England players released back to clubs

Posted on Mar 1, 2012 in England, English Rugby

The following players were this evening released to their clubs ahead of Aviva Premiership Round 17, the RaboDirect PRO 12 and Top 14 Orange

Mike Brown (Harlequins)

Calum Clark (Northampton Saints)

Paul Doran Jones (Northampton Saints)

Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)

Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers)

Charlie Hodgson (Saracens)

Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)

Joe Marler (Harlequins)

Lee Mears (Bath Rugby)

Ben Morgan (Scarlets)

Tom Palmer (Stade Francais)

Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby)

Joe Simpson (London Wasps)

Matt Stevens (Saracens)

Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)

Thomas Waldrom (Leicester Tigers)

Rob Webber (London Wasps)

Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said: "It’s been a good few days with a change of venue and an opportunity to review the Wales game and build on the positives as well as learn some lessons. The players have been very focused in training and their response after Saturday has been excellent. We are going to release 18 players to get some game time for their clubs on which should be a very competitive weekend. Our intention was to retain the starting 15 from Wales for training tomorrow but under IRB Regulation 9 Scarlets haves a requested Ben Morgan so he will be returning to play for them on Friday."

After tomorrow England will next meet up at Pennyhill Park on the evening of Monday, March 5

Ireland women’s squad to play Wales

Posted on Feb 29, 2012 in Women's Rugby

The Ireland Women’s team to play Wales in the RBS 6 Nations Championship has been named by Coach Philip Doyle.

Doyle has again named an unchanged team for the re-scheduled fixture on Saturday afternoon in Ashbourne RFC.

Ireland was scheduled to play Wales in the first round of the RBS 6 Nations championship, which was called off at half-time due to deterioration of weather conditions.

The Ireland side defeated their Italian counterparts 40-10 in their last outing.

Ireland Women’s Team (v Wales Women, RBS 6 Nations, Ashbourne RFC, Co. Meath – March, 3rd 14.30 GMT)
15. Ashleigh Baxter (Belfast Harlequins – Ulster)
14. Niamh Kavanagh (UL Bohemians – Munster)
13. Niamh Briggs (UL Bohemians – Munster)
12. Grace Davitt (Cooke – Ulster)
11. Alison Miller (Portlaoise/Highfield – Connacht)
10. Lynne Cantwell (Exile)
9. Amy Davis (Blackrock – Leinster)
1. Fiona Coghlan (UL Bohemians – Leinster) Captain
2. Gillian Bourke (UL Bohemians – Munster)
3. Ailis Egan (Old Belvedere – Leinster)
4. Sophie Spence (Exile)
5. Marie Louise Reilly (Old Belvedere – Leinster)
6. Laura Guest (Highfield – Munster)
7. Claire Molloy (Bristol – Connacht)
8. Joy Neville (UL Bohemians – Munster)

Replacements:
16. Paula Fitzpatrick (St. Mary’s – Leinster)
17. Ruth O’Reilly (Galwegians – Connacht)
18. Siobhan Fleming (Tralee – Munster)
19. Heather O’Brien (Highfield – Munster)
20. Larissa Muldoon (Exile/UWIC – Ulster)
21. Nikki Caughey (Belfast Harlequins – Ulster)
22. Jennifer Murphy (Exile)

Ireland Women RBS 6 Nations Fixtures 2012 (All Kick-off Times GMT):
Sat 3rd Mar 14:30 Ireland v Wales – Ashbourne, Co. Meath
Fri 9th Mar 19:30 Ireland v Scotland – Ashbourne, Co Meath
Sat 17th Mar 14:00 England v Ireland – Esher RFC, SW London

England Women in 33-0, six try demolition of Wales

Posted on Feb 27, 2012 in England, England Women, English Rugby

England Women’s Six Nations title ambitions remained firmly on track tonight with the reigning champions inflicting a 33-0 defeat on Home Nation rivals Wales whilst also maintaining their winning record at Twickenham Stadium.

Although England’s performance was far from slick Gary Street’s side ran in six tries on route to the victory with Wasps wing Michaela Staniford adding a brace. There were also tries for Emily Scarratt, Kay Wilson, Sarah Hunter and Rowena Burnfield who was named Player of the Match.

Street, whose side have also defeated Scotland 47-0 and Italy 43-3 in the Six Nations so far, said: “I am really pleased with this performance. Wales made us work hard for this victory, bringing passion and determination to the game and they tried very hard to stop our players in their tracks.

