Monye Injured in Scrappy England Win

By Prof
June 20 2005

While the 21 of this season’s England squad are down in New Zealand with the British Lions the second string took on Canada in the Churchill Cup  at 3pm on Sunday at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 

It was a chance for Ugo Monye to show what he can do after his successful games for England 7s, the England U19s and U21s. He would pull on the red rose again but it wasn't a cap game so he will still have to wait for that honour. 

Chris Jones pinched first lineout of the game for England although he made a big mistake soon after by knocking a high ball forward about 20 yards.

Canadian Ryan Smith took advantage of weak tackling by Goode and Sanderson to make a good break. Andy Goode then gave away a kickable penalty in the 9^th minute although Derek Daypuck kicked the ball wide.

Ugo s first touch came after a quarter of an hour when Goode put a crossfield kick over to the left wing and all Monye could do was tap the ball back infield but no one could take advantage of it. He may have got the ball in a scoring position about a minute earlier but Simpson-Daniel opted to take a tackle rather than ship the ball wide when he had the chance.

Goode then missed what should have been an easy penalty on 18 minutes. 

The first quarter was certainly scrappy, England s pack were dominant in the tight but made too many mistakes and Gomersall kicked for position too often when perhaps releasing the exciting back line may have been more productive.

The first points were put on the board by Paul Sackey of London Wasps after Simpson-Daniel took a fortuitous rebound from an attempted chip from Goode. Goode missed the kick from out wide. 0-5, 25 minutes. 

Ugo's second touch was a bit of a mistake, a box kick from Weingart went down the wing and instead of  taking the ball on the full and calling for a mark Ugo seemed to think that the ball was going out on the full which it didn't.

Ugo then touched the ball more successfully, he chased the ball and took it well but he couldn't make the line after he lost his footing, but he was up quickly and acted as scrum half to pass to Goode who kicked wide to Vesty who was hanging out on the right wing, he caught the ball well and went over unopposed. This time Goode added the extras. 0-12-32 minutes.

In injury time at the end of the first half Ugo Monye looked to have beaten the replacement hooker, Densmore (who was on as a blood replacement), but he stuck a leg out and caught Monye on the knee. A penalty was awarded but the hooker wasn't sin binned which surely must have been warranted. Goode again missed the penalty.

0-12, HT

There was just one change at half time with Ayoola Erinle coming on for Ugo Monye because of the knock he took on his knee, Simpson-Daniel moved to the wing.

Casey Denning replaced Forrest Gainer after four minutes.

For the second time Andy Goode had a pass intercepted and it would undoubtedly have led to a try had there not been a slight knock on. 

Stan McKeen was replaced by Sean-Michael Stephen six minutes into the second half and two minutes later Sam Vesty was replaced by Tom Voyce and Forrest Gainer by Iain Exeter.

Just four minutes later when Voyce got his hands on the ball for the first time he cut through the Canadian defence and none of them got close to him, he scored under the posts and Goode added the easy extras. 0-19, 52 minutes.

Andy Gomersall off, Peter Richards on and Derek Daypuck off, Nik Witkowski on at 53 minutes. 

Voyce again made an impressive break after dropping a high ball backwards, he then butchered a two-man overlap with teammates Erinle and Richards outside but he could only send the pass into the ground.

More mistakes from England and some good recycling by Canada saw then get to a couple of yards of England s line before they were awarded a penalty that they kicked to the corner. England kept them out once but not legally and Canada kicked a second penalty to the corner only for it to be stolen by Tom Palmer and Richards cleared well.

Chris Jones took out his opposite number at the next lineout and some handbags ensued and Deacon and Tait were both binned for punching. The penalty which was awarded against Jones for the initial infringement was reversed because of Tait s retaliation.

Sanderson was then put into space on the left by Richards with three men outside him, Sanderson went for the line but was taken out very well by Stirling Richmond. 

