Bern and Matthews help England to their 17th successive victory

FORMER Hartpury students Sarah Bern and Alex Matthews were among the scorers as England’s women scored 31 second-half points without reply en route to a 51-12 victory over Canada at Twickenham Stoop.

England, who have now won 17 successive matches having already claimed back-to-back Autumn Series victories over New Zealand, drew first blood through Heather Cowell who crossed the whitewash on her debut four minutes into the encounter.

The visitors scored tries through Paige Farries and Sabrina Poulin either side of Bern’s superb effort for England but Cowell grabbed her second just before the break to make it 20-12 to the hosts at halftime.

Tries from Bern, Matthews and a double from Claudia Macdonald ensured an impressive victory for Simon Middleton’s in-form hosts, from whom Gloucester-hartpury’s Zoe Aldcroft started at second row alongside ex-hartpury student Zoe Harrison at fly-half, Amy Cokayne in the pack and Holly Aitchison on the bench.

Gloucester-hartpury’s Gwen Crabb, Cara Hope, Hannah Jones, Bethan Lewis, Cerys Hale, Kerin Lake and Robyn Wilkins were all involved in Wales’ 29-19 win over South Africa.

Hooker Carys Phillips marked her first Wales start for two years with a hat-trick of tries as Ioan Cunningham’s team followed up last weekend’s 23-5 victory over Japan - which ended a two-year losing streak - with another strong performance against the Springboks.

Gloucester Hartpury’s Anna Caplice played a key role in Ireland’s 20-10 result over the USA, with Kristine Sommer and Maya Learned on the losing side.

Chloe Morris scored four tries as Cheltenham Tigers Ladies sit second in Women’s Championship North One after a 34-12 win over Firwood Waterloo.

She scored after seven, 24, 33 and 46 minutes with Chloe Dumbreck converting two of them for a 24-0 lead before India Hickey pulled a try back.

Laura Westlake and Penelope Bevan then went over for Cheltenham before a late Emma Hutchinson try, converted by Rachael Thomas, for Waterloo.

Millie Purser also crossed four times as Drybrook Ladies won 49-14 over Reading in NC One South West (East).

Helen Stevenson, Rebecca Jones (two), Lucie Smith and Megan Meek also crossed for Drybrook, with Mackenna Brace kicking two conversions while Samantha Lea scored all of Reading’s points.

Drybrook sit fourth in the table with three wins from five games .