ENGLAND 70 WALES 6
LORRAINE MARSDEN, HBF Park, Perth, Saturday

ANNA DAVIES and Young Player of the Year Connie Boyd both scored hat-tricks as an Isabel Rowe-inspired England raced away to a 13-try win over World Cup newcomers Wales.

Rowe’s 26 points from two tries and nine successful conversions equalled Natalie Gilmour’s record of most points scored by a single player in any England Women’s game.

Boyd was one of three players handed a debut by coach Stuart Barrow, starting alongside heritage player Jasmine Strange, with English-born Bulldogs star Hope Millard coming off the bench for her first England cap.

Wales too had some NRLW experience in their side with Canterbury captain Tayla Preston making her debut in the halves, with Super League and Challenge Cup winner Paige Travis also involved after switching allegiance from England.

But as has happened so often in the past, England proved too strong for Wales and were dominant throughout, taking just three minutes to open the scoring through Amelia Brown.

After an initial Georgia Wilson break, and the ball was then worked left through several pairs of hands, with Boyd’s final pass finding Super League’s top try scorer to go in at the corner.

But Wales hit back almost immediately, when a spell of sustained pressure eventually paid off with their only try of the game.

Wilson knocked on from the restart and although Wales didn’t immediately score from it, they did build a bit of pressure to force a couple of repeat sets before a short pass from Preston found Travis to crash over to score Wales’ first ever World Cup try. Preston added the conversion

But that was about as good as it got for Wales as England, and especially their outside backs ran riot, with another six tries to go into the break 40-6.

The first came when Strange created an overlap before getting the ball out to Wilson, who rounded Frances Layton to touchdown out wide, with Rowe missing her only conversion of the half, before strong work down the left put Boyd in for a debut try.

Hard running out of the back from Hollie-Mae Dodd set off another England charge, and after Fran Goldthorp had almost danced over the line, the ball was quickly played to Dodd to finish the move she’d started. Goldthorp was involved again moments later when her break eventually saw Boyd go in for her second.

With England now firmly in control, Anna Davies got on the scoresheet with a line break from inside her own half, before Keara Bennett’s pass found Rowe, who showed great footwork to break the Wales defence and add England’s seventh and final try of the half.

The second half started in much the same way as the first ended with Rowe’s pass finding Strange, who showed great strength to round would-be Wales tacklers to get a first England try.

Brown almost got a second soon after when Millard made a superb solo break straight from kick-off, but Preston and Hannah Bluck bundled the Huddersfield back into touch.

Although Wales did then manage to stem the flow for the next ten minutes, England soon hit the half century when Rowe threw a dummy and broke free from a tackle to roll over for.

With 13 minutes to go, Wales would have fancied their chances of a second when the ball bounced over Brown’s head in England’s in-goal, but Brown’s reactions then beat the Wales attackers to gather it back and go the length of the field for her second of the match.

With six minutes left, Boyd completed her hat-trick after a great offload by Woman of Steel Jenna Foubister, before Wilson put Davies in down the right for her second.

With just seconds left on the clock, Wilson found Davies once again with the winger going over 40 metres, swatting off Wales defenders for fun for her hat-trick, to wrap up the game for England.

GAMESTAR: Isabel Rowe was involved in everything, adding two tries and nine goals for good measure to equal the points in a game record for England.

GAMEBREAKER: Four tries in ten first-half minutes, just after Wales had leveled matters, took England into an unassailable lead.

MATCHFACTS

ENGLAND
1 Fran Goldthorp
2 Anna Davies
3 Georgia Wilson
4 Connie Boyd
5 Amelia Brown
6 Isabel Rowe
7 Georgia Roche
8 Mary Coleman
9 Keara Bennett
10 Hollie-Mae Dodd
11 Jasmin Strange
12 Eva Hunter
13 Megan Williams
Subs (all used)
14 Jodie Cunningham
15 Vicky Whitfield
16 Jenna Foubister
17 Hope Millard

Tries: Brown (3, 57), Wilson (14), Boyd (17, 23, 64), Dodd (20), Davies (27, 67, 70), Rowe (35, 47), Strange (37)
Goals: Rowe 9/13

WALES
1 Leanne Burnell
2 Dani McGifford
3 Hannah Bluck
4 Zoe Heeley
5 Frances Layton
6 Ffion Lewis
7 Tayla Peston
8 Agnes Wood
9 Jasmine Gibbons
10 Emily Hughes
11 Georgia Cussons
12 Paige Travis
13 Bethan Dainton
Subs (all used)
14 Carys Marsh
15 Kathryn Salter
16 Katie Carr
17 Erin Williams

Tries: Travis (7)
Goals: Preston 1/1

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 6-6, 10-6, 16-6, 22-6, 28-6, 34-6, 40-6; 44-6, 50-6, 56-6, 60-6, 64-6, 70-6

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Women of the Match
England: Isabel Rowe; Wales: Tayla Preston

Penalty count: 6-1
Half-time: 40-6
Referee: Tara Jones