Wales vs England

[DIEHARD]

Flower to lead Welsh this Saturday

The Welsh have continued their philosophy of building for the future, after new coach, Iestyn Harris, named seven debutants in his nineteen man squad.

Ross Divorty from Featherstone, Christiaan Roets from the Bridgend Blue Bulls and the Celtic Crusaders? quintet of Ashley Bateman, Elliot Kear, Lewis Mills, Lloyd White and Neil Budworth, could all be pulling on the Welsh jersey for the first time this Saturday pending on Harris? final selections.

Harris, appointed yesterday as the Crusaders? assistant coach, includes no fewer than 11 players from the engage Super League club for his first match in charge of the national side.

One of the eight non-Crusaders contingent is Rhys Griffiths, the son of Wales? newly-appointed assistant coach Clive Griffiths who made his debut in last October?s 74-0 defeat by England at Doncaster.

He is one of 10 survivors from that 14-try hammering, which was Wales? biggest ever defeat.

Veteran scrum-half Ian Watson, who turns 33 later this month, is set to win his 23rd cap and will equal the great Jim Sullivan?s appearance record if he goes on to play in all four games - including the European Cup.

?It?s just an honour to play every time I pull on that red jersey,? said Watson. ?It?s a big thing for my family and me.

?My mum?s Welsh, and all my family are from Wales. I?ve had some great experiences playing for Wales in the World Cup against teams like Australia and New Zealand and playing in the Millennium Stadium. I?m proud to play for Wales.?

Wales will be led by Crusaders forward Ben Flower, who takes over from the injured David Mills.

Flower, who turns 22 next Monday, has skippered many sides in the past, from school right up to Newport Gwent Dragons age-group levels but this is his first international appointment.

?It?s going to be exciting being only a youngster myself,? he said. ?For Iestyn to ask me to captain Wales was a dream come true.

?I?m looking forward to the game. I?ll try not to let Iestyn and the team down and I?m determined to do my best job on Saturday evening.?

Wales Dragons: M Barron (Gateshead), A Bateman (Crusaders), A Blackwood (Crusaders), N Budworth (Crusaders), G Davies (Crusaders), R Divorty (Featherstone), G Dudson (Crusaders), B Flower (Crusaders), R Griffiths (Warrington), J James (Crusaders), E Kear (Crusaders), C Kopzcak (Bradford), L Mills (Crusaders), C Roets (Bridgend), I Watson (Leigh), I Webster (Central Comets), L White (Crusaders), L Williams (Crusaders), R Williams (Warrington).

http://www.nrl.com

[DIEHARD]

England trial new combinations

England coach, Tony Smith, has named an experimental squad for this Saturday?s Gillette Fusion International against the Welsh at The Brewery Field, Bridgend.

Featuring five players aged 21 years or under in the starting lineup, Smith has opted to use the warm up international as a chance to test new combinations, and as well try and unearth potential new superstars in the international arena.

The youthful halves combination will feature reigning Super League Young Player of the Year Sam Tomkins, 20 at stand off, whilst Richie Myler, 19, will partner at scrum half.

There is also an international debut for Hull FC teenager Tom Briscoe, 19, in a team that will be captained by Adrian Morley, who is one of three Warrington Wolves players in a strong pack.

The three players to miss out from the 20-man squad named on Monday are Tony Clubb, Stefan Ratchford and Ben Harrison.

?There were a few tough calls but I?m very excited by the squad,? said Smith. ?The game on Saturday is primarily there to give the guys going through to the Gillette Four Nations an opportunity to get a game under their belt and get some combinations going.

?They will all feel the benefit of the experience, especially the younger players.

?People like Tom Briscoe won?t be going through to the Four Nations squad but it?s important that we give people like him a taster, just like we gave Richie Myler a taster a year ago.?

?The young guys who were involved against Wales last year have all kicked on, and we hope everyone else has too.?

None of the nine players from Leeds Rhinos and St Helens who were involved in last Saturday?s engage Super League Grand Final were considered for selection for this weekend?s games.

England Lions: Paul Sykes (Bradford Bulls); Peter Fox (Hull Kingston Rovers), Sean O?Loughlin (Wigan Warriors), Michael Shenton (Castleford Tigers), Tom Briscoe (Hull FC); Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors), Richard Myler (Salford City Reds); Adrian Morley (Warrington Wolves) (capt), Scott Moore (Huddersfield Giants), Garreth Carvell (Warrington Wolves), Gareth Ellis (Wests Tigers), Ben Westwood (Warrington Wolves), Sam Burgess (Bradford Bulls). Interchange: Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook (Harlequins), Mickey Higham (Warrington Wolves), Chris Bridge (Warrington Wolves), Danny Tickle (Hull FC).

Source: http://www.nrl.com

[DIEHARD]

10-4 to England after 18mins.

