Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FAN-TASTIC FOR ENGLAND
KATY DALEY-MCLEAN hailed a “fantastic” day as she scored in front of a record Six Nations crowd.
Poppy Cleall was the star of the show with a hat-trick as England ran in 11 tries.
And following a crushing win over Wales in front of 10,974 at the Stoop, England fly-half Daley-mclean claimed women’s rugby is here to stay on the big stage.
She said: “This was fantastic – to have three stands open and full, the crowd made a massive difference and it does feel like coming home.
“To see all these people is what we want as we keep banging on that there is an interest and appetite in women’s rugby.”
Captain Emily Scarratt said: “Katy is fantastic – she constantly puts people in the right areas, keeps the forwards going forward and has so much chat.”
Used his pace to cross for England’s second try in left-hand corner
Over calf injury at last, he was a handful from the moment he crossed
Deserved try brought house down – but saw red for reckless charge
Emotionally over the edge at times, super cool with flawless kicks
Brief afternoon’s work ended in aerial collision with Halfpenny
Controlled game from stand-off, fast hands put in Daly and Tuilagi
His box-kicking was hot & cold but sharp inside pass for Watson’s try
Strong scrummaging meant Mako Vunipola was not missed
Hit his lineout targets consistently & helped dominate the scrum
On his best behaviour. Furious but controlled – just how he is wanted
England’s player of the tournament. Annoying to play against
May have been his final game for England – did not let anyone down
Important cog in the England forward machine. Bruising
Recalled but toughed it out to top England’s tackle charts
Ferocious defensive afternoon but let Curry revert back to flanker
Slade (May 8) 8, Cowan-dickie (George 57) 7, Launchbury (Kruis 57) 6, Genge (Marler 66) 5, Ewels (Lawes 66) 6, Heinz (Youngs 70) 6, Earl (Wilson 76) 6, Stuart (Sinckler 77) 6
Lion-hearted under the high ball as always, but at fault for Daly’s try
Fluffed early chance as he spilled ball near line. Not the force of old
Punched above his weight in contest of high-impact collisions
Usually reliable but not on Saturday when his hands let him down
Could not find any wriggle room. Ran out of steam and replaced
Patched up, he fought a great fight and was rewarded with late try
Energetic display at scrum-half until he was surprisingly replaced
Endured a tough afternoon against England’s big hitters
Heartbeat of the Wales pack but handed the tricky lineout gig
Forced off with ankle injury. High work-rate from the tight-head
Scrapped hard against powerful England front five until forced off
Battled until the end of his 138th Test for Wales but could not turn tide
Industrious and direct in an overpowered Wales pack
Picked for breakdown threat. Great shift to go the distance
Fine support work to finish off two Wales tries. One of a kind
Brown (Lewis 40) 5, Webb (T Williams 46) 7, Carre (R Evans 57) 5, Shingler (Ball 57) 7, Faletau (Moriarty 57) 8, Mcnicholl (L Williams 66) 6, Elias (Owens 75) 6
KYLE SINCKLER wore a contented smile after a frantic England-wales dust-up peppered with ferocious intent and tackle trouble of varying descriptions.
Try as they might, in a feisty game which saw Manu Tuilagi sent off for a high challenge on George North and Joe Marler put an unorthodox squeeze on Alun Wyn Jones, Wales had been unable to coax a rise out of him.
Instead, the reformed rebel contributed 17 tackles, a dominant scrum performance and had a significant hand in England’s helter-skelter victory.
After his meltdown in Cardiff a year ago, the rematch represented a form of closure for Sinckler.
And the England prop opened up afterwards with remarkable candour.
He said: “It was sink or swim because if I didn’t change then I wouldn’t have played for England any more. I cost the team a Grand
Slam. At that time my ego was bigger than this room. I really enjoyed being that villain – the bad boy of English rugby.
“I was just very angry. Very, very angry.
“My issues were never anything to do with rugby – rugby was always my canvas – it was always stuff outside of rugby.
“At the time you feel like being the tough guy is grabbing guys and being in their face and saying certain things and wasting energy.
“But that’s not actually being a man and being tough. A man just gets on with it and is in control of his emotions, gets on to his next job, is never flustered.
“It was funny, actually, because the same kind of situations were happening in terms of holding me down this time and someone stamping on me when I was getting up, or certain things said, but it had no effect.
“I am so focused now and so dialled-in on what I need to do for the team to be successful. Now if you target me, that is wasting energy on me. If two players are on top of me, that’s sweet because then there will be two fewer guys in the defensive line.”
Sinckler dedicated Saturday’s game to the launch of his