from Rugby Canada: Light rain failed to dampen the spirits of the United States and France as they kicked off for the final game of the 2009 Women’s Nations Cup at Fletcher’s Field in Markham, Ontario.
Due to poor weather conditions, neither side was able to complete their conversions as they had to rely on tries for their points. The dying minutes saw both sides gridlocked in the American 22 until a last minute try by France was waved away, leaving the game tied at 15 points apiece.
The game started off with France making waves through a series of quick hands and well-positioned players.
A breakaway run past the American red line gave France’s inside centre Celine Allainmat the first try of the game.
Soft hands by the American backs were intercepted by France several times, as a quick rush by American’s winger Victoria Folayan was stopped short by an offside whistle.
Despite the constant pressure, Les Bleus held steady and managed to push the other team offside by their five metre line.
The Americans scoring opportunities were wasted by knock ons and handling errors as the two sides battled through the sloppy conditions. A well-placed kick gave France some breathing room and a brief respite.
“It was tough at the break downs,” said American Head Coach Kathy Flores. “I think France was really strong [there]. We were a step out of our support so they were being much more physical at the breakdown than we were.”
Though the rain stopped to give the teams a chance to dry off, the Americans benefited the most from the break in play to regroup and find their stride.
Quick hands by the Eagles back line put the ball into Folayan’s hands for another try scoring run, this time out-manoeuvring multiple blue jerseys to go over for five points.
An equally determined France smoothly passed the ball in outside centre Caroline Ladagnous’s hands, but was cut short by a crunching tackle to the ground.
Half time was called as France made a last ditch kick from the 10 metre line for a shot to get ahead but missed the posts, leaving the game at five all.
The heavy rain struck again affecting the game’s flow with both sides struggling to string their passes together.
Recovering first, France charged into American territory as Allainmat put France ahead at 10-5, but the lead was short lived.
Not to be outdone, U.S. returned the favour with swift precision responding with two tries of their own. The first five points came from Lynelle Kugler who ran down the sidelines nearly unopposed, while the second came in similar fashion through the blistering speed of full back Christy Ringgenberg.
France’s Head Coach Christian Gallonnier was pleased with his team’s effort against the Americans afters struggling to find their form earlier in the tournament. “The Americans were organized and aggressive – they [came out] and got three tries.”
Desperate to tie the game, France advanced with quick hands that turned ended with dropped balls late in the game, placing the ball back into the opposition’s possession and into a U.S. led scrum.
From there, much of the game progressed in neutral territory, each team gaining and losing several yards to keep the game at a stand-still.
A break came finally came for the French as they switched the field allowing for hooker Celine Barthelemy to tie the match at 15-15.
As the clock wore out, France looked as though they had emerged victorious but the try was called back after a last second knock on.
The result saw the USA finish in second place and the French in third at the 2009 Women’s Nations Cup.
from Rugby Canada: The final match of the 2009 Nations Cup was an 80 minute Tide commercial.
The weather treated England to a taste of home as they beat Canada 22-0 in the last game of the 10 day tournament.
England was eager to annul Wednesday’s performance against South Africa and successfully played to the elements, keeping the ball tight and using kicks effectively for territory.
Following a series of scrums, England eventually crossed for their first try in the left corner of the pitch where they found success another two times.
The greasy conditions forced both squads to play a forwards’ game, though the majority of England’s tries were finished by the backs.
Canada held strong in the scrums defensively as England maintained most of the possession, directed well by veteran 10.
Canada’s defence held strong and was able to force England to score in the corners. Captain Leslie Cripps anchored the front row and the team, leading by example as England crossed another two times in the first half to lead 15-0.
England’s pack and Katy Maclean’s right foot was the engine of their yardage gain as the kicks consistently found touch, effectively eliminating fullback Ashley Patzer from any sort offensive counterattack.
Canada’s tackle count was ample as they consistently forced England to earn most of their ground a metre at a time. A strong point all week, their backrow continued to impress with a solid work rate and excellent work at the breakdown.
An injury to Canada’s Maria Gallo saw Brittany Waters, normally comfortable in the back three, make her second half international debut in the centres.
