20 points for England’s Miller

Last updated 11:41, Wednesday, 11 June 2008

CUMBRIAN star Robert Miller scored 20 points as England overwhelmed Canada 60-18 at Rodney Parade, Newport in the Junior World Championship.

Ben Youngs, the Leicester Tigers scrum half marked his first start of the campaign with two of the nine well-worked tries – two more than they scored against Fiji in the Pool C opener.

Jon Fisher (London Irish) opened the scoring with Matthew Cox (Worcester), Mark Odejobi (London Wasps), Miller (Newcastle Falcons), Luke Eves (Bristol) and captain Hugo Ellis (London Wasps) also touching down.

In terms of raw numbers, England surpassed their performance in the first half of the opening game against Fiji. This time they scored seven tries – five of them in the last 12 minutes of the half – against a poorly organised defence.

England laboured through the opening quarter, relying on the superior sharpness of their support play and finishing rather than blowing Canada apart up front.

Fisher was first over the line after Charlie Sharples’ long break down the left and cut infield, then Cox was perfectly placed behind Miller to add a second, the fly half converting both and adding a penalty to put his side 17-0 clear in as many minutes.