Roses blossom with Thompson
England’s women put in a seven-try performance to secure a clean sweep in the Quilter Internationals, with player of the match Lydia Thompson securing a hat-trick. However, the Irish made a fight of it.
England head coach Simon Middleton had made it clear that this would be one of the final opportunities Red Roses players would have to put their hands up for one of the professional contracts, which will kick in from Jan 1, and there was certainly intent from the experimental selection, particularly in the opening quarter.
One major area of concern for England is their goal-kicking. Out of seven attempts, only one was made. Usual goal-kicker Katy Daley-Mclean came on from the bench but missed two of her three kicks, while Sarah McKenna missed all four of hers. Starting fly-half Zoe Harrison was prevented from kicking due to an injury.
Middleton said he was most worried about Daley-Mclean’s kicking. “Katy has lost her rhythm a bit,” he said. “Unquestionably it is a huge concern for us but we will address it. Sarah needs to do more work on it, as do one or two and we need to get Zoe back fit.”
Despite early tries from hooker Heather Kerr and wing Kelly Smith, followed by prop Vickii Cornborough, making it 15-0 after 30 minutes, Ireland hit back late in the half with tries by wing Eimear Considine and fullback Lauren Delaney.
After a good defensive period from Ireland after the interval, Thompson, returned from the England Sevens programme, showed her class as a finisher to latch on to Harrison’s grubber to reassert England’s grip on the game.
The wing continued to show her class with a breakaway try after some strong work in the build-up from veteran centre Rachael Burford. Thompson said: “I had a fantastic year with sevens and I think that is what sevens can give you, the skills. If you have got an opportunity to shine, you just have to take it. That is my advice for players coming through.”
England’s dominance was again disrupted by the Irish looking strong on the counter-attack with open side Wasps’ Claire Molloy burrowing over after 65 minutes off the back of good line-out work. Thompson completed her hat-trick with two tries in a fiveminute period, which seemed to demoralise the visitors.
In the dying moments, replacement second row Cath O’Donnell went over. Daley-Mclean had the final word with the first successful kick of the game.