THE England Academy continued their Australian tour with victory in their second warm-up game against Parramatta Juniors at Cabramatta Stadium earlier today.
After a tense opening which saw both sides embroiled in a dogged battle for supremacy, it was England who opening the scoring on the 14 minute mark, when Ryan Hampshire ran in under the posts.
The half-back was on hand to finish a move he started and profit from a simple inside ball from full-back Tierney who had gathered a sublime chip through to split the defence.
Parramatta responded quickly however and just five minutes later they were level through winger Ben Fritz who managed to sneak over in the corner.
Both sides resumed a hard-fought battle and it took until the 33rd minute for another point to be registered, when England winger James Duckworth powered his way through three defenders to cross the line in the right hand corner.
Hampshire kept his composure to slot a difficult conversion and give England a 12-6 half-time lead.
England came out of the blocks firing in the second half and a whirlwind start saw them open up a 36-6 lead just shy of the 60 minute mark.
Ben Currie registered the first score of the half when he beat the defence all ends up with a show-and-go before accelerating through the line and Ryan Hampshire then scored an equally impressive try, profiting from a powerful run from John Bateman who split the defence to set up an easy score.
Jon Ford found himself adding a third try of the half and from the resulting re-start, Joe Burgess ran the length of the field after Bateman sucked in the defence top open the field for the Wigan flyer.
A lapse in defensive concentration saw Parramatta add two quick tries through first Christian Kagiassis and then full-back John Formal to bring the score back to 36-18.
England has the last say in the game though when Hampshire scored his third try of the game when Bateman again burst through a hole to put the half-back through for the easiest finish before adding the extras to seal at 42-18 victory.
“I thought there were a lot of improvements from the game versus New South Wales and the guys showed some great touches tonight,” said England Academy coach Dave Elliott.
“We scored 42 points and I think we could have added a lot more so I’m very happy with the performance.
“It was pleasing to see that the things we worked on during the week were executed during the game, but as a coach I think there are always areas for improvement and we still have some things to work on before our next game.
“I’ve got a huge selection headache now going into the first test. A lot of players have really held their hands up for a place. There were some outstanding performances tonight and the whole squad has really performed.”
England Academy team v Parramatta (professional and community clubs):
1, Lewis Tierney (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Pats)
2, James Duckworth (Leeds Rhinos, Whinmoor Warriros)
3, Mark Percival (St Helens, Halton Hornets)
4, John Ford (Salford City Reds, Blackbrook Royals)
5, Joe Burgess (Wigan Warriors, Ince Rose Bridge)
6, George Williams (Wigan Warriors, Ince Rose Bridge)
7, Ryan Hampshire (Wigan Warriors, Normanton Knights)
8, Ryan Sutton (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Pats)
9, James Cunningham (Hull FC, East Hull)
10, Gavin Bennion (Warrington Wolves, Ryland Sharks)
11, Luke Thompson (St Helens, Pilkington Recs)
12, Connor Farrell (Wigan Warriors, Wigan St Pats)
13, Ben Currie C (Warrington Wolves, Parkside Golbourn)
14, Liam Sutcliffe (Leeds Rhinos, Hunslet Warriors)
15, John Bateman (Bradford Bulls, Dudley Hill)
16, Jordan Baldwinson (Leeds Rhinos, Hunslet Warriors)
17, Josh Johnson (Huddersfield Giants, Saddleworth)
Tries: Hampshire 3, Duckworth, Currie, Ford, Burgess
Goals: Hampshire 7
Man of the Match: Gavin Bennion
Parramatta Juniors squad
1, John Formal
2, Ben Fritz
3, Levi Spoi
4, Eric Aukofolau
5, Sulaisi Suli
6, Ryan Matterson
7, Christian Kagiassis
8, Jordan Grant
9, Dom Reardon
10, Will Bugden
11, FJ Moala
12, Takai Moeakiola
13, Jordan Hall
14, Jason Vidal
15, Jim Au Cheung
16, Paea Pua
17, Tepai Tepu
Tries: Fritz, Kagiassis, Formal
Goals: Kagiassis 3
