England women 39-6 Canada women: Hosts score seven tries in clinical win

Natalie Waterman
Natalie Waterman burst clear to score England's third try
Women's international
England (15) 39
Tries: Matthews, Cokayne, Waterman, Wilson, Scarratt, Thompson, Allen Cons: Scarratt, Scott
Canada (6) 6
Pens: Burk 2

England women produced a clinical display to beat Canada 39-6 at Twickenham in their final autumn Test.

Tries from Alex Matthews, Amy Cokayne and Danielle Waterman gave the Red Roses a 15-6 lead at the break.

Kaye Wilson, Emily Scarratt, Lydia Thompson and Claire Allen went over in the second half as Canada tired in their third Test in eight days.

The win means England move above Canada into second place in the world rankings, a place behind New Zealand.

The game took place after England men beat Argentina 27-14 at the same venue.

"That was a brilliant way to end the series," England coach Simon Middleton said. "I am really pleased with the manner in which the team executed our game plan.

"It is always special to come out and play at Twickenham and the girls certainly delivered a great performance, both in attack and defence. There is still a lot for us to work on, but that has given us confidence today."

Flanker Marlie Packer needed lengthy treatment at the end of the match and left the field on a stretcher, but the 27-year-old later tweeted that she was "ok".

England defeated Canada 21-9 in a tight 2014 World Cup final in Paris, but this contest proved very one-sided.

Canada enjoyed plenty of possession and territory, particularly in the first half, but only managed to score with two Andrea Burk penalties, while England were far more ruthless with the ball.

It took just eight minutes for Matthews to burst over and Cokayne soon extended the lead from a driving maul.

The pick of the tries came from veteran Waterman, who ran 60 yards and brushed off several tackles before diving over in the corner.

Wilson took advantage of a turnover to go over just after the break and then Scarratt made up for some poor goal-kicking to get the fifth try.

Thompson pounced on an offload from replacement Packer to get her second try in as many games before Allen came off the bench to complete the rout from close range.

It was a morale-boosting way for England to round off 2016 after the disappointment of losing 25-20 to New Zealand last weekend, following narrow wins over France and Ireland earlier this month.

England: Waterman, Thompson, Scarratt, Burford, Wilson, Scott, Mason; Clark, Cokayne, Keates, Taylor, Millar-Mills, Matthews, Noel-Smith, Hunter.

Replacements: Allan for Waterman (59), Jones for Burford (59), Hunt for Mason (40), Cornborough for Clark (47), Croker for Cokayne (59), Bern for Keates (66), Packer for Matthews (59), Cleall for Hunter (59).

Canada: Zussman, Waters, Tessier, Burk, Harvey, Belchos, Guthrie; McEwen, Russell, Menin, Beukeboom, Blackwood, Russell, Paquin, Grusnick

Replacements: Boag, Stamatakis, DeMerchant, Mack, Mervin, Alarie, Higgs, Rajotte.

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