England Women Sevens win Plate Final in Euros
By JH
June 17 2013
A young, developing England Women’s Sevens outfit were crowned European Plate champions in Marbella and in turn finished fifth in the European Series this season.
Barry Maddocks’ team, who featured three players making their Sevens debuts and several more with only a handful of caps, did well to take the 19-12 victory in the final against a full strength Italian side. England, who were reigning champions, did, however, only take the win in the last play of the game when debutant Julie Hope crossed. They had led 7-12 at the break but Italy hit back when England lost Bristol’s Amy Wilson-Hardy, another player making her first ever Sevens start, to the sin bin. England paid the price but still did well to claw their way back into the lead. Maddocks, who will this week name his 12-woman squad for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow (June 28-30), said: “This has been a good tournament in terms of developing a lot of players who I think could be involved in our Sevens programme next season. There is some great potential here but they will only benefit from experience. This weekend was all about giving them opportunities and exposure and they certainly had that, playing against full strength sides like France and Italy.” England booked their place in the Plate knock-out stages after losing 26-0 to France and 17-0 to Ireland on the opening day of the European series. They did, however, pick up wins against Portugal (17-0), Germany (40-0) and Scotland (31-7) in the pool games. Next-up was Wales in the Plate semi-final and tries from Kay Wilson, Natasha Hunt and Sally Tuson secured that victory before England took on Italy in the final. Results: Final: England 19 Italy 12 Tries: Hunt, Wilson, Hope Conversions: Scott, Cattell Semi-Final: England 19 Wales 14 Tries: Hunt, Wilson, Tuson Conversions: Scott (2) Pool Games: England 17 Portugal 0 Tries: Chamberlain, Hope, Tuson Conversion: Scott England 0 France 26 England 40 Germany 0 Tries: Chamberlain, A Matthews, Wilson, Cattell, Hunt, Hope Conversions: Cattell (4), Hunt England 0 Ireland 17 England 31 Scotland 7 Tries: A Matthews, Tuson (2), Hunt, Wilson, Conversions: Cattell, Scott (2) England Claire Allan (Richmond) (C) Lauren Cattell (Saracens) Abigail Chamberlain (Richmond) Sonia Green (Saracens) Julie Hope (Carlisle) Natasha Hunt (Lichfield) (VC) Alexandra Matthews (Richmond) Francesca Matthews (Richmond) Emily Scott (Thurrock) Sally Tuson (Bristol) Kay Wilson (Bristol) Amy Wilson-Hardy (Bristol) |