“At half-time when we were leading 13-0 we spoke about improving our discipline, to stop giving away so many penalties and to be more patience. When we started to do that the points came.

“We have now got two weeks to prepare for our penultimate game against France and really look at ourselves and analyse the French. With both teams unbeaten this is going to be a titanic battle but we are going to make sure we are ready for that challenge.”

With Street once again ringing the changes for this fixture, 11 in total from the side that started against Italy, England still managed to find their stride early on and scored within two minutes to put down a threatening marker.

Skipper Katy McLean made a good break to give England space while centre Rachel Burford carried the ball on. England were awarded a penalty which led to an attacking line-out deep in Wales’ 22. England drove forward and when they couldn’t get over they recycled the ball out-wide through the hands of McLean, Burford and Natasha Hunt before wing Staniford got on the end of it and scored her fourth try of the tournament. McLean wasn’t able to convert.

Wales battled back though and kept England at bay, with their forwards putting England under pressure, but the pressure couldn’t amount to points even when England lost prop Laura Keates to the sin-bin for stamping.

England in fact seemed unruffled being a player down and McLean soon stroked England into a 8-0 lead with a 32nd minute penalty before a lovely decoy run saw the fly-half then set-up centre Burford with a break. The centre made some good space before off-loading to her fellow centre Scarratt who raced 45 metres up-field to score on the left wing. McLean couldn’t make the conversion, and Wales too had their chance at the posts with a 38th minute penalty but couldn’t make the score, leaving England 13-0 up at half-time.

England called upon some of their experienced chargers for the second-half with No. 8 Sarah Hunter and flanker Margaret Alphonsi coming on to the field. They immediately added some impetus but it was Player of the Match Burnfield who took the first score of the second-half with a well-deserved 46th minute touchdown.

Lock Burnfield, whose work-rate was impressive throughout, took a nice high pass from Burford after England had hammered Wales’ try line on the right wing. The ball was recycled through the mid-field before Burford set-up a deserving Burnfield.

Try number four came England’s way just minutes later with wing Kay Wilson taking the spoils after some good work by Hunter in the corner, quickly followed by Staniford’s second with Scarratt and Hunt at the heart of the action taking England into a commanding 28-0 lead as they headed into the final quarter.

Wales’, however, kept on battling and they regrouped to produce some more solid defensive work to stop England scoring for the next quarter despite some serious pressure coming from a determined England out-fit.

In the end Wales’ defence could hold no more and a quick tap penalty by Hunter caught Wales on the back foot and she dived over the line with ease. McLean couldn’t make the conversion but it didn’t matter as England’s six try effort was enough to hand them a 33-0 victory.

England

15        Natasha         Hunt   (Lichfield), 14            Kay     Wilson            (Bristol), 13 Emily     Scarratt            (Lichfield), 12            Rachael         Burford           (Richmond), 11 Michaela   Staniford        (Wasps), 10        Katy    McLean (c)    (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 9       La Toya          Mason            (Wasps), 1            Laura  Keates (Worcester), 2          Victoria           Fleetwood     (Lichfield), 3  Sophie           Hemming (Bristol), 4      Rowena         Burnfield       (Richmond), 5           Tamara           Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 6         Hannah         Gallagher      (Saracens), 7 Marlie            Packer            (Bristol), 8            Harriet            Millar-Mils      (Lichfield). Replacements: 16        Amy    Turner            (Richmond), 17            Rochelle        Clark (Worcester), 18           Margaret        Alphonsi        (Saracens), 19          Sarah            Hunter (Lichfield), 20          Georgina       Rozario          (Lichfield), 21            Ceri     Large (Worcester), 22         Kimberley      Oliver  (Bristol)

Tries:Staniford (2), Scarratt, Burnfield, Wilson, Hunter

Conversions:

Penalties: McLean

Substitutions: Clark for Gallagher (36), Gallagher for Clark (39), Alphonsi for Gallagher, Hunter for Millar Mills (both HT), Turner for Packer, Oliver for Burford (51), Mason for Rozario (58), Keates for Clark (59), Large for McLean (69)

