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England Women unbeaten on day one of European 7s action
Saturday July 16, 2011
Issued by Julia Hutton

England Women head into the second and final day of European 7s action in good shape after an unbeaten opening day of action in Bucharest on Saturday.

England, who won the European Plate a year ago, swept aside their opposition scoring an impressive 101 points and conceding just 17.

Barry Maddocks’ side opened their campaign with a 46-0 victory over Romania with Worcester’s Lydia Thompson and Saracens’ Sonia Green grabbing a brace of tries. There were also touch downs for Michaela Staniford, Danielle Waterman and Heather Fisher.

Next up was Sweden which proved to be a tougher test with England conceding their first points of the tournament. England, however, dominated the first half cruising into a 15-0 lead at half time thanks to tries from Fisher, Jenny Brightmore and Kay Wilson. Sweden registered a first try soon after the break but a second touch down for Brightmore ensured a 20-5 victory for the Red Roses.

Next up for England were Six Nations rivals Italy who also managed to put a try on England. Once again England’s experience told though with Fisher, Staniford and Fran Matthews all claiming first half tries. Fisher added a second after the break with Italy finally breaking England’s line with a last gasp 14th minute converted try making the final score 20-7.

In the final round of action England took on the reigning champions Spain and immediately put their marker down with a first minute try thanks to Waterman. Staniford added a second to hand England a 10-0 lead at half time before adding her second on ten minutes. Spain pulled one try back on 12 minutes but that was where their charge ended, leaving England with an unblemished record on day one.

England Sevens Head Coach Maddocks said: “I am really pleased with the way the players performed today. They fronted up, showed confidence and played very naturally. When they saw the opportunities they took them and the results came. We have still got things to work on but the players are showing that they can make the right decisions at the right times and this is what our development plan is all about.

“We are certainly in good shape going into tomorrow’s games and if we continue to play like this then I think we have a good chance of contesting the latter stages of the tournament.”

England will play Germany on Sunday morning in the final round of pool matches before the knock out stages begin.

Results from Day One

England 46 Romania 0

England 20 Sweden 5

England 20 Italy 7

England 15 Spain 5

England Sevens Squad

JennyBrightmore (Worcester), Heather Fisher(Worcester),Sonia Green (Saracens), Sarah Guest(Worcester), Francesca Matthews (Richmond), Alice Richardson (Richmond), Michaela Staniford (Wasps), Lydia Thompson (Worcester), Danielle Waterman (Worcester), Kay Wilson (Richmond)

England playing schedule:

Sunday July 17th

England v Germany, KO 840am BST

Knock out stages TBC