A cruel irony saw the skies dry up as the two teams shook hands. The rain really played a starring role in the game, wiping out any offensive flair game plans for either squad.
Canada finishes the tournament with 1-3 win-loss record, falling narrowly to France and the USA. The NSWT has a lot of positives to take from the 3 international tests and will be able to turn their losses into lessons in time for the November tour to France.
Canada prop Marlene Donaldson says the amount of the work the forwards put in today was remarkable.
“Kris [de Scossa] has been building an environment for the forwards where we believe in our ability to be one of the best packs in the world and we really showed genuine glimpses of that all tournament. Today especially, by never letting England come up the middle, I was really proud of the forwards. We have amazing depth in that we can put any combination of players on the field and still feel equally confident.”
Assistant and forward coach de Scossa echoed Donaldson’s sentiments and said he is really proud of the work the pack did up front all week.
“Without a doubt the key to building success is building a forward culture and taking responsibility for our performance. We are an inclusive not exclusive group so if players have a desire and passion to play, we will show them a pathway to success.
“This tournament has been a great foundation and stepping block to the pathways where we can be world class performers.”
de Scossa refuted the notion of pointing any player out and insisted on crediting the entire group for their hard work.
“It’s difficult to pinpoint one or two players, so it’s difficult to single out. It’s been great to see our more experienced players take this challenge head on. The exciting new players who have come in and seamlessly stepped into the team have shortly gained the international experience and now the know how hard we have to work to beat England and beat the world champions.
“This was the first step. Our development program to France and throughout the winter is going to be key and the girls know that.”
from Rugby Canada: It does not matter that England’s bonus point win over South Africa on Wednesday was less than spectacular; it was enough to secure their position atop the tournament standings and earn them their second consecutive Nations Cup title.
The last time the two rugby nations faced off in the 2006 World Cup, England took a 74-8 win, but South Africa has made massive strides since and showed a wealth of potential in yesterday’s 25-0 loss.
South Africa finish the Nations Cup at the bottom of the table, but they will be an impressive side with the added experience from six more test matches between now and the World Cup. England will conclude their campaign with what could be seen as a formality, but a final match against Canada on Saturday promises to be an intense one as both sides will look to erase their previous performance.
What started as a tiny snowball of momentum has quickly gathered into an avalanche for the USA. The American program entered the Nations Cup without a win to their name since the last World Cup, but has since secured two victories against South Africa and Canada. With exactly a calendar year before the next World Cup, the Americans have picked a very opportune time to make ground, and look to Saturday’s match against France with newfound confidence.
Third-ranked France hope to kill the US’s momentum on Saturday, but with the two countries having identical 2009 Nations Cup records, the match should be closer than originally anticipated.
The sun had set and injury time was ticking down in Canada’s Wednesday match against the USA when the Americans crossed for their final try. It was a hard loss for Canada, having previously beat the same side 25-17 in June.
Both of Canada’s losses have been a heartbreaking 5-point difference and though the squad has a much-needed day off after 210 minutes of test rugby in a week, you can bet the tournament is never far from their thoughts.
The Canadians produced a solid 80 minutes but were unable to capitalize on their lion’s share of territory, especially in the first half.
The Meraloma’s Brittany Waters and Calgary Irish’s Tara Eckert scored their first international points in the loss to the Americans. A dramatic conversion attempt by Julianne Zussman would have put the Canadians ahead in the dying minutes of the game, but the ball rang off the post emphatically instead.
The Nations Cup tournament may seem slightly unrealistic with so many quality internationals scheduled so close together, but Canada’s head coach John Long sees the value of being able to quickly turnaround physically and mentally.
“From a coaching perspective, the value of a tournament like this comes from having players being put under international duress to see how they perform. There’s always an inclination to select the strongest side and not give every player an opportunity to perform, but with this sort of schedule we have to manage our players. “
Long has a lot of respect for England and knows the Canada will face a certain challenge in their final match of the 2009 Nations Cup.
“England always set themselves apart, they don’t make mistakes. If we make mistakes, nine times out of 10 England will capitalize on it. We have to retain possession, if we don’t, we’re going to make it very difficult for ourselves on Saturday.”