Wales

15 Rosie Fletcher (Neath Athletic/Ospreys), 14 Charlie Murray (Cross Keys), 13 Adi Taviner (Neath Athletic), 12 Rebecca De Filippo (Neath Athletic/Scarlets), 11 Caryl James (Cardiff Quins), 10 Naomi Thomas (Cross Keys), 9 Amy Day (Cross Keys), 1 Caryl Thomas (Bath Ladies),2 Rhian Bowden (Cross Keys/Dragons), 3 Jenny Davies (Waterloo), 4 Vicky Owens (UWIC), 5 Shona Powell-Hughes (Neath Athletic), 6 Sioned Harries (UWIC), 7 Rachel Taylor (Capt) (Cardiff Quins), 8 Jamie Kift (Cross Keys). Replacements: 16 Lowri Harries (UWIC), 17 Megan York (Bleanau Gwent/Dragons), 18 Clare Flowers (Bristol), 19 Lisa Newton (UWIC), 20 Laura Prosser (Pontyclun), 21 Mared Evans (UWIC), 22 Phillippa Tuttiett (Cardiff Quins)

England’s Six Nations Fixtures:

February 5th 2012, Scotland v England, Lasswade, Edinburgh, WON 47-0

February 12th 2012, Italy v England, Recco, Nr Genoa, WON 43-3

February 25th, 2012, England v Wales, Twickenham Stadium, WON 33-0

March 11th, 2012, France v England, Stade Charlety, Paris, KO 1245pm GMT

Live on Sky Sport HD2 Red Button.

March 17th 2012 England v Ireland, Esher RFC, KO 2pm.

Six try England U20 put Wales to the sword

Posted on Feb 27, 2012 in England, England U20, English Rugby

England Under 20 made it two wins from two in this season’s Under 20 Six Nations, beating Wales 40-9 in front over 3,400 fans at the Twickenham Stoop.

It was a game for new faces as first time starters Anthony Watson (2), Sam Hill and Josh Basset all scored tries, while Tommy Bell kicked eight points. Luke Cowan-Dickie and Marland Yarde touched down for England’s other tries.

Despite the 31-point win, it was Wales who got on the board first, Welsh fly half Sam Davies scored an 18th minute drop goal, just after he saw a penalty sail wide, but it was England who got the first try of the match.

Bedford Blues wing Bassett was on the end of scrum half Dan Robson’s precise pass to touch down after several phases of strong forward play, Leeds fly half Bell added the extras.

England’s second try came ten minutes before the break. A strong scrum just outside the 22 freed up the backs and impressive Quins centre Charlie Walker showed good pace to tee up London Irish wing Watson for his first try, five days after he scored for England Under 18 against France.

Davies then kicked two penalties for Wales, either side of one from Bell, to put the visitors to within a converted try of the hosts at the break.

The second half started much like the first, both sides showed plenty of guts without really penetrating the opposing 22.

With half an hour to go, England full back Ben Ransom, playing in his twelfth consecutive Under 20 game, kicked his side into life. A long punt up field from the No. 15 put real pressure on the Welsh defence and Exeter prop Cowan-Dickie eventually popped the ball over after several strong phases of play from the English pack.

It was another Exeter player who got England’s fourth try, Anthony Watson and Tommy Bell combined well before the latter passed to Sam Hill to score and move the lead to 21 points.

Watson got his second and England’s fifth with ten minutes remaining. Smooth passing across the backline set up the 17-year-old to score his third Under 20 try in two matches.

Marland Yarde rounded off the scoring with his fourth try of this season’s Six Nations, good pace from Ransom set the London Irish wing up to touch down.

Speaking after the match, man of the match Charlie Walker said: “It was great to get the win in front of such a supportive home crowd. The first half was a bit stop-start, but in the second half I felt that we really moved up the gears and played some good rugby.

“This was the first time a lot of the guys have played for the 20s and it was refreshing to see how well everyone played – to a man I thought everyone did their job excellently. We’ll take a lot from this win, but we know that there’s still a lot to work on, and we’ll look to be even better when we play Italy in Rovigo next Saturday.”

Points: Bassett 1T, Watson 2T, Cowan-Dickie 1T, Hill 1T, Yarde 1T; Bell 1C, 2P

England Under 20 starting XV v Wales

15) Ben Ransom (Saracens)
14) Anthony Watson (London Irish)
13) Charlie Walker (Harlequins)
12) Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs)
11) Josh Bassett (Bedford Blues)
10) Tommy Bell (Sale Sharks)
9) Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)
1) Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)
2) Koree Britton (Gloucester Rugby)
3) Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
4) Tom Price (Leicester Tigers)
5) George Merrick (Harlequins)
6) Dom Barrow (Leeds Carnegie)
7) Chris Walker (C) (Leeds Carnegie)
8) Jack Clifford (Harlequins)

Replacements:

16) Scott Spurling (Saracens) on for Koree Britton 65 mins
17) Alec Hepburn (London Wasps) on for Luke Cowan-Dickie 65 mins
18) Nick Auterac (Saracens) on for Kyle Sinckler 70 mins
19) Elliot Stooke (Gloucester Rugby) on for George Merrick 63 mins
20) Will Skuse (Bath Rugby) on for Tom Price 45 mins
21) Alex Day (Northampton Saints) on for Dan Robson 70 mins
22) Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs) on for Tommy Bell 70 mins
23) Marland Yarde (London Irish) on for Josh Bassett 50 mins

England Students 43 Wales Students 15

Posted on Feb 27, 2012 in England, England Students, English Rugby

Dan Bibby set England Students on the way to a comprehensive five-try win over their Wales counterparts at the Stoop.

The full back from the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff scored two well-taken tries either side of half-time to settle a free-flowing contest.

Bath wing Sam Miller also touched down twice after centre Louis Messer had opened the scoring and Durham fly half Mike Ward added three conversions and four penalties.

Wales briefly hauled themselves back in the game with an interception try midway through the first half from Bridgend wing Tom Williams, and a conversion and penalty by Rhys Roberts (Cardiff Met). Cardiff’s Ross Wardle got their late consolation.

The visitors looked dangerous enough when they got the ball but England’s forwards – including flanker Josh Beaumont, the son of former England captain Bill Beaumont – were too strong and mobile an influence with former England Under 20 flanker Tom Sargeant leading from the front.

“They’ve got a good team spirit and they worked really hard tonight,” said head coach Paul Westgate. “And Tom Sargeant at seven was an inspirational leader – winning turnovers and making big tackles.

“We made a few mistakes but we worked hard to subdue Wales and when we got over the gain line we played some good rugby. Forty three points and five tries? We’ll happily take that.”

Wales trailed 19-10 19 minutes before the interval after Messer had followed up Hartpury prop Richard Barrington’s break to score the opener with Ward converting and kicking four penalties in quick succession.

Miller opened up some breathing space with his strike, then Bibby – training with the England Sevens squad this season – scored the third with an elusive run down the left before putting his side out of sight when he pounced on a loose ball Wales couldn’t control immediately after the break.

At 38-10 up with more than half-an-hour left the floodgates might have opened but Wales dug in, the game lost some structure and Miller’s second score – a simple touchdown in the left hand corner – was all England could add before Wardle’s last minute effort for Wales.

England Students: Dan Bibby (UWIC); Ryan Edwards (UWE), Tom Shiel (Durham), Louis Messer (UWIC), Sam Miller (Bath); Mike Ward (Durham), Andrew McCulla (Durham); Richard Barrington (Hartpury), Richard Townsend (Hartpury), Jordan Saunder (UWIC), Phil Hoy (Hartpury), Jamie Collins (Bath), Josh Beaumont (Durham), Tom Sargeant (Exeter, captain), Graeme Lawler (Hartpury).

Replacements: Tom Meatyard (Bath) for Saunder 55, Mungo Strachan (Newcastle) for Townsend 65, Anthony Maka (Bishop Burton) for Lawler 55, Liam Wilkinson (UWE) for Hoy 65, Donald Blake (Cambridge) for McCulla 70, Zak Winnicombe (Bath) for Ward 65, Tom O’Toole (Cambridge) for Messer 70.

Tries: Bibby 2, Miller 2, Messer. Conversions: Ward 3. Penalties: Ward 4.

Wales Students: Luke Treharne (Exeter); Will Jones (Cardiff), Leighton Bellamore (Cardiff Metropolitan), Ross Wardle (Cardiff), Tom Williams (Bridgend); Rhys Roberts (Cardiff Metropolitan),  Tom Rowlands (Swansea); Brynley Toms (Cardiff Met), Jon Howard (Cardiff Met), Ian Williams (Swansea), Jon Barley (Swansea), Josh Tyler (Cardiff Met), James Thomas (Cardiff), Craig Attwell (Univ of Wales), Sam Cross (Cardiff Met).

Replacements: Joe Tomlinson (Cardiff Met), Rhodri Clancy (Swansea), Josh Jacas (Cardiff Met), Kyle Tayler (Cardiff Met), Aled Lewis (Swansea), Ianto Griffiths (Swansea), Rhys Howells (Cardiff).

Tries: Williams, Wardle. Conversion: Roberts. Penalty: Roberts

Referee: Andrea Spadoni (Italy).