[DIEHARD]

HALF TIME

WALES 6-20 ENGALND

England 20
Tries:Tomkins 2, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Burgess
Goals: Sykes 2

Lead

Wales 6
Tries: Kopczak
Goals: White

[DIEHARD]

Wales score with Watson!, White converts! 20-12 to England. 51mins.

[DIEHARD]

England score with Briscoe. 24-12

Wales really making a fight. I wish they were part of last year's World Cup!

[DIEHARD]

O'Loughlin scores for England. Floodgates opening?

30-12

[DIEHARD]

Come on Welsh.... one more try at least, get that magic 18 number.

[DIEHARD]

Morley is in. 36-12

Come on Wales keep it up, dont let them salvage a margin, they dont deserve.

I also think this is something the RLIF needs to address, I think fitness plays a big part late in games like this between semi pros and pros.

Come on Welsh!

[DIEHARD]

Crap... Briscoe in

42-12..

Still alot better tha the 72 point flogging Wales copped last year. Shows Celtic Crusaders have a big impact.

Still some time left. Come on Wales.

[DIEHARD]

Tomkins in for his third. He has really starred. 48-12

[DIEHARD]

That;s it. 48-12. Happy it didnt exceed 50.

For England, probably alot more questions than answers.

Brave effort for Wales.

[DIEHARD]

Wales 12-48 England

Wales (6) 12
Tries: Kopczak, Watson Goals: White (2)

England (20) 48
Tries: Tomkins (3), McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Burgess, Briscoe (2), O'Loughlin, Morley Goals: Sykes (6)

Sam Tomkins' hat-trick on his debut was the stand-out performance as England made hard work of beating Wales in their Four Nations warm-up match.

Bradford's Craig Kopzcak gave Wales a short-lived lead before Tomkins (2), Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Sam Burgess all scored before half-time.

Ian Watson scored Wales's second before Tom Briscoe (2), Sean O'Loughlin and Adrian Morley touched down.

Tomkins bagged his third in the closing minutes to round off a fine debut.

Wales came into the match desperate to avoid a repeat of the teams' last meeting, when England won 74-0, and they could hardly have scripted a better opening.

Kopczak capitalised on Paul Sykes failing to deal with a high ball and went over in the left-hand corner to give Wales a surprise lead.

But it was an error by Sykes' opposite number which led to England drawing level.

Wales full-back Elliot Kear lost the ball in the tackle and Ben Westwood scooped it up to set up Tomkins for a short run-in to score.

With many players not having played since the end of the regular season, there was plenty of ring-rustiness on display but no lack of creativity.

Briscoe almost rounded off a fine cross-field passing move with England's second try but Richie Myler's over-ambitious pass just eluded his grasp with the line beckoning.

The pass was a sign of England's positivity and willingness to take chances, though, and that ambition was soon rewarded with Tomkins again the man to benefit.

England gained possession after Kopzcak conceded a penalty, Burgess offloaded to Scott Moore whose reverse pass found Tomkins, and the Wigan youngster sidestepped his way through the Wales defence.

McCarthy-Scarsbrook's physical presence earned him a try under the posts shortly after he came on, as for all Wales's attacking ambition - Anthony Blackwood and Jordan James being particularly involved - they struggled to contain England in defence.

Most of those Welsh attacking ambitions involved Kopczak at some point and once he limped off with a medial ligament injury, they were a seriously depleted side.

England promptly took advantage of that weakness with their fourth try.

With two tries to his name already, Tomkins turned provider, his deftly-placed grubber kick being scooped up by Burgess to touch down.

Having taken the lead in the first half, Wales then caught England napping by doing the same in the second period.

Veteran Watson took a quick tap as England were caught offside and darted over the line while they were still lining up to defend the penalty.

Briscoe went over in the corner to restore England's advantage and O'Loughlin stretched the lead when he touched down after another good kick through by Tomkins.

England captain Morley then got on the score sheet, bulldozing over under the posts, with the most notable thing about the try being the involvement of Burgess in the build-up, after he had earlier seemed to suffer a knee injury.

As time began to run out, so did Wales's energy.

Myler set up Briscoe to dance over for his second try and Tomkins went over in the corner to seal a man-of-the-match performance.

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Wales: Kear, R. Williams, Griffiths, Blackwood, White, Bateman, Webster, J. James, Budworth, Dudson, Kopczak, Flower, Davies. Replacements: Watson, L. Williams, Divorty, Barron.

England: Sykes, T. Briscoe, Shenton, O'Loughlin, Fox, Tomkins, Myler, Morley, Moore, Carvell, Ellis, Westwood, Burgess. Replacements: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Higham, Tickle, Bridge.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk

[~lee~]

A good performance by Tomkins, looks like he's going to have plenty more international matches ahead of him.
Wales put on a good performance too, be interesting to see how they get on against Serbia.

[DIEHARD]

McGuire and Tomkins for England halves!