MacDonald helps England to record win
By Mark Stevens
8/10/22
Exeter Chiefs star Claudia MacDonald led the way for England as they opened their Rugby World Cup campaign with a record 14-try win against debutants Fiji.
The 26-year-old back helped herself to four tries as Simon Middleton’s side recorded an emphatic 84-19 success at Eden Park in Auckland.
Amy Cokayne (2), Abbie Ward, Helena Rowland, Zoe Aldcroft, Lydia Thompson (2), Abby Dow, Leanne Infante and Connie Powell also found their way over to give the tournament favourites a dream start.
"We'll take that," said head coach Middleton, whose side only led 24-14 at half time. ""One thing this has shown is that there are going to be absolutely no gimmes in this competition. Fiji were outstanding in that first half, really compact and really physical. I think we were nervous but who wouldn’t be?
"It’s a World Cup opener and there’s obviously been a massive amount of build-up and they were probably able to play little bit freer than us," continued Middleton.
"The key thing for us was that we just relaxed and we took stock and then we got our game on track. It wasn't like we were being pumped at half time, we were still 24-14 up, but I think we would’ve hoped we’d done a few things a little bit better, but we did better in the second half for sure."
England's squad depth was also a talking-point post-match, after a wealth of players made significant impact from the bench.
"The fitness levels of the players, the execution, the skill level and the set piece really stepped up, then we were able to bring a really strong bench," added Middleton. "We’ve got great strength in depth and we said the squad will be the difference in the end. We proved that today. I thought we stepped up well just after half time but then to be able to reinforce with us of those changes was just great."
The Red Roses refuse to spend much time reflecting on their position as favourites, but they cemented that tag with this win to extend their record winning run to 26 Tests.
