Red Roses beat USA in WXV opener

29 Sep 2024 | 4 min | 1

The Red Roses opened their WXV 1 campaign with a convincing 61-21 win over the USA. Tries from Lark Atkin-Davies, Ellie Kildunne (2), Georgia Brock, Alex Matthews, Bo Westcombe-Evans, Morwenna Talling, Jess Breach and Ella Wyrwas as well as 16 points from Zoe Harrison secured the victory.

A dangerous clear-out by the USA after ten minutes gave Harrison the opportunity to kick for territory, which was followed by a penalty for side entry. England once again kicked to the corner and from the lineout Sarah Bern wrapped round and found Atkin-Davies who crossed in the corner. Harrison then added the extras from wide.

Immediately after the restart England worked the ball wide to Kildunne who rounded Kristen Thomas and then used her pace to score under the posts. Harrison converted to give England a 14-point lead.

The USA hit back through Alev Kelter following a chip and chase on the half-hour mark before McKenzie Hawkins converted to reduce the deficit to seven.

A few moments later England won a penalty and kicked to the corner, but the USA held up the maul. From the resulting scrum the USA attempted to exit, but pressure from Lucy Packer forced Kelter to spill the ball, which Brock scooped up to score. Harrison scored the conversion to put the Red Roses 21-7 up.

With the clock in the red for half-time, England pushed for another try and built patiently towards the posts before switching to the right. The ball reached Matthews who dummied a pass to Westcombe-Evans before going herself to score. Harrison continued her good form from the tee to convert and make it 28-7.

The USA scored the first try of the second half after 43 minutes following multiple pick-and-go carries before Kelter crossed for her second and Hawkins converted.

With 49 minutes on the clock England won a scrum just outside the USA 22, giving the Red Roses a platform to attack from. After winning the ball, a well-worked move by the England backs saw Westcombe-Evans receive the ball on her wing and she finished to score on her debut. Harrison's attempted conversion hit the post, leaving the score 33-14.

The USA hit back ten minutes later as they won a five-metre lineout and Kate Zackary peeled to score, before Hawkins converted to close the gap to 12 points.

A promising attack broke down when the ball was knocked on, but a powerful scrum from the England forwards won a penalty against the head. They kicked to the corner and played through the phases until Talling powered over from close range and Harrison converted again.

With just under ten minutes remaining the Red Roses won a penalty at the breakdown and kicked deep into the American half. From the lineout, the backs ran a clever move and found Breach, whose arching run saw her run in untouched and Harrison slotted the conversion.

Minutes later England showed a combination of power, footwork and offloading to find Kildunne on the wing to cross for her second of the game. Harrison was again accurate from the tee to make it 54-21.

Right before the final whistle the USA attempted to play out from their half, but replacement Wyrwas intercepted and ran in for England's ninth of the game and Harrison converted for a 61-21 win.

Reaction

Head coach John Mitchell: "I think we let ourselves down with some of our basics early in the game and during the middle, but we finished with a lot of satisfaction in the way we played towards the end.

"At half-time the message was to build pressure and don't let it off through poor basics, just take the handbrake off and attack it.

"That's where our mindset should be and we demonstrated that with some really good examples towards the end of the performance."

Captain Alex Matthews: "I think we let our foot off the gas quite a few times and didn't build the momentum that we wanted, but when we're on fire and scoring tries for fun, that's what the girls love.

"At the moment when we have momentum it's about, can we stay on top and keep suffocating teams and build from that?"