Nick Easter and Jack Nowell scored hat-tricks as England defeated Uruguay 60-3 at the City of Manchester Stadium on Saturday. MARIETTE ADAMS reports.
Having already been knocked out of the tournament, England moved beyond the disappointment to score 10 unanswered tries, after flyhalf Felipe Berchesi knocked over a penalty to give Uruguay an early lead.
It took England only five minutes to respond and once they did, Uruguay’s defence was cut to shreds regularly.
Wing Anthony Watson scored the first try when he outpaced the Uruguay cover defenders in pursuit of Jack Nowell’s well-weighted chip kick and Owen Farrell converted.
The 37-year-old Easter then bagged his first two tries, one from a lineout drive and the other from a pick-and-go, to put England 21-3 up at the interval.
It didn’t get any better for Uruguay in the second half, as England ran in six more tries, including a Nowell hat-trick.
Watson was put into acres of space and went in untouched for his second of the evening before Exeter Chiefs duo Henry Slade and Nowell crossed for tries number five and six.
Uruguay did earn a couple of scrum penalties and kicked for touch, but poor execution at the lineout helped England repel them.
On the hour mark, Easter completed his hat-trick from another driving maul, in what will probably be his final Test appearance.
Two late scores by Nowell in the space of four minutes moved the hosts past the 50-point mark, but it still wasn’t the end.
To rub salt in the wounds, Uruguay conceded a penalty try on the hooter for an early tackle on Alex Goode, which George Ford easily converted to cap off England’s turbulent World Cup campaign.
England – Tries: Anthony Watson (2), Nick Easter (3), Henry Slade, Jack Nowell (3), penalty try. Conversions: Owen Farrell (4), George Ford.
Uruguay – Penalty: Felipe Berchesi.
England – 15 Alex Goode, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 James Haskell, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Subs: 16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 David Wilson, 19 George Kruis, 20 Tom Wood, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Mike Brown.
Uruguay – 15 Gaston Mieres, 14 Santiago Gibernau, 13 Joaquin Prada, 12 Andres Vilaseca, 11 Rodrigo Silva, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 9 Agustín Ormaechea, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 7 Matias Beer, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara, 5 Jorge Zerbino, 4 Santiago Vilaseca (c), 3 Mario Sagario, 2 Carlos Arboleya, 1 Mateo Sanguinetti.
Subs: 16 Nicolas Klappenbach, 17 Oscar Duran, 18 Alejo Corral, 19 Mathias Palomeque, 20 Diego Magnol, 21 Agustín Alonso, 22 Alejo Durán, 23 Manuel Blengio.
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
