A great weekend for England

By Jason Harris
March 31 2003

England, with the assistance of Saracens stars Richard Hill and Kyran Bracken, captured their first Six Nations Grand Slam after hammering Ireland 42-6 in Dublin. Meanwhile, Tony Roques and Richard Haughton helped their country retain their Hong Kong 7s title after beating New Zealand in the final.

Haughton, a second half substitute in the match against the All Blacks, scored two of England's four tries in a 22-17 win with Quins wing Ugo Monye and Gloucester's Henry Paul bagging the other five-poiners.

Hong Kong results:
Quarter-finals:
N Zealand 31-5 Tonga
South Africa 40-0 Kenya
Fiji 12-7 Samoa
Australia 14-19 England
Semi-finals:
N Zealand 21-17 South Africa
Fiji 19-24 England
Final:
N Zealand 17-22 England

Across the Channel on Saturday, Thomas Castaignede scored a try in France's easy 33-5 Stade de France win against Wales. Tom Shanklin came off the bench for the Welsh during the game, but was powerless to stop his fellow countrymen succumbing to a French side revellnig in the spring sunshine.

The squad re-assembles at Bramley Road this week in preparation for the end-of-season run-in which, if they can win some games, could see the Men in Black make the cut for the Zurich Premiership Wildcard playoffs and into the final of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup.

The first game is the Zurich Premiership encounter with basement dwellers London Irish at Vicarage Road on Sunday 6 April, kick-off 3pm.