England crash through Canada in WXV

For a third time in the span of a month, Canada have been beaten by England in decisive fashion. This time the match was at the neutral venue of Dunedin, but the result was similar with the Red Roses securing a 45-12 victory in their WXV second round collision on Friday.

It was a relatively even contest until the 50-minute mark in the second half. England’s first try was an opportunistic score for Ellie Kildunne after Sarah-Maude Lachance couldn’t handle a bouncing ball in Canada’s in-goal area. The Canadians held their nerve, however, and Emily Tuttosi scored from a driving maul just after Holly Aitchison had been binned at the half-hour mark for a deliberate knock-on.

Despite being down to 14 players England took control with tires just before halftime. Both were in near-identical fashion to Tuttosi’s with her counterpart Lark Davies grounding the ball at the back of the lineout drive on each. Helena Rowland slotted both conversions to make it 21-5 to the Red Roses.

Early in the second half Shoshanah Seumanutafa snatched up a loose ball and after a short burst freed Paige Farries down the right side, the winger sprinting home from 55 meters to close the gap to 9 points. A third try for Davies, again via the maul, snuffed out any momentum that the Canadians were building.

The final 20-odd minutes belonged to England. Davies grabbed her fourth try after Julia Schell saw yellow for a dangerous tackle on Marlie Packer. Jess Breach showed her pace on a switch play with Kildunne for a sixth Red Roses try, and the final say went to Claudia MacDonald on a weaving run off her left wing to touch down between the posts.

Auckland will host the final round of the WXV top division next weekend. Both Canada and England will play on Saturday. For the Maple Leafs it’s a rematch of the World Cup Bronze Final with France, while the Red Roses take on hosts New Zealand in a rematch of the Final.

 

SCORING

ENGLAND 45
Tries (7) – E. Kildunne (8′), L. Davies 4 (36′, 40’+1′, 50′, 57′), J. Breach (68′), C. MacDonald (70′)
Cons (5) – H. Aitchison 1/1 (9′), H. Rowland 4/6 (37′, 40’+2′, 51′, 71′)
YC (1) – H. Aitchison (30′)

CANADA 12
Tries (2) – E. Tuttosi (31′), P. Farries (44′)
Cons (1) – S. de Goede 1/2 (45′)
YC (1) – J. Schell (56′)

 

TEAMS

ENGLAND
1 Mackenzie Carson (17 Hannah Botterman 51′), 2 Lark Davies (16 Connie Powell 58′), 3 Sarah Bern (18 Maud Muir 63′), 4 Zoe Aldcroft, 5 Cath O’Donnell (19 Rosie Galligan 56′), 6 Morwenna Talling, 7 Marlie Packer (capt.) (20 Maisy Allen 63′), 8 Alex Matthews, 9 Natasha Hunt (21 Ella Wyrwas 56′), 10 Holly Aitchison, 11 Claudia MacDonald, 12 Amber Reed (22 Tatyana Heard 51′), 13 Helena Rowland, 14 Abby Dow (23 Jess Breach 63′), 15 Ellie Kildunne

CANADA
1 McKinley Hunt (17 Brittany Kassil 63′), 2 Emily Tuttosi (16 Gillian Boag 62′), 3 DaLeaka Menin (18 Alex Ellis 63′), 4 Tyson Beukeboom (19 Ashlynn Smith 69′), 5 Courtney Holtkamp, 6 Gabrielle Senft, 7 Sara Svoboda (20 Sara Cline 71′), 8 Sophie de Goede (capt.), 9 Olivia Apps (21 Justine Pelletier 51′), 10 Claire Gallagher (22 Julia Schell 51′), 11 Florence Symonds (23 Maddy Grant 66′), 12 Alex Tessier, 13 Shoshanah Seumanutafa, 14 Paige Farries, 15 Sarah-Maude Lachance

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Maggie Cogger-Orr (New Zealand)
Assistants: Lauren Jenner (New Zealand) & Cassie Watt (New Zealand)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)

 

Venue: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin