Tourists take the initiative

RUGBY UNION WORLD CUP 1995

Sunday 21 May 1995 23:02 BST
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South Australia 9

England A 66

The England A coach, Mike Slemen, expressed dissatisfaction with his team's performance despite seeing them overwhelm South Australia in their opening tour match in Adelaide yesterday.

Derek Eves and Jim Naylor both scored two tries as the tourists collected 10 touchdowns, but Slemen said: "We made too many mistakes."

He added: "We put too much ball down. Sometimes when you get into a looser type of game that can happen, but we won't be happy with all the times we didn't score when we should have."

The strength and fitness of England proved crucial, with six of the tries arriving in the second half. John Sleightholme, David Sims, Andrew Gomersall, John Fowler and Paul Hull also crossed the Australian line, with a penalty try and five conversions and two penalties accounting for the rest of England's points.

England face Victoria in Melbourne on Wednesday in the next leg of their six-match tour.

South Australia: Penalties Elliott 3. England A: Tries Eves 2, Naylor 2, Fowler, Gomersall, Hull. Penalty Sims, Sleightholme. Conversions Grayson 5. Penalties Grayson 2.

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