RBS 6 Nations

England Women had to settle for second best in their second RBS 6 Nations outing of the season, losing a tense 16-15 clash against Wales at Taffs Well RFC on Saturday.

The defeat was England’s first loss since losing the 2006 IRB Rugby World Cup Final and now ends England’s chances of securing a fourth consecutive Grand Slam crown.

The defeat will be hard to swallow as England suffered the defeat by the narrowest of margins, only losing the game in the 78th minute of time when Cardiff full-back Non Evans converted a penalty.

England Head Coach Gary Street said: “We are all very disappointed. We didn’t achieve what we set out to do. We were up against a fired up Welsh team and we paid the price. If we had performed well we would have won this game.

“Our downfall was that we gave away too many penalties and we lost composure under pressure, and Wales really did apply the pressure. This is a steep learning curve for us but it’s a chance for our young players to learn from this, take it on the chin and bounce back, and we will do that when we play Ireland on February 27th in Dublin.”

England were penalised early on in the game for their ill discipline and paid the price with Evans kicking one out of two penalty kicks at goal within the first 15 minutes.

Some good work from England’s youngsters Emily Scarratt and Fiona Pocock, however, put England in front on 16 minutes. Wales had had the advantage with a scrum and No. 8 Mel Berry picking up, but a crunching tackle by Lichfield centre Scarratt saw Berry’s pass intercepted by Richmond wing Pocock. She then darted 25 metres up-field to score. Fly-half Katy McLean added the conversion to hand England a 7-3 lead.

But the tables soon turned and by 26 minutes England were trailing 8-7. Again the visitors paid a high price when they were penalised, and Wales took a quick tap penalty in England’s 22. Skipper Berry then secured the ball and dived over the line to take the lead.

Evans missed the conversion, but England also missed two kicks at goal leaving the score at 8-7 until England secured the lead at half-time when good line-out ball saw England attack from the mid-field and Scarratt charge 50 metres up-field and score.  McLean missed the conversion, and Evans also missed a penalty at goal leaving the score 12-8 to England at half-time.

After the restart England missed the chance to take some vital points when they decided to go for a try instead of a kick at goal, but their efforts didn’t reap any rewards. Evans meanwhile missed two further kicks at goal.

England’s fortunes then took a turn for the worse when Scarratt was sin-binned on 61 minutes. Reduced to 14 players, Wales took advantage and some good work in the midfield saw the ball get out to replacement Aimee Young who charged through and scored in the corner. 

Evans missed the conversion whilst McLean added her first penalty to take back a 15-13 lead with minutes remaining. But with England immediately penalised for off-side Evans crucially stroked over a penalty and stole a last gasp 16-15 victory for Wales.

England Women RBS 6 Nations Fixtures:

Feb 7th England v Italy 13.30  London Welsh RFC
WON 69-13
Feb 14th Wales v England  13.00  Taffs Wells RFC, Cardiff
LOST 16-15
Feb 27th  Ireland v England  18.30  St. Mary’s RFC, Dublin
March 15th  England v France 13.30   London Welsh RFC
March 21st  England v Scotland  13.30  London Welsh RFC