England run in 20 tries against hapless US

13 April 2012

England's players came up with all the right answers in their 110-0 victory over USA but still left coach John Kear with a series of selection dilemmas for next Saturday's eagerly-awaited Lincoln Financial World Cup opener against Australia.  

A 20-try hammering of a woefully weak United States team, which rounded off a week's warm-weather training by Kear's men in the Florida sunshine, topped Australia's recent 108-0 win over a New Zealand Residents XIII.

It also represented the biggest-ever margin of victory in a contest between two international sides, beating the 104-0 win by Lebanon in last year's World Cup qualifying match against Morocco.

Billed as a practice match, the organisers hastily erased the points from the electronic scoreboard as the England backline began to click as sweetly as the turnstiles at the neighbouring theme parks.

Played in four quarters on a humid evening at Disney's Wide World of Sport, the result had less meaning than the performance and the 500-strong crowd, largely made up of British holidaymakers, lapped it up.

Kear, with more than simply an eye on next Saturday's battle at Twickenham, was also delighted with the showing.

"I asked the players to be clinical, ruthless, relentless and to 'nil' the Americans and you've got to tick all of those things," he said.

"It was certainly a worthwhile exercise. The biggest benefit was the attitude displayed by the players. They've worked very hard in training and covered a vast amount of work and they needed some opposition to put it against.

"I'm very happy indeed. It's made me more confident rather than less and given me more headaches but I wanted that."

Only Adrian Morley, who is nursing a sternum injury, failed to get a run-out and, although scrum-half Paul Deacon started on the bench after going down with food poisoning, he went on to play his part in a generally impressive display against admittedly weak opposition.

England's defence were rarely tested but their quicksilver backs put the American defence to the sword with some devastating finishing.

There were particularly notable eye-catching performances from Kris Radlinski, who played in three different positions but still raced in for five tries, and Leon Pryce, who skipped through some flimsy tackling for a hat-trick.

Other try-scorers were Tony Smith (2), Paul Wellens (2), Jamie Peacock, Stuart Spruce, Kevin Sinfield, Keith Senior, Sean Long, Mike Forshaw, Andy Hay and Andy Farrell. Deacon kicked eight goals from 10 attempts while Farrell, who played only the first half, landed seven from 10.

America, using the game as a warm-up for the Emerging Nations Championship in England, were outclassed despite the inclusion of five players with Super League experience, led by Grand Final winner Julian O'Neill.

The only worry for England were injuries to winger Nathan McAvoy, who went over on his knee in a tackle 15 minutes from the end, and loose forward Paul Sculthorpe, who tweaked a hamstring in the first quarter.

Those injury concerns may persuade Kear to delay selection beyond his scheduled team announcement on Tuesday.

The coach admitted that he has yet to settle on his starting 13, with the multi-talented Radlinski proving he is world-class at either full-back, centre or on the wing.

The Wigan ace is favourite to wear the number five jersey against Australia, even though he is clearly the best full-back in Super League and dislikes playing on the wing.

"John probably knows it's not my favourite position but he also knows that, wherever he picks me, I'll try to do my best," said Radlinski.

England fly back into London on Monday to set up camp in the capital and Kear believes the warm-weather camp will prove to be of immense benefit as he gears up for ultimate test.

"The week been very positive," he insisted. "The planning and preparation was meticulous. It's a very happy but hard-working camp.

"That was shown on Saturday but we are under no illusions that next week is going to be a vastly different story.

"We can only get better. Next week we have to make sure our mental preparation is as good as our physical preparation was last week and, hopefully, we'll peak at the right time."

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