The Nations Cup will move venues for the final matches of the tournament from gracious Appleby College in Oakville to Fletcher’s Fields in Markham. France and the USA have the early game at 2pm, before Canada kicks off against England at 4
.30pm. Both matches will be broadcast on Rogers TV on a 24-hour delay.
Canada Roster Leslie Cripps (Saracens) 2. Leslie McKenzie (UBCOB Ravens) 3. Tabitha Stavrou (Irish Canadians) 4. Marie-Eve Brindamour-Carignan 5. Megan Gibbs (Irish Canadians) 6. Heather Jaques (Capilano RFC) 7. Gillian Florence (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue RFC) 8. Kelly Russell (Toronto Nomads) 9. Laura Stoughton (Calgary Irish) 10. Brooke Hilditch (Yeomen Women’s RC) 11. Cheryl Philips (Toronto Scottish RFC) 12. Sarah Ulmer (Saracens) 13. Maria Gallo (Burnaby Lake Rugby Club) 14. Julianne Zussman (Town of Mount Royal RFC) 15. Ashley Patzer (Lethbridge RFC) Reserves: 16. Kim Donaldson (Burnaby Lake Rugby Club) 17. Marlene Donaldson (Velox Valkyries) 18. Paige Burdett (Calgary Irish) 19. Jen Kish (Edmonton Rockers) 20. Barbara Mervin (Velox Valkyries) 21. Julia Sugawara (Burnaby Lake Rugby Club) 22. Brittany Waters (Meraloma)
OAKVILLE, Ontario – A heart-stopping finish saw USA center Emilie Bydwell cross over at the death to give the Eagles a 15-10 Nations Cup victory over Canada on Wednesday evening at Appleby College.
With less than five minutes left to play, a wave of suspense rushed over the crowd as Canadian winger Tara Eckert found her way to the try zone, to pull the game into a deadlock, 10-10, when the conversion bounced from the uprights.
However, a focused team effort from the Eagles put the team out front just in time to usher in the sweet sound of the whistle – signaling the team’s first victory versus Canada since 2006.
“This win shows just how far our team has come since December. It’s a true testament to how much we’ve come together on and off the field,” Bydwell said following the thrilling win. ”It’s a huge step for us as we work toward the Rugby World Cup and a definite confidence boost – when we play hard as a team we can come up with the big play, whether its in the first minute or last minute of the game. All of us are just on top of the world right now.”
In a physical first half, the Eagles struggled to settle into a steady forward rhythm, but defended their line ferociously as Canada pressed hard for the try zone.
Pinned deep into its own end, the U.S. team created a human shield through several phases and held the Canadians out for the first 20 minutes. A scrumdown to Canada saw the ball safely out to winger Brittany Waters, who caught a piece of space on the outside and bolted for the corner to give Canada a one-try advantage.
The Eagles’ backline found its groove as the half pressed on and fluidly worked the ball into near scoring position, but handling errors proved costly against their worthy northern rivals, sending the squads to the benches locked at 5-0.
“We got off to a bit of a rocky start in the first half – we let our skills slip up and attempted a great deal of 50/50 passes. Credit to Canada for doing a great job of interrupting our flow and getting into our passing lanes,” USA Women’s National Team Head Coach Kathy Flores said. “However, in the second half we gradually gained momentum following a few key substitutions.”
Down but not out, a resilient USA team took the field on the offensive in the second half. With less than 10 minutes gone, center Amy Daniels caught a hand on the ball and evaded the stiff Canadian defense to put the Eagles on the board. Stephanie Bruce converted to give the U.S. a slight edge.
The Eagles kicking game helped put down the Canadian counter attack, holding the tally at 7-5 until the U.S. caught a penalty kick opportunity inside the 65th minute. Stephanie Bruce successfully footed a chip shot (1-2), to extend the margin to 5 points between the North American neighbors.
Coming up with tackle after tackle, the USA held it sights on a coveted win. However, with less than five minutes left to play nearly had its hopes dashed by Canadian winger Tara Eckert, who charged down the left side to bring the game to a 10-10 dead heat as the clock ticked down. A conversion from Julianne Zussman would have deflated the American’s sails, but the kicked pushed to the right, clanking off the upright to hold the tie.
