Two thrilling games opened the Nations Cup with wins for Canada over England and USA over South Africa

Canada 29 England 25

An end to end thrilling game was edged by Canada, who were rewarded for high risk rugby and deadly finishing with a last minute try from Magali Harvey.

England had taken the lead when Ceri Large finished well after a sustained period of pressure on the Canadian try-line, where the North Americans conceded a raft of penalties in a huge spell of defence, but Canada were not to be denied.

The first half was hugely entertaining as Canada in particular showed impressive attacking intent, led well up front by Kelly Russell and Maria Sampson. But it was out wide they were most dangerous with Cheryl Phillips, Elissa Alaire and Arielle Dubissette-Borrice looking real threats.

Alarie, on her debut, scored the first try of the match in the 11th minute and Andrea Burk added the conversion for a 7-3 lead after England’s Megan Goddard had opened the scoring.

England then exposed some narrow Canadian defending, with Kay Wilson involved in some slick handling to put Lydia Thompson over in the corner with a good finish. The sideline conversion from Goddard gave England a good advantage but it was their turn to show sloppiness in defence with Phillips scoring almost immediately for Canada as she raced through a number of tackles to touchdown. Alarie scored again before the break as Canada continued to play free flowing rugby and Canada turned around19-13 up.

England needed to score first and they did, with Fi Davidson showing great skill with a chip and chase but Harvey was over at the other end as Canada got more rewards for their strategy to keep the ball in hand and England were outpaced.

England dominated the remaining possession in the match with wave after wave of attack just metres out. Finally they scored through Large but they were probably left rueing not taking more of the many chances they had in that period as Canada bravely went down the other end with a superb show of offloading to create space for Harvey to score the winner.

Canada’s new head coach Francois Rotier will be thrilled with this first win over England as his side showed extremely well in attack and highlighted their physicality over the 80 minutes. Defensively there is work to do but they will be pleased with this effort.

Given the number of new faces in this squad, England can still take positives from the loss, this their fourth in a row at senior level, but they will be frustrated at a lack of accuracy when they controlled possession in the second half. Their attacking play was certainly second best and there’s plenty for this new look squad to work on.

Canada: 1- Laura Russell, 2- Mary-Jane Kirby,3- Hilary Leith, 4- Latoya Blackwood, 5- Maria (Jaworski) Samson, 6- Megan Gibbs, 7- Kelly Russell, 8- Jacey Murphy, 9- Stephanie Bernier, 10- Cheryl Phillips,11- Magali Harvey, 12- Andrea Burk, 13- Arielle Dubissette-Borrice, 14- Bianca Farella, 15- Elissa Alarie,

Replacements: 16- Marie-Pier Pinault-Reid, 17- Claragh Pegg, 18- Kim Donaldson,19- Tyson Beukeboom, 20- Kayla Mack, 21- Julia Sugawara, 22- Jessica Dovanne, 23- Katie McNally,

England: 15 Kay Wilson, 14 Julie Hope, 13 Abigail Chamberlain, 12 Megan Goddard, 11 Lydia Thompson, 10 Ceri Large, 9 Fiona Davidson, 1 Rochelle Clark, 2 Emma Croker, 3 Laura Keates, 4 Rebecca Essex, 5 Rowena Burnfield, 6 Sarah Hunter, 7 Isabelle Noel-Smith, 8 Harriet Millar-Mills

Replacements: 16 Mercedes Foy, 17 Claire Purdy, 18 Justine Lucas, 19 Zoe Saynor, 20 Victoria Fleetwood, 21 Charlotte Keane, 22 Emily Scott, 23 Lauren Cattell

USA 32 South Africa 22

The second game of the day was another close and exiting affair.

Host Nation USA took an early lead in the fifth minute through Hope Rogers and Sadie Anderson’s conversion, and added to it with a 30-metere Anderson penalty kick.

South Africa though looked very threatening with ball in hand and Mathrin Simmers showed great feet to dodge a tackle in the 18th minute and outrun Christy Ringgenberg to the corner to finish very well and put South Africa on the board at 10-5.

USA’s Emilie Bydwell broke through the Springbok defense three minutes later and had to reach across the line to dot down for the try, which gave the Eagles a 15-5 lead. South Africa should have added a try of their own with a chip kick into the try zone, but the fluffed their handling to knock it on and the chance was missed.

Not to be denied though, South Africa kept the pressure up and Marlien Cronje scored in the corner to bring the score to 15-10. USA took a 20-10 lead into halftime when Ashley Kmiecik and Kate Daley combined well to see Kmiecik touch down.

An extended injury stoppage five minutes into the second half gave the teams an even longer break, and South Africa capitalised first when play resumed with a great try from Mara Williams.

USA grabbed two more tries through Sylvia Braaten and Shaina Turley to put the match out of reach of the South African’s but Zenay Jordaan scored a consolation try to ensure a close enough finish.

“In moments, I think we played better in the second half,” Eagles Head Coach Pete Steinberg said. “It’s just a matter of consistency. We have to learn to play a little smarter. When we were able to retain the ball, we played really well.

“South Africa is always going to score tries and they will throughout this tournament, and they were quick enough and athletic enough to challenge us today.”

USA: 1. Hope Rogers, 2. Kittery Wagner, 3. Jamie Burke, 4. Carmen Farmer, 5. Molly Kinsella, 6. Stacey Bridges, 7. Shaina Turley, 8. Jillion Potter, 9. Kate Daley, 10. Sadie Anderson, 11. Erica Cavanaugh, 12. Sylvia Braaten, 13. Emilie Bydwell, 14. Ashley Kmiecik, 15. Christy Ringgenberg

Replacements: 16. Katy Augustyn , 17. Sarah Chobot, 18. Sarah Wilson, 19. Sarah Walsh, 20. Kristin Zdanczewicz, 21. Jocelyn Tseng, 22. Kimber Rozier 23. Megan Bonny