England v Cymru
Six Nations, Round Two – Ashton Gate, Bristol
One of the greatest pleasures of the game was the quality and variety of the English passing. It created several of the eight tries they scored.
Yet the game had parallels with last year’s. In both Wales were right on top at the start and went ahead with a penalty (here by Lleucu George). England then righted the ship and posted four bonus-point tries before the interval. Was it pure chance all were claimed by forwards?
England’s passing was on show as the ball worked out to the skipper in the centre. As she was held, she managed to squirt the ball out to Abby Dow. That started another thrilling race. Somehow Jenny Hesketh halted her progress close to the line, a rare achievement; but the follow- up was an unstoppable drive by Maud Muir.
Next it was Zoe Aldcroft profiting from a thrust to within two metres by Alex Matthews. The 50- capper had a try to celebrate. More pressure on the Welsh line brought a try for Hannah Botterman; it takes a lot to stop her from that position.
As the clock went red, England destroyed a scrum. From the ensuing penalty and line-out Lark Atkin-Davies scored her almost automatic try under a pile of bodies. That was the bonus-point secured.
Half-time 24-3
It depends on how you view the world. Have the Welsh really improved or not? On the resumption they restricted England to 22 points, far fewer than they have achieved over the past few years in the series. Let’s wait for the closing moments.
The Red Roses stepped up the pace with a pass from Holly Aitchison bouncing off Rosie Galligan’s shoulder into Tatyana Heard’s path. She made a lot of ground in midfield, for the forwards to recycle in a trice and Abby Dow to add to her tally, benefiting from a pass by her fellow winger, Jess Breach.
Meanwhile Ellie Kildunne doubled her two tries from the Italy game with quite outstanding finishes.
She showed her usual combination of strength, determination and agility to get the ball down where it counted. For the first one she had to pick thr ball off the ground, then squeeze over under pressure.
For the second it seemed she would be bundled into the stand by determined tackles, but no! She managed to dot the ball down before crashing into in-goal.
In between Galligan seized her chance to crash over, as the Welsh line came under increasing pressure.
The Welsh can take great heart from the way they finished the last quarter. Far from resigning themselves to their fate, they hammered at the English line. A blatant off-side gave Keira Bevan the chance to produce yet another tap-and-go for a first Welsh try. Other chances went begging; twice promising passes out wide to Carys Cox failed to find their mark.
The pack fought hard to contain their opponents. As so often, Alex Callender was outstanding.
The remaining three games will reveal how beneficial this experience has been for Cymru. Ireland and Italy might be theirs for the taking; France as ever remain an unpredictable force.
A memorable moment for lovers of the speeded-up game came when Kat Roche gave Wales a free kick for Mo Hunt’s failure to ‘use the ball’. My preference would be for the referee to give a penalty every time a scrum-half stands on one foot and delicately moves the ball back inside a ruck with the studs of her other boot. The present fashion is a complete inversion of what is supposed to happen: forwards win ball; scrum-half deals with it. But World Rugby’s law-makers might be unimpressed with my argument.
Inevitably conflicting comments flooded the social media columns. Did the referee allow Hunt long enough? ‘No!’ said some; ‘quite unfair’. Others: ‘About time too!’
Result: England 46 Wales 10
Player of the Match: Rosie Galligan
Attendance: 19,705
Teams
England
15 Ellie Kildunne 14 Abby Dow 13 Meg Jones 12 Tatyana Heard 11 Jess Breach 10 Holly Aitchison 9 Mo Hunt 1 Hannah Botterman 2 Lark Atkin-Davies 3 Maud Muir 4 Zoe Aldcroft 5 Rosie Galligan 6 Sadia Kabeya 7 Marlie Packer (captain) 8 Alex Matthews
16 Connie Powell 17 Mackenzie Carson 18 Kelsey Clifford 19 Abbie Ward 20 Maddie Feaunati 21 Lucy Packer 22 Zoe Harrison 23 Sydney Gregson
Cymru
15 Jenny Hesketh 14 Lisa Neumann 13 Hannah Jones (captain) 12 Kerin Lake 11 Carys Cox 10 Lleucu George 9 Sian Jones 1 Gwenllian Pyrs 2 Carys Phillips, 3 Donna Rose 4 Abbie Fleming 5 Georgia Evans 6 Kate Williams 7 Alex Callender 8 Bethan Lewis
16 *Molly Reardon 17 Abby Constable 18 Sisilia Tuipulotu 19 Natalia John 20 Alisha Butchers 21 Keira Bevan 22 Kayleigh Powell 23 Nel Metcalfe
Note: Jasmine Joyce and Kelsey Jones were late withdrawals; replaced by Lisa Neumann and Molly Reardon
*uncapped
Officials:
Referee: Kat Roche (USAR)
ARs: Aurélie Groizeleau (FFR) and Doriane Domenjo (FFR) TMO: Quinton Immelman (SARU)
with thanks to rugbyreferee.net
Table P W L Pts
England 2 2 0 10
France 2 2 0 9
Scotland 2 1 1 4
Wales 2 0 2 1
Ireland 1 0 1 0
Italy 1 0 1 0
The Ireland-Italy game still to come
Afterthoughts
Here’s a very wry posting on the new Red Roses X feed:
‘England conceded just six penalties against Italy last weekend, the fewest of any side across the opening round of this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations’
But they included one red and one yellow.
Last year the English backs outscored the forwards 6-3 in tries (though Jess Breach will be intensely grateful to Sarah Bern for her opportunity). This year it was 5-3 in favour of the pack.
I hope you like watching rugby played on a football pitch more than I do. I’m constantly expecting a player to score a dramatic try, only to discover it was over the penalty area marking.