With the door still open, the USA made the most of its time. Flanker Phaidra Knight propelled her team forward with a big run into Canadian territory and from there the USA wings took over. Once again, the ball found its way to the knowing hands of Amy Daniels, who gained ground before offloading to Emilie Bydwell for the win.
“I’m happy the team earned another win in the tournament, and to get a win over a huge rival like Canada is obviously even more exciting,” Flores added. “With about four minutes left in the game, it looked as if the game might end in a draw but we did not back down. I am proud of the team’s intensity up until the final moments,” Flores added.
The USA faces France in its final Nations Cup match on Saturday, August 22 at Fletchers Field in Markham, Ontario (kickoff 2 pm EST). The game will be shown live on the Web via USTREAM.
In their first meeting since the 2006 World Cup, England took a 25-0 win over valiant South Africa, though it did not come easy.
In South Africa’s final match of the 2009 Nations Cup, England’s performance was riddled with unforced handling errors that plagued them through to the final whistle, punctuated by what should have been two easy tries in the final minutes of the game, but were interrupted by a knock on and a forward pass.
The Bokke clearly regarded this match as the pinnacle of their Nations Cup campaign and came out of the gates flying, appearing to catch England off guard. South Africa’s Phumeza Gadu made her way to England’s one metre line, but was neatly bundled into touch before dotting down.
South Africa Sevens’ athletes Gadu and Saloma impressed for the entire 80 minutes and were able to cleverly create chances out of seemingly dead end passages.
Against the grain of play, 20 minutes into the match, England finally struck when centre Rachel Burford broke several Bokke tackles, and after passing through the backs’ hands, the ball was run in by dangerous wing Kat Merchant. A 30m conversion from the sidelines by flyhalf Alice Richardson saw England go up 7-0.
Merchant was a threat with the ball and made ground on every possession; she had a hand in both of England’s second half tries, including a cheeky chip that was recovered by centre Burford.
The lead never seemed to ease England’s disjointedness, but were kept aloft by their sheer athleticism and fitness. Conversely, South Africa were able to hold their momentum, ending up in England’s 22 with probing kicks and stabbing runs.
A penalty directly under the posts saw England take an unconvincing 10-0 lead into half.
Both sides used their boots neatly for territory, and the second half opened with a bit of a tennis match, until England centre Claire Allan broke the Bokke defensive line with a smart dummy, setting up an elementary set up hands for England to touch down in the opposite corner.
Halftime did not allay South Africa’s efforts as they were able to maintain a compelling amount of pressure, only failing in the final quarter of the match when the exhaustion started to show.
A bright spot in England’s performance was their clinical set piece, guided by Catherine Spencer, and hooker Ollie Poore was solid with her lineout throws.
England’s captain and fullback Charlotte Barras shouldered half of her side’s messy victory with two tries, but England clearly looked less than enthralled when time ran out.
South Africa’s elation in the 25-point loss was clear when the final whistle was met by a cheer from their bench.
Bokke head coach Denver Wannies was pleased with side’s performance, and impressed with their steady development over the course of the Nations Cup competition.
“If you look at how we started from the beginning of the tournament until the end, you’d have to be naïve not to see the improvement. Today was a huge step in our progression towards the 2010 World Cup in August. Now we start structuring everything towards the World Cup, and we should have six test matches between now and then to help us prepare.”
Wannies was complimentary of his entire team, but pointed out his Sevens’ players for really standing out.
“It really was a team effort today, and I believe it was our totality that brought us so much success today, but Gadu and Booysen continue to be impact players for us.”
Clearly disgruntled with his squad’s showing, England head coach Gary Street was honest about their performance.
“We just didn’t play well. It was just one of those bad days at the office and we made a lot of unforced errors. If we were to take a positive from today’s match, a 25-nil win and a bonus point are obvious ones, but today was disappointing.”
Street was adamant about looking at the bigger picture with England’s entire tournament performance; his squad remains unbeaten and has only a game against fourth ranked Canada on Saturday standing between them and their second Nations Cup title.
“Every aspect of our game can improve from today, and we are already looking forward to the match against Canada.”
