NICOLA Hoole, of Trowbridge, scored one of the seven tries as England Women
under 20s beat Wales for the second time this season, running out 43-0
winners in today's match Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire.
Hoole, whoplays for Bath, came on as a replacement and scored the sixth try
when she benefitted from a good England line-out which saw her touch down
from five metres out.
England Women Under 20s will now head to Canada for the inaugural Under 20s
Nations Cup in July in confident spirits after a second win over Wales this
season.
The England young guns kept Wales from scoring a single point on both
occasion after a 31-0 defeat in February and today's impressive 43-0 victory
at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire.
England touched down seven times en-route to the win with Bath Rugby's
Marlie Packer grabbing a brace of tries. Lichfield full back Emily Scarratt
also kicked four conversions as well as claiming a try herself.
It did, however, take England 25 minutes to put the points on the board
after a physical opening to the game which saw Wales do well in the scrum
and line-outs. England's fitness however told and in the end it was
Worcester co-captain Laura Keates who broke the duck with the first try. Her
score though was largely due to a superb counter-attack by Bath wing Natasha
Hunt who charged 70 metres up-field before off-loading to Keates. Scarratt
converted.
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Thirteen minutes later and England led 14-0 when Scarratt came into the
midfield and manoeuvred her way around two Welsh defenders to put Camberley
wing Georgina Crabb through to score in the corner for a converted try just
before half-time.
After the break Scarratt, who has played for England A this season, claimed
her sole try after a clever chip at the back of a scrum by Doncaster fly
half Claire Garner. Scarratt collected and dived over the line to score
under the posts.
Substitute Sam Bree, of Worcester, then had her chance with her first touch
of the ball when she charged over the line from 40 metres out. Scarratt
again added the conversion making the score 26-0 with 55 minutes on the
clock.
Minutes later Packer claimed the first of her two tries when a well worked
line-out saw her muscle her way through Wales' defence and score. Scarratt
was as consistent as ever with her kick and slotted over the conversion.
Hoole scored after 71 minutes before Packer rounded off the game for
England. This time the Bath flanker picked up a loose ball after Wales' full
back failed to catch a pressure up and under kick from Saracens' April
Brown.
England Under 20s head coach Giselle Mather said: "This was an improved and
pleasing performance. The team has taken on board the lessons they learned
from our last game against Wales and have also put into practice what we
have been doing in training well. We can now look forward to our tour to
Canada later this year where we hope we can improve even more on the global
stage."
The Wales victory was England's final match before the 2008 inaugural Under
20s Nations Cup which takes place in Toronto, Canada from July 10 to the
20th. There they will play Wales, Canada and the USA.
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