England 22 Canada 10

They had to work hard but two tries from fullback Josh Lewsey helped England to see off Canada 22-10 in Toronto in England's opening Test of their 2001 North America tour.

Without 18 first choice players due to the Lions tour, England had to make do with their younger brigade with five players making their senior debut.

Captain Kyran Bracken led by example, adding experience to a distinctly nervy looking backline, and it was his first half try that helped England to hold a slender 5-3 lead at the break.

Clive Woodward was complimentary of the Canadians acknowledging they had delivered the game expected.

"I thought Canada played very well," he said.  "I am well pleased that the Canadians played more than a forward oriented game, and the try they scored was probably the best try of the game.

"They will take a lot out of the game," he went on.  "(Canada) are playing England, who are full time professional players.  The game could have gone either way."

"I thought it was played in great spirit, and that's a credit to both camps and both coaches," said Woodward, who now takes his team west to Vancouver to play a British Columbia representative side on Tuesday, before the next test against Canada June 9th.

Hooker Dorian West ploughed over for a close quarter try in the second-half before England extended their lead as Leicester's Leon Lloyd released Josh Lewsey to sprint to the corner.

Lewsey added a second soon after, returning a loose kick with ease from 70 yards, and with Dave Walder finally managing a successful kick, the converted try gave England some breathing space.

The young Wasps back said he was pleased with the length of his blistering runs, but said they were the result of hard work against the Canucks.

"We had a couple of nice breaks today.  I think our defense in general was pretty good and kept the Canadians out.  They pushed us right to the limit.

"When you are defending like that and get quick turnovers, which both my tries came from, you've got the panoramic view to the back and we were able to capitalise on it.

Lewsey says they got exactly what they expected from the Canadians, saying "In the first few minutes I got a boot in the head and a punch in the face.  You do expect rough and tumble -- they are hard boys.

"I think today's game was wide open in many respects.  I thought there was a lot of handling errors on both sides, partly some nerves, and errors in execution.  (In Vancouver) We expect Canada to give 110% just like they did today."

Canada scored a late consolation try through winger Sean Fauth after multiple phases of recycled ball at the England five metre line finally bore fruit.

Canada's coach, David Clark was not happy about the fact that for a second straight week his team dipped down to 14 men because of discipline problems.  This time it was flyhalf Scott Stewart getting the yellow for a late hit on England centre Leon Lloyd.  Stewart had received a warning for a shoulder charge on wing Michael Stephenson, but Clark thought the call for the Lloyd tackle was hard.

"I don't like that.  I think what he got sin-binned for was a fair tackle on Leon Lloyd.  It was called late and it wasn't late, and the video will show you that.  It just seems England got their hands all over the ball and slowed things down in the rucks," said Clark.

Another concern for Clark was Canada's lineout.  Starting hooker Pat Dunkley came out with a rib injury, replaced by Toronto native Dale Burleigh, but the timing never quite clicked.

According to Clark, they need to keep things simple, saying:  "We put a hell of a lot of work into our lineouts, but I think there is too much movement and too much insecurity.  We've got to simplify it and get down to some bread and butter lineouts that give us ball."

Canada's captain Al Charron, on for his 63rd cap, agrees that some work needs to be done on the lineout, but thinks the answer is in adding some variety to the jumpers.

"We have to look at other people in the lineout," conceded the fan favourite.  "John Tait -- as great a jumper as he is, they know we are going to him every time, and it is easy to defend against -- and that is not fair to him."

The Teams:

England:  1 Graham Rowntree, 2 Dorian West, 3 Julian White, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Steve Borthwick, 6 Martin Corry, 7 Lewis Moody, 8 Joe Worsley, 9 Kyran Bracken (c), 10 David Walder, 11 Paul Sampson, 12 Leon Lloyd, 13 Jamie Noon, 14 Michael Stephenson, 15 Josh Lewsey
Reserves:  Simon Shaw, Tim Stimpson, Pat Sanderson
Unused:  Alex King, Martyn Wood, David Flatman, Andy Long

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Ed Knaggs, 5 John Tait, 6 Alan Charron (c), 7 Gregor Dixon, 8 Dan Baugh, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Scott Stewart, 11 Sean Fauth, 12 John Cannon, 13 Bobby Ross, 14 Nik Witkowski, 15 Winston Stanley
Reserves:  Dale Burleigh, Duane Major, Mike Schmid

Attendance:  8,100
Referee:  Whitehouse n.

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Bracken K.P.P. 1, West D.E. 1, Lewsey O.J. 1
Conv:  Walder D.J.H. 1

Canada
Tries:  Fauth S. 1
Conv:  Ross R.P. 1
Pen K.:  Ross R.P. 1