There is more Nations Cup Rugby action today! Its starts at 4:30pm EST with England vs South Africa and finishes with USA vs Canada at 6:30EST. Unfortunately I have practice tonight and I will not be able to Tweet about the USA vs Canada game but I will have updates as soon as practice is over.
You can either view the at Scrumhalf Connection or go directly to the Ustream site here. Each match will also be archived and available at Ustream.
England Women’s team announced for penultimate Nations Cup clash
from England Women’s Rugby: England Women’s Head Coach Gary Street has named his starting line-up for Wednesday’s penultimate Nations Cup clash against South Africa in Toronto, kick-off 930pm (BST).
Having already beaten the USA and France England go into the game on course to clinch the round robin tournament for a second year on the bounce, and at the same time add to the RBS 6 Nations title they have already won this year.
England captain Catherine Spencer returns to the starting line-up after being rested against France while Saracens’ Charlotte Barras is named as vice-captain and switches to full back. Lichfield’s Olivia Poore, Plymouth Albion’s Georgina Rozario and Saracens’ Rachael Burford also get their first Nations Cup starts of the tournament.
England’s Street said: “We are very looking forward to the next game. It’s going to be great to play against new opposition. South Africa have improved tremendously since the last World Cup and England versus South Africa is always a huge game in world rugby.”
England Captain Spencer added: “We have not played against South Africa since 2006 so we are very much looking forward to running out against them on Wednesday. They are an ever improving side who have some very talented individuals so we need to be clinical in everything that we do. We are playing in increasingly hot conditions here in Canada but I am confident that our fitness and conditioning will help us to overcome this additional challenge.”
England Roster vs South Africa 15 Charlotte Barras (VC) Saracens 14 Katherine Merchant Worcester 13 Claire Allan Saracens 12 Rachael Burford Saracens 11 Fiona Pocock Richmond 10 Alice Richardson Richmond 9 Georgina Rozario Plymouth Albion 1 Claire Purdy Wasps 2 Olivia Poore Lichfield 3 Katy Storie Team Northumbria 4 Sarah Beale Lichfield 5 Rebecca Essex Richmond 6 Karen Jones Richmond 7 Heather Fisher Wasps 8 Catherine Spencer C Bristol
Replacements: 16 Amy Garnett Saracens 17 Sophie Hemming Bristol 18 Jo McGilchrist Wasps 19 Gemma Sharples Worcester 20 Amy Turner Richmond 21 Kim Oliver Bristol 22 Danielle Waterman Team Northumbria
Nations Cup Preview Day 4
from Rugby Canada: South Africa remains the lone winless team at the 2009 Women’s Nations Cup and will face a tough challenge coming up against heavy tournament favorites England on Wednesday.
England have released their lineup for the game and it appears they are taking the opportunity to make a couple of positional changes, testing a few players in unfamiliar spots under the pressure situation of an international test.
Aside from when France scored first in their game, the 2008 Women’s Nations Cup champions have yet to be really challenged this tournament.
Because of the global weight of the match, second year England head coach Gary Street says his side is expecting a challenge.
“Though they [South Africa] haven’t won yet this tournament, they’ve come on massively since the last World Cup and made huge strides. It’s their last match of the tourney so they will have add
ed motivation. England-South Africa has always been a big match in terms of world rugby, and our side has been training and preparing consistently all week.”
By beating South Africa on Monday, the USA won their first international match since the 2006 World Cup, giving them a momentum that Canada hopes to nullify on Wednesday when the two sides face each other in the day’s late game.
The North American rivalry was last ignited in July in a Can-Am series that saw Canada victorious in both an ‘A’ match and a full test match against their compatriots.
Wednesday’s meeting promises to be a heated one, as both countries will be represented by their full sides. Canada has transitioned well from Monday’s narrow loss to France, learning from the match and applying the experience in today’s training sessions.
Regular Canada captain Leslie Cripps has been assigned to the bench after playing 160 minutes of international rugby in three days, her captaincy passed on to clever centre Sarah Ulmer for the game. Cripps, who plays alongside Ulmer for the Saracens as well as Canada, has full confidence in her teammate.
