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England Academy staged a late comeback to escape with a win over the Maple Leafs after being on the losing end of the scoreboard for nearly 70 minutes of the match. The English strength in depth proved decisive as their reserves scored three tries and created another in the final quarter of the game to earn the 37-29 victory.
The Canadians got off to a quick start as Emma Jada sped away for a long range try from a turnover. Irene Patrinos converted to make it a seven pointer. Another turnover 10 minutes later resulted in a try for Natasha Smith in the corner to stretch the lead to a dozen.
Deborah Fleming finally got England on the board just before the 20 minute mark, and after a brief stalemate Bianca Blackburn finished off a nice team effort to close the gap to two, but not for long. Jada steamed away after yet another turnover to score her second and restore the converted try difference. England were equally defiant, however, and worked their way close to the line, with Heather Kerr crossing from a rolling maul.
Canada struck first again in the second half as captain Cindy Nelles burst off the back of a scrum to cross the line. The conversion from Patrinos went over to stretch the lead to two scores. An unusually long stretch passed before England put points on the board through replacement flanker Poppy Leitch. That score was quickly erased by Alex Tessier, whose try put the Maple Leafs in a very strong nine point lead heading into the final ten minutes of play.
Instead it was England who picked up the tempo and took command, as Lauren Cattell’s try in the 73rd minute sparked a furious comeback. Leitch crossed for her second to give the Academy their first lead of the match, and Vicki Cornborough sealed the deal with the final score on fulltime, converted by Cattell.
The second match of the two-game series takes place on Saturday, also at Esher.
ENGLAND ACADEMY 37
Tries – D. Fleming (19), B. Blackburn (30), H. Kerr (36), P. Leitch 2 (62, 75), L. Cattell (73), V. Cornborough (80)
Cons – L. Cattell (80)
CANADA MAPLE LEAFS 29
Tries – E. Jada 2 (2, 33), N. Smith (13), C. Nelles (43), A. Tessier (68)
Cons – I. Patrinos 2 (3)
ENGLAND ACADEMY
1 Heather Kerr 2 Lark Davies 3 Justine Lucas 4 Zoe Saynor 5 Courtney Gill 6 Poppy Cleall 7 Abbie Walker 8 Abbie Scott (capt.) 9 Bianca Blackburn 10 LaToya Mason 11 Lotte Clapp 12 Lauren Cattell 13 Rachel Lund 14 Deborah Fleming 15 Sydney Gregson
16 Clara Nielson 17 Vicki Cornborough 18 Bee Dawson 19 Zoe Aldcroft 20 Poppy Leitch 21 Leanne Riley 22 Natasha Jones 23 Lucy Demaine
CANADA MAPLE LEAFS
1 Demi Stamatakis 2 Kristy Sargent 3 DaLeaka Menin 4 Tyson Beukeboom 5 Camille Provençal-Aubé 6 Fabiola Forteza 7 Katie Svoboda 8 Cindy Nelles (capt.) 9 Chelsea Guthrie 10 Jess Neilson 11 Emma Jada 12 Alex Tessier 13 Natasha Smith 14 Frédérique Rajotte 15 Irene Patrinos
16 Brittany Priddle 17 Simone Savary 18 Chelsey Minter 19 Janai Haupapa 20 Gabrielle Senft 21 Lori Josephson 22 Mackenzie Higgs 23 Amanda Williams
