Rugby - England Counties do the double over USA
| Published: 19th June 2008 11:02 |
The England RU Counties XV successfully completed the second leg of their three-match tour to North America and Canada on Last week on Monday when they gained their second win in four days over a USA Select XV in New York.
11 changes to the team that claimed victory in the first match the previous Friday meant that Manchester centre Scott Rawlings was rested for the match and 2nd row Matt Owen coming on from the bench. The changes also meant that back row Seb Moss, fly half Richard Wainwright and centre Andrea Wilson got their first starting spot of the tour, while full back Ben Coulbeck remained in the starting line up in his second consecutive match.
Despite struggling to make an impact against a side that was clearly determined to avenge the earlier defeat England Counties managed to make a clean sweep of their matches in the USA with a 31-16 victory. Manchester's Richard Wainwright made a valued contribution to the score line with a try, 4 conversions and a penalty.
"It was a sporadic performance," said Manchester's DoR and counties coach Dave Baldwin: "We played well in patches but didn't string enough passages of play together. I was pleased that having gone behind we stuck in there to claim a win that turned out to be quite comfortable in the end. We're not helping ourselves by making a lot of mistakes and giving penalties away by not adjusting to the referee quickly enough. We're putting ourselves under pressure with bad decision making and silly penalties.It was a solid performance rather than a crisp and classic affair."
The Counties squad travelled North of the boarder into Canada on last Tuesday and enjoyed a day off at Niagara Falls before moving on to Chatham today, where they prepare for their final match of the tour against a Canada Select XV on Friday night.
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