On 69 minutes, there were more replacements with Lee Mears and Robbie Morris coming on for Turner and Chuter.

Andy Goode was then binned for punching after he was tackled into the hordings, England were down to 13. 

73 minutes, Dowson off, Forrester on. John Cannon off, Ed Fairhurst on.

Simpson-Daniel ran in an easy try only having the fullback to beat on 75 minutes, with Goode off the pitch Richards took and missed the conversion.

Forrester could have made the line after good work by Mears and Freshwater but he was tackled by Coventry s Witkowski and he dropped the ball near the line. 

78 minutes, Palmer off, Hooper on.

Some poor play from England and a wild pass in front of the posts by Sanderson which Bell could only kick to touch saw Canada taking a quick lineout and Smith forced his way over from close range, Aaron Carpenter missed the conversion from wide out on the left. 5-24, 83 minutes.

Chris Jones went off with an ankle injury on 86 minutes and since all of the replacements had been used England were low on numbers again. At the next scrum Goode played on the flank. 

Forrester, Simpson-Daniel and Voyce made yards before Sanderson was put in for a try in the corner in the 90^th minute, Goode missed the kick from the left. Canada 5-29 England.

Well Ugo didn t get a chance to show what he could do at this level, he was only passed the ball once and that was when he was fouled and replaced at half time. Let's hope he recovers well for the next game, the final against Argentina. 

England were scrappy and ill disciplined, they gave away far too many penalties, it was especially disappointing as many of them were given away by Gomersall, Sanderson and Goode - the senior players.

Witkowski showed good skills, we will certainly need to be wary of him when we play Coventry next season.

The Canadians should be proud of the pressure that they put England under, the game between Canada and the USA should be very close and England will have to play much much better if they are going to be in with a chance of beating Argentina who struggled to beat the USA.

 

Canada
15. Derek Daypuck (Castaway-Wanderers)
14. Kris Witkowski (Pacific Pride)
13. Matt King (Balmy Beach)
12. John Cannon (Coventry)
11. Stirling Richmond (Vancouver Rowing Club)
10. Ryan Smith (Brampton Beavers)
9. Matt Weingart (Pacific Pride)
1. Dan Pletch (Oakville Crusaders)
2. Aaron Abrams (Castaway-Wanderers)
3. Forrest Gainer (Trinity University, Ireland)
4. Luke Tait (Neath-Swansea Ospreys)
5. Colin Yukes (Agen, France)
6. Mike Webb (Swilers)
7. Stan McKeen (Pacific Pride)
8. Aaron Carpenter (Brantford)
Replacements:
16. Peter Densmore (Vandals)
17. Iain Exner (Castaway-Wanderers)
18. Casey Dunning (Pacific Pride)
19. Mike Burak (U.B.C. Old Boy Ravens)
20. Sean-Michael Stephen (Oakville Crusaders)
21. Ed Fairhurst (University of Victoria)
22. Nik Witkowski (Coventry)

England XV:  
15. Sam Vesty (Leicester Tigers)
14. Paul Sackey (London Wasps)
13. James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester)
12. Chris Bell (Leeds Tykes)
11. Ugo Monye (NEC Harlequins)
10. Andy Goode (Leicester Tigers)
9. Andy Gomarsall (Gloucester, vice-capt)
1. Perry Freshwater (Perpignan)
2. George Chuter (Leicester Tigers)
3. Stuart Turner (Sale Sharks)
4. Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers)
5. Tom Palmer (Leeds Tykes)
6. Chris Jones (Sale Sharks)
7. Pat Sanderson (Worcester Warriors, Captain)
8. Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons).
Replacements:
16. Lee Mears (Bath Rugby)
17. Robbie Morris (Northampton Saints)
18. Stuart Hooper (Leeds Tykes)
19. James Forrester (Gloucester)
20. Peter Richards (London Wasps)
21. Ayoola Erinle (London Wasps)
22. Tom Voyce (London Wasps)