Nations Cup: SA over USA and England over Canada

Repost from Scrumqueens:

South Africa have recorded a famous victory over the USA in a 26-23 thriller at the Nations Cup. South Africa trailed throughout the game but scored a late try to secure a victory that must be considered one of the biggest in their history. In the other group game England scored three second half tries to defeat Canada 22-10. The same teams meet again in this weekend’s finals.

South Africa 26 USA 23
Victories in their two competition appearances at the Nations Cup prior to this game had been hard to come by for the South Africans who had yet to beat any of the sides they faced here in their history. Two heavy defeats to England and the USA in the past week suggested that the USA, also winless at this tournament, would be too strong for Denvar Wannies’ side, but the spirited Sprinboks had other ideas.

The USA took an early 13-3 lead with a try for Vanessa McGee and points from the boot of fly-half Sadie Anderson but South Africa pulled the game back to a 13-13 draw at half-time (SA scorers not yet known). A hugely entertaining second half saw the US grab scores to push ahead only for South Africa to come right back at them with the US taking an 18-13 lead cut down by a South African penalty. A third USA try, which took the score to 23-16, was matched within five minutes by South Africa’s third, cutting the lead again to just two points with five minutes left. The game could have gone either way in those final minutes, reports suggest constant change of possession – but it was South Africa who broke through, scoring a fourth try in the final minute to win 26-23.

USA: 1. Sarah Chobot, 2. Lisa Butts, 3. Libby Berg, 4. Lauren Daly, 5. Shaina Turley, 6. Kitt Wagner, 7. Laura Miller, 8. Kate Daley (c), 9. Carrie White, 10. Sadie Anderson, 11. Kaelene Lundstrum, 12. Sylvia Braaten, 13. Rebecca Brafman, 14. Vanesha McGee, 15. Samantha Pankey

South Africa: 15 Yolanda Meiring 14 Gadu Phumeza 13 Ziyanda Tywalent 12 Daphne Scheepers 11 Lusanda Mtiya 10 Zandile Nojoko 9 Fundiswa Plaatjie 1 Nedene Botha 2 Pulane Motloung 3 Cebisa Kula 4 Dolly Mavumengwana 5 Nolusindiso Bodi 6 Nomathamsanqa, Faleni 7 Mandisa Williams (c) 8 Namhla Siyolo 16 Denita Wentzel 17 Laurian Johannes 18 Onicca Moaga 19 Nwabisa Nwabisa 20 Lamla Momoti 21 Janine Felix 22 Natasha Mofmeester

Read the play by play tweets from this match here. See all the tournament scores and rosters here.

England 22 Canada 10
England scored three tries in the second half and defeated Canada 22-10 in their final group game.

England finished the round-robin portion of the tournament undefeated at 3-0, while Canada fell to 2-1. The two teams will meet again in Saturday’s final.

Canada began strongly with 7s stars Jen Kish and Kelly Russell getting on the ball in the early phases but it was England’s young centre Emily Scarratt who got on the scoresheet first with a penalty. England came close to a try following a neat break from Alice Richardson but Canada’s defence rallied and then a break from Andrea Burk saw Cheryl Phillips touch down to see the home side take a 5-3 lead into the break.

England came out firing and their first try came to substitute Natasha Hunt who drove over in the corner after good work from Maggie Alphonsi and the tenacious flanker herself was on the score-sheet when a fantastic display of ball handing and movement saw her touch down and Scarratt converting.

Canada continued to put pressure on though and their work was rewarded with a score for Kayla Mack closing the gap to 15-10 but then Amy Garnett, coming off the bench to win her 99th cap for England, grabbed the winning score with a great solo effort.

“We made mistakes that we planned on not making,” said Canadian coach John Tait. “We were a little bit overwhelmed and we let it get to us, but we’re looking forward to Saturday because we can do better than that.”

Canada: Marie-Pier Pinault-Reid (Club de Rugby de Québec), Kim Donaldson (Burnaby Lake RFC),Corinne Jacobsen (Burnaby Lake RFC, Danielle Rowlands (Calgary Hornets, Maria Jaworski (Calgary Hornets), Kelsey Willoughby (Lethbridge RFC), Jen Kish (Lep Tigers), Kelly Russell (Captain) (Toronto Nomads), Laura Stoughton (Calgary Hornets), Ghislaine Landry (Toronto Scottish), Cheryl Phillips (Toronto Scottish), Mandy Marchak (Capilano), Andrea Burk (Capilano), Jessica Dovanne (Velox Valkyries), Julianne Zussman (Town of Mount Royal RFC)

England: Rochelle (Rocky) Clark (Richmond), Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield), Laura Keates (Worchester), Tamara Taylor (Worchester), Rowena Burnfield (Richmond), Rebecca Essex (Richmond), Marly Packer, Sarah Hunter (Captain) (Lichfield), La Toya Mason (Wasps), Alice Richardson (Vice-Captain) (Richmond), Fran Matthews (Richmond), Sarah McKenna (Old Albanians), Emily Scarratt (Lichfield), Clare Allan (Richmond), Danielle Waterman (Worchester)

Read the play by play tweets from this match here. See all the tournament scores and rosters here.