England power past Canada

England were far too strong for Canada at Twickenham in their final game of their Autumn Series.

Published by Alison Donnelly, November 26th, 2016

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England power past Canada

England turned in a superb performance to round off their Autumn Series with a 39-6 win over Canada at Twickenham.

Some of the tries will live long in the memory - especially Danielle Waterman’s phenomenal individual effort in the first half - and England will be thrilled to have finished their series off on a high.

Canada were defensively disappointing - this their third test in eight days - but following the format of the World Cup, this will have delivered some valuable insights for Francois Ratier’s side.

England made a blistering start with Waterman, who looked fired up from the off, making a searing break and then was on hand again as the phases wore on to be on the shoulder of Rachael Burford for a pass that almost took her over the try line.

Richmond flanker Alex Matthews too was carrying well in the opening exchanges and she was over the line within the first ten minutes. First she carried hard and then she was on hand to take a lovely inside pass from Harriet Millar-Mills to power over the try line for a 5-0 lead.

Canada started to work their way back into it with Karen Paquin prominent while Latoya Blackwood too made some hard yards. They came close to the England line with some fine hands freeing hop Jacey Grusnick

England were agonisingly close themselves to scoring minutes later but Kelly Russell pinched the ball from Laura Keates on the line and the visitors booted clear.

But England came straight back, and from the line out on the 22, a brilliantly controlled driving line out took them all the way to the try line and Amy Cockayne crashed over.

Canada upped the tempo and Paquin again was involved in their best exchanges and an Emily Belchos charge down on Scarratt almost brought them close to a try. They had to settle for a penalty which Andrew Burk knocked over to get Canada’s first points.

Magali Harvey had her first stretch on the wing as she raced about 20 metres but it was Waterman who had the  next say with a stunning try.

Her footwork, vision and awareness of the defence ahead of her took her over from 45 metres, beating numerous players for a sensational try - her 47th of test rugby, and surely her best.

Burk kicked a penalty to reduce the arrears to 15-6 on the stroke of halftime.

Canada made a better start to the second half with Blackwood impressing again as Belchos did her best to stretch England.

But an error from Alexandra Tessier, who tried to pass the ball through her legs meant England were handed a soft score.

The loose pass was collected by Emily Scott and Rachael Burford, Scarratt and Kay Wilson combined with Wilson going over in the corner to stretch the lead out.

England scored again just minutes player. Burk and Russell combined brilliantly but Waterman turned the ball over and the play moved wide quickly to Lydia Thompson who raced up the touchline and then held the ball up in a tackle and offloaded brilliantly to Scarratt to score. Emily Scott converted to make it 27-6.

England scored another peach just minutes later. Marlie Packer had the power through the middle and Millar-Mills combined with Thompson for another.

Another break from Packer helped Millar-Mills, who had a brilliant game, to race towards the line and the ball moved wide for Claire Allan to score the final try of a highly entertaining game.

England: Danielle Waterman; Lydia Thompson, Emily Scarratt, Rachael Burford, Kay Wilson; Emily Scott, La Toya Mason; Rochelle Clark, Amy Cokayne, Laura Keates, Tamara Taylor, Harriet Millar-Mills, Alex Matthews, Izzy Noel-Smith, Sarah Hunter (capt).

Replacements: Natasha Hunt (for Mason 40), Vickii Cornborough (for Clark 50), Marlie Packer (for Smith 52) Emma Croker (for Cockayne 58) , Megan Jones (for Burford 58) , Claire Allan (for Waterman 60), Poppy Cleall (for Hunter 60) , Sarah Bern (for Keates 65)

Canada: Julianne Zussman, Brittany Waters, Alex Tessier, Andrea Burk, Magali Harvey, Emily Belchos, Chelsea Guthrie, Carolyn McEwen, Laura Russell, DaLeaka Menin, Tyson Beukeboom, Latoya Blackwood, Kelly Russell, Karen Paquin, Jacey Grusnick

Replacements:  Elissa Alarie (for Guthrie 40) , Demi Stamatakis (for McEwen 52) Frederique Rajotte (for Tessier 52) , Barbara Mervin (for Russell 58), Kayla Mack (for Buekeboom 58) , Olivia DeMerchant (for Menin 64), Mackenzie Higgs (for Burk 62), Gillian Boag (for Blackwood 66)

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