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England notched up the first win of their New Zealand tour when they downed Super 15 heavyweights the Canterbury Crusaders 38-7 in Christchurch yesterday. |
The England side consisted mainly of back-up players motivated by the hope of impressing coach Stuart Lancaster enough to make Saturday’s third and final Test side against the All Blacks.
They monstered the Crusaders pack in the first half and feasted off a stream of turnover balls to lead 26-7 at half-time with four tries in the bag.
The Crusaders found their rhythm and protected their possession with more determination after the break but were unable to break through the England defence, while England scored two further tries despite their attacking chances diminishing.
For England, with four players including captain Ed Slater making their debut, there was a lot more at stake than just the scoreline.
“There’s a lot of frustrated guys who haven’t had a chance to play in the Tests, so this was our opportunity to play,” Slater said.
“A lot of our focus has been on this game and we prepared well and I thought we executed well.”
England opened with an attack that caught the seven-times Super champions napping, though the Crusaders were lacking 11 players with international commitments.
Although the Crusaders still managed to field six All Blacks that was not enough experience to hold back a fired up England.
The tourists controlled play up front and fly-half Danny Cipriani, knowing incumbent Test pivot Owen Farrell has been sidelined with a knee injury, had ample ball to direct play.
The spectators had barely taken their seats than England hooker Joe Gray scored the first try, and Ben Foden scored minutes later when the Crusaders defence misread a corner kick that did not go out.
Although the Crusaders came back with a try to Matt Todd in one of their few attacking moments in the first half, England soon ended the spell with tries to Brad Barritt and Alex Goode.
Although the Crusaders spent most of the second half in England territory, and opted for line-outs over kickable penalties, the England defence remained impenetrable.
However, in their rare second half forays into Crusaders territory, England benefited from a try to Anthony Watson midway through the spell and one to Chris Pennell in injury time.
