England far too strong for Kazakhstan

England crushed Kazakhstan in a 12 try rout in their second round World Cup clash. This was always going to be a difficult task for Kazakhstan who are years behind England in terms of funding, resources and indeed ability and their opponents proved to be far superior on the day.

The result puts England in pole position to take the top seeding from the pool stages ahead of the semi-finals as they have gone ahead now of both Canada and the Black Ferns in terms of points scored. They have conceded nothing yet in their pool games which will also be a source of pride to Gary Street's charges who will hope they can keep that defensive effort clean in their final pool game against the USA.

England scored six first half tries and six again in the second as they cruised to victory at a sun-drenched Surrey.

England were quick to get into the match with a couple of quick fire tries from wingers Fiona Pocock and Charlotte Barras.

It was soon 21-0, with a second try coming for Barras as she used her pace and strength on the wing to out-sprint the Kazakh defence to score under the posts. M

Fiona Pocock, who has excelled for England out side, had some good runs and then England secured the bonus points before even 30 minutes were on the clock when Sarah Beale broke off a good lineout to crash over.

England lost Michaela Staniford through injury early in the game and her replacement Kat Merchant made an immediate impact when Pocock fed her a lovely pass which helped her over the line. Rachel Burford added the sixth try before the end of a first half where Heather Fisher was a standout player on the flank.

England were quick out of the blocks again in the second half with a fast try from Toya Mason, but Kazakhstan put in a better defensive effort and manage to use their maul well a few times.

Amy Turner's introduction also resulted in an immediate score as her lovely offload in the tackle put Pocock under the posts for one of the scores of the game.

Kazakhstan enjoyed some possession and a nice break from Lyudmila Sherer but Pocock added a ninth try soon after with good pace to score under the posts.

Further tries came from Amber Penrith and Barras and Toya Mason kicked some good penalties after she slotted into flyhalf when Katie McLean went off.

The only negative for England was an injury to Fisher who took a big knock at the end of the game though she did walk off the pitch.

Street will be pleased with the result and the performance ahead of a final round game against the USA, while Kazakhstan will look forward to a clash with Ireland, a side they will hope to get something from in their last pool game.