England Academy beat Penrith

England Academy opened their tour of Australia with a 28-22 win over Penrith Panthers at the weekend.

Played in windy and sunny conditions at Pepper Stadium, the English youngsters displayed strength in defence, and showed good ruthlessness in attack.

England Academy coach Andy Kelly felt that his team coped exceptionally well with the challenge posed by the environment and their opponents.

“I thought the boys coped really well,” he said.

“The physicality was consistent throughout the 80 minutes. When you think that Penrith used 28 players in that period of time, it meant that we had to work really hard.

“The win was a little bit narrower than we would have liked, but in terms of the physical effort and the preparation for the Test Match it was a pretty good work out.

“The two weeks we’ve had prior to this game have been fantastic. The staff have worked hard and the players have understood what we want from them.

“The environments we’ve been in have been great and the preparation has been right for the boys. We’re now into a big, big week so the boys are ready for the Test Match.”

England
Sam McKinlay, Lewis Heckford, Matthew Costello, Liam Paisley, Joe Wardill, Will Oakes, Rob Fairclough, Morgan Smith, Matthew English, Josh Ganson, Mikolaj Oledzki, Carl Winterstein, James Bachelor, Cameron Smith, Jack Wells, Ryan Jones, Craig Mullen, Callum Field, Danny Walker, Jez Litten, Caine Barnes, Connor Fitzsimmons, Liam Walsh, Brad Walker

Tries: Wells, C Smith, Batchelor, M Smith. Goals: Fairclough 4

Penrith
Peter Scanlon, Jesse Abbott, Jamon Wormleaton, Jake Ennis, Jonah Meutangaro, Toby Westcott, Ben Cartwright, Mitch Kenny, Mark Laban, Shane Kiel, Terrell Smith, John Kaufusi, Harrison Leonord, Alex Myles, Shannon Harris, Mose Feilo, Jake Tago, Spike Teo, Brad Gant, Thomas Lofts, Justin Jones, Rocky Togatuki

Tries: Laban, Gant, Leonard, Loft.  Goals: Westcott 3