England retain European title

England retained their place as the number one nation in Europe with a dominant Finals Day at the University of Nottingham.

England won six of the eight ranking competitions – Mens Open, Womens Open, Womens 27, Mens 30, Womens 35 and Mens 45 – finishing second in the Mens 40 and Mixed Open, and while the Mixed 30 and Mens 50 did not contribute to the overall standings there were also tournament winners for the England teams there, too.

The wins of the day belonged to the Womens 27 and Mens 45 teams.

The Womens 27 had had a draw against Scotland in the round-robin stages, and the Scots piled on the pressure throughout their Field 1 final. Scotland led 4-2 at half-time, Jamie Cone and Katy Fielding the scorers as England once again found their opponents difficult to overcome.

They managed to turn things around after the break, as Rose Willougby, Alissa Grant-Walker, Jo Devine and Eleanor Pitcher all crossed.

But the drama was still to come.

With the hooter gone and extra time looming, England started to move the ball around on the Scottish 10-metre line trying to create some space after driving play from their own five-metre line. Scotland bit, Devine spotted the space and turned on the afterburners to seal a 7-6 win.

The other came just over an hour later. The Mens 45 team had beaten Wales in both of the round-robin matches, but the Welsh increased their intensity and physicality in the Final to lead 2-0 at the break.

England tied things up at 2-2 through Jeff Sue, before momentum shifted when Aled Phillips was sent to the sin bin. England scored twice in this period through Josh Bingley and Simon Cooper, but then it was Wales’s turn to tie things up with a pair of late scores.

Extra time became 3-v-3, and the tension ratcheted up a notch. But the extra space told in the end, and Alex Berger dived over for a 5-4 win.

England were involved in another thrilling final which went into extra time, but this time the result went against the Mixed Open team. They had matched Wales blow-for-blow during the 40 minutes, Danielle Evans, Toby Phillips and Jamie Ironside scoring in the first half and Ella Loveridge (2), Harry Goldman, Meghan Pemberton and Tom Lawton-Davies in the second as the teams tied at 8-8 at the hooter.

Phillips added a second in overtime, but Wales scored two of their own, the second after the hooter has sounded, and England were agonizingly close at 9-10.

The Mens 40 were also on the wrong end of a close result, Matt Mahoney’s hat-trick and Matt Hall’s effort clawing England back into a contest which they had trailed 6-2 at one stage. They showed massive strength of character to battle back against the fancied French, tying the match at 6-6, only to have the opposition score two late tries to make the final score England 6, France 8.

The other Finals were more clear-cut, England beating Ireland 14-4 and Scotland 8-3 in the Mens and Womens Open finals respectively.

England and Ireland had played out a tense final round-robin at the start of the day, but they turned on the style in the final, Vaughn Meredith, Hanno Rossouw, Josh Henderson, Matt Sandlant, Ben Grinter and Will Lupton (2) putting Ireland onto the ropes.

Five more tries followed after the break, Meredith completing his hat-trick, Will Serocold, Dom Tripp (2) and Max Howard completing the win.

Again, England came flying out of the blocks in the first half, Nicola Wise (2), Emily Irons, Carly Wynne, Bronte Sykes and Amelia Paton all scoring. Wise added a third after half-time, with Emily Bayliss completing the win.

The Mens 30 also had a comprehensive win in their final, outscoring Ireland 12-0, Stuart Bussell, Tom Davies, Neil Hennigan, Steven Holland and Craig Samuel all scoring twice each and Nathan Bourke and Toby Williams the remaining tries.

Elsewhere the Womens 35 continued to be the class team of their competition, restricting Wales to a solitary first half effort as they confirmed their place as Europe’s best with a 14-1 win.

Kylie Hutchison and Vicky Tomlinson scored hat-tricks, Olivia Jones and Nollaig Quinn both grabbed braces and Marnie Wills, Sammie Phillips, Kate Hyde and Lois Lau finished the job.

The Mixed 30 completed their tournament with a 7-5 win over France. Tied 3-3 at half-time – Meghan Clayton (twice) and Ryan Miemczyk scoring – they pulled away in the second period, Clayton going over twice more and Peter Bowyer and Rob Grist the other scorers.

Last but not least, the Mens 50 had seen off Ireland and Wales on Friday, but there was still a match against Singapore to confirm top spot. Precious little had separated the teams throughout the week, and it was the case again here, despite England building a 4-1 lead by half-time.

Ryan Anglem, Chris Davies, Ian Spencer and James Barnett had scored, but Singapore battled back in the second half, and England needed Adrian Riggs and Anglem to keep them ahead, 6-5 the final score.