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England Ladies U19 Report - Leah's debut
By Viks March 26 2003
England Ladies U19 squad showed the talent that is coming through the ranks of women's rugby on Sunday with a convincing 66-0 demolition of Wales U19s.

Leah CareyEngland started off in style, putting pressure on Wales from the kick-off by dominating possession. They also asserted their authority on the game up front where they stole 2 scrums against the head within the first 5 minutes. The first try came from outside centre, Kat Marchant after 6 minutes when she ran around the outside of the Welsh back line.

England continued to ask questions of the Welsh defence and crossed the gain line on most phases whenever they had the ball. With a 3 man overlap on the 16 minute mark, a try looked certain out wide, however, Kat Marchant decided to go for the direct approach, sidestepping then going straight through the drift defence to score under the posts. A penalty was awarded to England a few minutes later after a high tackle on number 8, Leah Carey. From the lineout, England put the rolling maul to good use and looked certain to score but were denied by a forward pass. England had made a firm impression on this game in the first 20 minutes and more of the same was to come when they turned over Welsh ball in contact and used a driving maul for loosehead Sarah White to score under the posts. Fly half Katy McLean successfully took the conversion. Just four minutes later the ball was quickly recycled by England a number of times but then lost in contact. Wales kicked for territory but the ball was taken cleanly and passed down the line to Katy McLean for another England try.

After 33 minutes, an England scrum drove their opponents backwards. They then made the most of quick possession using a switch to take the ball from fly half to inside centre and then another to Harlequins player, Leah Carey who broke through the Welsh defence and offloaded to Katy McLean for another try under the posts.

From the restart, Katy McLean ran through the defence but was caught by the fullback. Wales secured control from the breakdown and produced some quick re-cycling to take them just into the England half with what was one of their best breaks of the day. A number of Welsh players had picked up knocks due to England being so strong in contact in the first half of the game. Just after 40 minute had passed, Wales had to make two substitutions due to injury because of another aggressive England attack. Despite this the Welsh continued to fight hard for possession and almost scored in the dying minutes, only to be denied by being tackled into touch, leaving the half time score 27-0 to England.

A scrappy start to the second half by both teams resulted in a number of scrums in the first five minutes of the second half. England's determination showed as their pack constantly drove Wales backwards in scrums. From one such scrum the ball was fed quickly down the line of waiting backs and Kat Marchant raced in for her hat-trick, converted by Katy McLean. The English side regained their confidence from this score and, after 49 minutes of play, were again punching holes in the Welsh defensive line and recycling the ball quickly, making good use of offloading in contact. The Welsh backs made good use of their kicking game to take them out of danger at times, however, their forwards were not as strong in set piece. An England line-out was taken well, using a catch & drive to good effect before a break by openside flanker, Abi Wild, who popped the ball neatly back inside to scrum half Amy Turner for the seventh try of the afternoon.

Changes by both sides occurred in the 50th minute when three subs were made for each team. The changes did little to affect the run of play with England taking another ball against the head in a scrum two minutes later. From another scrum, number 8, Leah Carey made a break and set up a good attacking platform and a maul 3 yards off the Welsh line lead to Amy Turner nudging the score up to 44-0. England took a mere five minutes to add to their try tally when Wales lost the ball in contact and it was quickly scooped by Abi Wild who sprinted 40 yards to touch the ball down.

Four more changes for England saw Amy Turner, Abi Wild, Rachel Burford & Chrissie O'Flynn take a well-earned break but again this did nothing to change the ferocity of the away side's attack. Leah Carey showed great vision when she picked up from the base of a scrum, taken against the head, just yards away from the Welsh line, allowing the backs to do what they had been doing well all day - drawing the defence and shipping the ball out wide. This gave a rare piece of possession to winger Leah Bentham who scored a try in the corner. More punishment followed for the Welsh defence when fullback Claire Allen raced through and set up a rolling maul 10 metres from the line. With number 8, Leah Carey stood behind the scrum, a set move was called and the ball went out to the flyhalf who passed back inside to Carey on a well-timed run, using her strength and speed to power through a tackle and score under the posts. The conversion by Katy McLean brought the score to 61-0 with just over 10 minutes remaining on the clock.

Under pressure in their own half, Wales kicked for territory, only for the ball to go to the waiting fullback, Claire Allen, who ran down the wing to score what was to be the final try of the game. Leah Carey then produced another scintillating 40 yard run to take England into the Welsh half and out of danger. Wales were not afraid to run the ball back at England and showed good vision with their use of kicking and attempts to recycle quickly, however their execution never looked as sharp as that of the English, who continued to drive up field whenever they had possession. A lovely dummy by Carey threatened to increase the score but the ball was lost after being passed out of contact and although the Welsh clearance kick was charged down behind the line, their defence was still quick enough to touch down before the final whistle blew.

The final score was 66-0 to England and man of the match went to openside flanker, Abi Wild although the back row as a unit came in for additional praise from coach Phil Forsyth.

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