England ended their season on a high with a stellar 70-14 win over Canada as Marcus Smith celebrated a call-up to the British & Irish Lions.
Jamie Blamire and Adam Radwan each scored hat-tricks in a scintillating ten-try showing for Eddie Jones’ side in front of 10,000 fans at Twickenham.
BLAMIRE GETS THE PARTY STARTED
England got off to a flying start courtesy of flanker Sam Underhill who won a penalty at the breakdown from kick-off.
From there, Smith kicked to touch, and England went over for the first try of the afternoon through Newcastle Falcons hooker Blamire, who dotted down from the back of a rolling maul.
While England got off to a flying start, Canada managed to keep themselves in their opponents’ half early on.
And their patience was rewarded when scrum-half Ross Braude touched down from close after a quick tap penalty to level the scores at 7-7 on nine minutes.
However, Canada’s try seemed to awaken something in England, sending the hosts into a try scoring frenzy.
The hosts were awarded a penalty try after Reegan O’Gorman brought down a rolling maul on 12 minutes.
ENGLAND RUN RAMPANT
Then, just minutes later, debutant Radwan raced through the Canadian defence out wide to go over under the sticks to hand England their third try.
Bath flyer Joe Cokanasiga then got in on the act with a score of his own following some good work by prop Ellis Genge to get England moving.
And then like London buses, Cokanasiga had his second and England’s fifth, after the winger powered through Nelson on the wing to touch down.
England’s machine-like approach was slightly halted by the sin binning of captain Lewis Ludlow on 29 minutes after he struck Jake Ilnicki in the head with his knee.
Canada capitalised on being up a man when Kainoa Lloyd finished some patient phases of play for their second try – 35-14.
But with Ludlow back from the bin, England finished the first half the same way they started it, with Blamire going over for his second of the day.
FALCONS DUO BOTH SCORE HAT-TRICKS
After the break, England continued to run rampant, with Genge and Radwan going over within the first ten minutes of the second half for Jones’ charges.
And with Smith seemingly unable to miss with the boot, England’s lead ballooned further when Blamire went over for his hat-trick – leaving the Falcons man with four tries from his first two caps.
However, debutant Radwan was not going to be out done by his Falcons teammate.
The flying winger managed to secure a hat trick of his own by racing over from 60 metres, with Smith adding the extras to give England a 70-14 lead with 20 minutes left.
But perhaps the biggest news of the afternoon was Smith’s call-up to the Lions tour of South Africa mid-action, with the Harlequins star being ushered down the tunnel to hear the news after he converted Radwan’s third.
And the call up caps an incredible few weeks for Smith, who helped Harlequins to Premiership glory just two weeks ago, before making his England debut last weekend against the USA.
WHAT THEY SAID
“I still can’t believe it, I’m still shaking here – it’s amazing,” said Smith.
“It’s been a brilliant last couple of weeks. I couldn’t have done it without my family who were here in the crowd and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates here at Quins…even Joe [Marler].
“I don’t think it’ll sink in till I get back from the Lions tour.
“I think it’ll be special, it’s a dream come true.”
