England 'A' Win fourth straight test against Japan

By Kath 3/7/03
July 4 2003

England 'A' Win fourth straight test against Japan 37 v 10. Olly Barkley in particular had a sparkling game, kicking and scoring two tries in his 22-point haul. Here we have yet another contender for that prized back up place to Jonny Wilkinson.

 Olly has shown what he can do and has done it right on cue!

Pete Anglesea, Phil Christophers and Dan Scarbrough were the other England try scorers, these players again pushing for those coveted World Cup places.

Japan's points came from an try, conversion and a penalty.  The two teams will meet again on Sunday. 

It will be interesting to see if Jim Mallinder keeps the same team or changes things again?

Jim Mallinder praised the Japanese team and said "Fair play to Japan, they put us under a lot of pressure and forced us into turnovers. But I was pleased with the way we responded in the second half. We started to control the game, driving a few line-outs and playing for field position a lot more.

"We have played four games and won four and we'll be looking to finish the tour successfully at the weekend."

So we can expect more of the same from the England 'A'  Team.

However, the next two World Cup Trial matches at Cardiff and Marseilles will be the ones to watch out for, in real terms.  Those will be the matches when the England 'A' squad will be pulling out all the stops to impress Clive Woodward and dare I say without being disrespectful to Japan,  Wales and France will cause the England 'A' many more problems!

Once again Sianara until Sunday.