“Ulmer is a great leader on the team, even if she’s not in a captain role. She has a great knowledge of the game and all of her teammates, whether international or club, have the most respect for her. Her experience and game smarts provide a calming aspect to what could be a very intense match.”
With a 7’s World Cup under her belt, backrow Kelly Russell will be vice captain on Wednesday, and will provide quality leadership well above her years.
Both matches will be played at Oakville’s Appleby College and will be the last ones played at the hospitable private school before the Nations Cup changes venue to Fletcher’s Field on Sunday for the final matches. England and South Africa will kick off first on Wednesday at 2pm, followed by Canada and USA at 4pm.
Canada’s 22-man roster for USA game: 1. Kim Donaldson (Burnaby Lake) 2. Ashley MacDonald (Lethbridge RFC) 3. Marlene Donaldson (Velox Valkyries) 4. Marie-Eve Brindamour-Carignan (Town of Mount Royal RFC) 5. Paige Burdett (Calgary Irish) 6. Kelly Russell (Toronto Nomads) 7. Heather Jaques (Capilano RFC) 8. Barbara Mervin (Velox Valkyries) 9. Julia Sugawara (Burnaby Lake) 10. Anna Schnell (Burnaby Lake) 11. Tara Eckert (Calgary Irish) 12. Stevi Schnoor (United RFC London) 13. Sarah Ulmer (Saracens) 14. Brittany Waters (Meraloma) 15. Cheryl Phillips (Toronto Scottish)
Reserves: 16. Leslie Cripps (London Saracens) 17. Lesley McKenzie (UBCOB Ravens) 18. Danielle Rowlands (Calgary Irish) 19. Megan Gibbs (Irish Canadians) 20. Maria Gallo (Burnaby Lake) 21. Laura Stoughton (Calgary Irish) 22. Juilianne Zussman (Town of Mount Royal RFC)
USA Women’s Squad Set for Showdown against Canada
from USA Rugby: OAKVILLE, Ontario – USA Rugby Women’s National Team Head Coach Kathy Flores officially named her roster for the Eagles’ upcoming Nations Cup match versus cross-border rivals Canada. Once again held at Appleby College, outside of Toronto, the match kicks off at 6:30 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday, Aug. 19, and will be streamed live on the Web via UStream.
The USA looks to build on the momentum of its 39-0 shutout over South Africa as it enters its next meeting with Canada. Meanwhile, the Canada Women set their sights on a win, following its 12-7 loss at the hands of France on Sunday.
When the two North American teams last played in the annual CanAm tournament in late June, it was Canada who came out on top; however, Flores is confident her team’s hard work will pay off in what’s certain to be a physical test.
“The weather has been pretty hard on everyone here but at least we have a later game. It will be a strong contest considering we’ve lost to Canada in our last few meetings and I’m sure they are hungry after their defeat to France,” Flores said.
“Canada has proven to have strong set pieces and attacking runners and we are looking to our extra work in those areas pay off for us on the field.”
After getting a rest on Sunday, Stacy Baker will start at loosehead prop, joined by Mari Wallace at hooker and Lara Vivolo at tighthead.
In the second row, Jenny Menke and Jillion Potter fill in at lock, while flanker Phaidra Knight retains her spot and looks to best her aggressive two try performance against South Africa. Kristin Zdanczewicz starts at openside flanker and Melanie Denham rounds out the pack at No. 8.
The backline also sees its share of changes and reverts back to a lineup reminiscent of the Eagles’ first round clash against England.
Calling the shots at scrumhalf is Claudia Braymer, with Stephanie Bruce also reclaiming her spot at flyhalf. Nathalie Marchino and Vanesha McGee pair up on the wings, with Emilie Bydwell and Amy Daniels looking to make an impact in the center.
Team captain Ashley English, who made quite an impact off the bench versus South Africa, is set to start at fullback on Wednesday.
The USA vs. Canada match follows a 4:30 p.m. (EST) match featuring the yet unbeaten England and South Africa.
YSC is happy to accept a donation of any amount. Your donation will ensure that YSC stays in operation and continues to provide you with the best coverage in Women's Rugby.
