A resurgent second-half performance handed England Women Under 20s an impressive 32-19 victory over Wales Under 20s today (Wednesday) at Hartpury College, and their third win of the season.
After trailing 8-12 at the break and losing two players to the sin-bin the England young guns powered to a home victory with tries courtesy of Bristol flanker Poppy Cleall, London Irish’s Alexandra Matthews, Saracens’ Hannah Gallagher and Worcester’s Georgia Peedle.
The victory hands England a 100 percent record this season after wins over France and Scotland also. The England U20s now head to the Nations Cup in America in July to face the likes of Australia, South Africa, France and Canada.
England might have had to come from behind to take the victory but they started well with Bristol’s Cleall touching down for the opening try after just seven minutes. Some good pressure by England in the opening stages saw the home side turn-over Wales in the scrum and from five yards out Cleall pounced on the ball to dive over the try line. Thurrock fly half Emily Scott couldn’t make the conversion but moments later she added a penalty to hand England an early 8-0 lead.
But Wales too had their chances and they made the most of them. England were turned over in their 22 and Wales moved the ball out into the midfield for Sian Williams to run in and score. Yasmin Leung couldn’t add the extras leaving Wales 8-5 adrift after 20 minutes.
England, however, started to make the going tough for themselves losing both Amy Wilson-Hardy and Cleall to the sin-bin in the space of just seven minutes. With the home side down to 13 players within in the dying minutes of the first half Wales took a quick tap penalty and centre Rachel Rees ran in to score. With Leung converting Wales took the 8-12 lead at the break.
Some serious words at half time saw England come back into the game. The home side clearly learned a lot from their ill discipline and started well. Nine minutes in and some good pressure from the forwards saw Cleall go over for her second try of the afternoon.
Scott couldn’t make the conversion and Wales retook the lead with a 51st minute try after an impressive solo effort from fullback Rosie Fletcher. With Leung converting the visitors led 13-19.
England rang the changes with Matthews, Gallagher and Peedle taking to the field. And their impact was immediate. Matthews crashed over the try line after just three minutes of being on the field after Wales were turned over in a line-out in their 22. Moments later and Gallagher and Scott executed some great interplay before Gallagher touched down under the posts on 62 minutes. With Scott adding the conversion England led 25-19.
Replacement Peedle then had her chance after some good work by England’s backs saw the Worcester player catch a great line on her first touch of the ball and score. Scott was successful with the boot to seal the 32-19 victory for England.
England Women U20s Head Coach Amanda Bennett said: “This was again a very different match to the games we have played against France and Scotland this season. We put ourselves in trouble in the first half with a high missed tackle count and two sin-binnings. We fell foul of the referee and were playing with 13 players at one point which is when Wales scored their second try. We certainly made life hard for ourselves against a very good Wales team.
“In the break we had a good team talk stressing the need to do the basics well and when we started doing that we were much more disciplined. Our tackling was much better as was our defence and that meant we could put pressure on Wales. From about 50 minutes onwards there was a sense that this game was there for us to take. We used our entire bench and their experience made a real difference. With Gallagher and Matthews coming on they upped the pace and physicality and we scored two quick tries.”
Bennett added: “It’s great that we have won three out of three games. Along the way we have also learned a lot and we are now confident and mentally strong. We know when we make errors that we can bounce back. The U20s programme this season is certainly one of the best there has ever been and we will have some very tough selection decisions to make ahead of the Nations Cup. I know that I will be able to pick 26 players for that squad and everyone of them will make an impact during our campaign.”
