first few waves of attack, and she made it 6-0 after 13 minutes before Tittley got off the mark with a sweetly struck kick of her own to make it 6-3.

Rowena Burnfield and Natasha Hunt then combined to help win England a penalty in front of the posts as Canada showed a little too much hesitation in clearing their lines and England decided to stick the ball in the corner.

Their positivity was rewarded when Sophie Hemming crashed over after a well organised driving maul. Canada did get more attacking reward when they sped play up, with the likes of Russell, Andrea Burk, Bianca Farella and Latoya Blackwood doing well going forward.

England though ended the half strongly with a well worked try.  Spotting that Canada’s defence was too narrow in their own 22, Mclean booted the ball high and wide, and Lydia Thompson gratefully collected it out wide to dive over in the corner. Mclean’s touchline conversion and a penalty in overtime made it 21-3 at the break.

Hemming scored again early in the second half as England asserted their dominance from a powerfully driven lineout move to make it 26-3.

Canada then found themselves down to 14 players when Karen Paquin was binned after a raft of penalties but scrum half replacement Kayla Moleschi did help speed things up for her side, who were under the England posts shortly after, only for the hosts to clear.

Mclean then made it 29-3 with another kick as the game broke up slightly with both sides making a raft of changes.  Rowena Burnfield was binned for pulling down a maul and Magali Harvey did almost grab a score for Canada while they were up a player, as she chased a kick through, but through the winger.

Sasha Acheson powered through in a good break for England to let Maggie Alphonsi through for a sniff, but the flanker made a rare error and spilled the ball a few metres out.

Star player:  Katy Mclean

Canada: Julianne Zussman (Town of Mount Royal RFC), Bianca Farella (Town of Mount Royal RFC), Brittany Waters (Meraloma Athletic Club), Andrea Burk (Capilano RFC), Andrea Burk (Capilano RFC), Magali Harvey (Club de Rugby Quebec), Jackie Tittley (Montreal Barbarians RFC), Stephanie Bernier – (Club de Rugby Quebec), Laura Russell (Toronto Nomads) Bolton, Kim Donaldson (Burnaby Lake Rugby Club) Toronto, Hilary Leith (Saracens/Capilano RFC), Kayla Mack (Wild Oats RFC), Latoya Blackwood (St. Anne de Bellevue) Montreal, Karen Paquin (Club de Rugby Quebec), Kelly Russell (Capt) (Toronto Nomads), Jacey Murphy (Aurora Barbarians)

Replacements: Kayla Moleschi (Williams Lake Rustlers) (For Bernier 40), Olivia DeMerchant (Woodstock Wildmen) (for Donaldson 50), Mary Jane Kirby (Highland RFC) (for Leith 50), Maria Samson (Calgary Hornets) (for Mack 55) , Amanda Thornborough (Brandon Barbarians RFC) for (for Burk 55), Elissa Alarie (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue Rugby Club) (for Zussman 61), Marie-Pier Pinault-Ried (Club de Rugby Quebec) (for L Russell 67m), Tyson Beukeboom (Aurora Barbarians) (for Blackwood 69m)

England:  Amber Reed (Bristol); Lydia Thompson (Worcester), Abigail Chamberlain (Richmond), Rachael Burford (Thurrock), Michaela Staniford (Wasps); Katy Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), Natasha Hunt (Lichfield); Claire Purdy (Wasps) Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield), Sophie Hemming (Bristol), Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), Rowena Burnfield (Richmond), Hannah Gallagher (Saracens), Marlie Packer (Wasps), Harriet Millar-Mills (Lichfield)

Replacements: Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens) (for Packer 35), Sasha Acheson (Bristol) for Hemming 52) , Ceri Large (Worcester) (for Chamerblain 55), Rebecca Essex (Richmond) (for Millar-Mills 57), La Toya Mason (Wasps) (for Hunt 61), Emma Croker (Richmond) (For Fleetwood 60) Rochelle Clark (Worcester) (for Purdy 60), Ruth Laybourn (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks) (for Thompson 66m)