England Women got their Quilter Internationals off to a successful start with a 57-5 win over USA Women at Allianz Park, on the night fly half Katy Daley-Mclean earned her 100th cap for the Red Roses.
In wet and windy conditions in north London, scrum half Leanne Riley opened the scoring inside 10 minutes, getting the ball off No 8 Sarah Beckett from the back of a five-metre scrum.
In the 15th minute the Eagles were down to 14 players when prop Megan Rom was dismissed for leading with the forearm into a tackle, and Sarah McKenna capitalised with a second score off an excellent line.
A penalty try was awarded to England from a driving maul 10-metres out, which saw USA reduced to 13 players with a yellow card. Daley-Mclean capitalised with a superb outside break and step to set up captain Abbie Scott to stroll in, before the centurion intercepted at the half way line to run in a fifth try and make it 33-0 at the break.
Gloucester-Hartpury wing Kelly Smith, who is the top try scorer in the Tyrrells Premier 15s, raced in behind a scrum move before replacement Sarah Hunter controlled the ball from No 8 also off a scrum for her try.
There was a late consolation score by Janine Duncan for USA, while Smith crossed for a second as well as a last-minute score by Carys Williams in a comfortable victory for England.
Head coach Simon Middleton gave six players their debuts on Friday night with Tatyana Heard and Carys Williams forming a new centre partnership, Ellena Perry starting in the front row and Sarah Beckett getting her first senior cap at No 8.
Claudia McDonald came on at scrum half as a replacement along with Lucy Attwood at in the second half for their debuts.
Middleton said: “It was tough as the conditions were absolutely horrendous.
“It’s so difficult to play in those conditions so you’ve sometimes got to look at different aspects of the game, like I thought in defence we were fantastic with great energy and aggressive.
“There are a lot of positives with so many young players and it was a good start for us.
Of Daley-Mclean’s century and later being awarded player of the match, he added: “Katy has let her game do the talking, you couldn’t script it. It wasn’t a sympathetic vote to give her player of the match it was thoroughly deserved, she was absolutely superb.”
England fly half Katy Daley-Mclean said: “You don’t want to think too much about it, but also you want to enjoy it and actually now, especially when I came off, I definitely had some butterflies in the stomach.
“To get player of the match is really nice, it’s not something I get that often and also to get in on my 100th on a wet night.
“There has been a lot of chat about me but there were six girls tonight getting their first caps tonight who did a fantastic job, it’s just brilliant to see.”
England 57 – 5 USA
Tries: Riley (8min). McKenna (25min), Penalty try (35min), Scott (37min), Daley-Mclean (40min), Smith 2 (45, 78), Hunter (51 min), Williams (80min)
Cons: Daley-Mclean 5
England Women match-day 23
15. Sarah McKenna (Saracens, 15 caps)
14. Lydia Thompson (Worcester Valkyries, 39 caps, Attwood (59 mins))
13. Carys Williams (Loughborough Lightning, 1 cap)
12. Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury, 1 cap)
11. Kelly Smith (Gloucester-Hartpury, 4 caps)
10. Katy Daley-Mclean (Loughborough Lightning, 100 caps, Harrison (59 min))
9. Leanne Riley (Harlequins, 22 caps, Macdonald (64 min))
1. Ellena Perry (Saracens, 1 cap, Cornborough (57 min))
2. Lark Davies (Worcester Valkyries, 11 caps, Kerr (66min))
3. Shaunagh Brown (Harlequins, 3 caps, Botterman (40min))
4. Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, 8 caps, O’Donnell (64 min))
5. Abbie Scott (Harlequins, 30 caps) ©
6. Joanna Brown (Loughborough Lightning, 2 caps)
7. Vicky Fleetwood (Saracens, 66 caps)
8. Sarah Beckett (Firwood Waterloo, 1 cap, Hunter (40 min))
16. Heather Kerr (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, 14 caps)
17. Vickii Cornborough (Harlequins, 40 caps)
18. Hannah Botterman (Saracens, 3 caps)
19. Catherine O’Donnell (Loughborough Lightning, 5 caps)
20. Sarah Hunter (Loughborough Lightning, 106 caps)
21. Claudia Macdonald (Wasps FC Ladies, 1 cap)
22. Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 6 caps)
23. Lucy Attwood (Bristol Bears, 1 cap)
2018 Quilter Internationals
- England Women 57 – 5 USA Women
Friday 9 November, Allianz Park - England Women v Canada Women – Sunday 18 November – Castle Park (KO 2pm, Sky Sports Facebook and EnglandRugby.com)
- England Women v Ireland Women – Saturday 24 November – Twickenham Stadium (KO 5.40pm, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports Mix)
Courtesy of the RFU
