Nations Cup: USA vs England, Match of the Century?

Once the archived video is posted we will post it here. Follow us on Facebook andTwitter for updates as well.

See the rosters, scores and schedule here.

The Women’s Nations Cup second match opened with a bang! England is the defending Nations Cup Champion, six time Six Nations Cup reigning champion and Runner Up of the 2010 RWC. With this broad resume many were touting that England would easily win Nations Cup and no one would put up a fight. But USA, a team that has shown they have the heart but not always the maturity…showed last night that they are ripening the game in the US.

The match was scoreless for the first twenty four minutes with England having most of the posession, but the Americans were a terror on defense. This pressure defense was difficult for the England backs who are used to having time to let their movements develop. Head Coach Gary Street said: “The importance of this tournament was evident in this match with the physicality and pressure from the USA. It is a different challenge from Six Nations so it is vital for the development of some of our younger and less experienced players.”

After a tense twenty four minutes with no score, England’s Danielle Waterman , a RWC standout showed her spark and danced her way around several US defenders. With terrific support support by wing Fran Matthews, England finally broke the deadlock with McLean scoring in the corner on 24 minutes. McLean, however, couldn’t add the conversion.

After the try, USA fans feared that USA resolve might break due to their frenzied pace on defense, but the USA continued to show their physicality at the breakdown. Play did get a bit messy here and some penalties against England for not rolling away creeped in. These penalties gave USA #12 Pam Kosanke a chance at goal. Her strike was true and USA had crawled their way to a score of 3-5.

In the second half USA showed that they had something more to prove, they didn’t want to just keep the game close, they wanted to win. At fourty eight minutes Wing Victoria “Vix” Folayan took the ball nicely from a counter kick and showed why she has been a USA 7s standout. Strong running and incredible evasive running saw her break several England defenders tackles. With this standout effort, Foyalan scored in the corner, but due to the difficult angle, Kosanke missed the conversion. USA took the lead for the first time, 8-5.

After this try England took a few minutes in the tryzone to compose themselves. Compose themselves they did with England flanker Maggie “The Machine” Alphonsi breaking through the line, scoring England’s second try. The conversion by McLean was missed and England only led 10-8.

England’s lead was short-lived though and after some careless errors that resulted in more penalties and USA Kosanke converted that oppurtunity in the 56th minute. USA led for the second time in the match, 11-10.

At this point England was showing a bit of panic and started throwing everything they had at the USA. Several subs for England brought in fresh legs while USA only brought in one sub. At this point all the USA had to do was wear down the clock. However, a fired-up Amy Garnett for England took a quick tap penalty, passed the ball to Claire Allan who battled her way against the Eagles’ defensive line. Seconds later a superbly placed kick from England flyhalf Katy McLean handed England a lineout on USA’s 22m, but USA defense was strong on the line.

Moments later after a failed clearing kick by USA, the pressure became too overwhelming, as USA player Sarah Chobot was yellow carded for persistent foul play at 73 minutes. England would play the rest of the match up a woman.

In the remaining minutes England came close to scoring another two times, but again couldn’t break the try line, and McLean also missed a late penalty attempt. England was ever persistent and after a period of sustained pressure which saw several scrums on America’s line, lock Rowena Burnfield finally broke through, powering her way over the try-line to score in the last play of the game. With McLean missing the conversion England took the 15-11 victory.

Once the archived video is posted we will post it here. Follow us on Facebook andTwitter for updates as well.

See the rosters, scores and schedule here.

USA Roster
15 Samantha Pankev (James River)
14 Vanesha McGee (New York Rugby Club)
13 Amy Daniels (Beantown)
12 Pam Kosanke (Chicago North Shore)
11 Victoria Folayan (Berkeley All-Blues)
10 Sadie Anderson (Penn State)
9 Kim Magrini (Keystone)
1 Farrah Douglas (Washington DC Furies)
2 Lisa Butts (Nor Cal Triple Threat)
3 Jamie Burke (Beantown)
4 Stacey Bridges (At-Large)
5 Stacy Baker (Keystone)
6 Shaina Turley (San Diego Surfers)
7 Lynelle Kugler (Twin City Amazons)
8 Kate Daley (Chicago North Shore)

Reserves:
16 Devin Keller (Keystone)
17 Sarah Chobot (Minnesota Valkyries)
18 Laura Miller (Washington DC Furies)
19 Kittery Wagner (Beantown)
20 Carrie White (Seattle Rugby)
21 Sylvia Braaten (Twin City Amazons)
22 Katy Dowty (Beantown)
Tries: Folayan Conversions: none Penalties: Kosanke (2)

England
15 Danielle Waterman (Worcester)

14 Francesca Matthews (Richmond)

13 Emily Scarratt (Lichfield)

12 Alice Richardson (Richmond)

11 Kay Wilson (Richmond)

10 Katy McLean (Darlington Mowden Park) (C)

9 La Toya Mason (Wasps)

1 Rochelle Clark (Worcester)

2 Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield)

3 Laura Keates (Worcester)

4 Rebecca Essex (Richmond)
5 Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park)

6 Joanna McGilchrist (Wasps)

7 Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens) VC

8 Sarah Hunter (Lichfield)


Reserves:
16 Amy Garnett (Saracens)

17 Sophie Hemming (Bristol)

18 Rowena Burnfield (Richmond)

19 Jennifer Brightmore (Worcester)

20 Natasha Hunt (Lichfield)

21 Sarah McKenna (Old Albanians)

22 Claire Allan (Richmond)

Tries: Matthews, Alphonsi, Burnfield Conversions: none Penalties: none