British Lionesses 20

USA Eagles 10

Fleet-footed Sue Day grabbed a hat-trick as the British Lionesses roared to victory over their American rivals at National Sports Centre yesterday.

It was a thoroughly deserved triumph for the British contingent who, along with the US team, showcased the women's game for an appreciative crowd at the World Rugby Classic.

The Lionesses made the breakthrough in the 12th minute, Day going in at the right hand corner after a period of running pressure interspersed with penalties.

But ten minutes later they were pegged back when Erina Queen evaded defenders to cross the try line.

Five minutes after the break the Lionesses were back in the lead when Day surged down the right wing to make the score 10-5.

But if they thought they had broken the Eagles' backs they were wrong as Queen again drew the sides level.

But the battle of the try scorers went to Day when she grabbed her third in the 57th minute, using her pace to outsprint a desperate tackle before crossing over.

With the clock ticking down the Lionesses made the game safe with arguably the best try of the match, Paula George using all of her strapping frame to break free of the defence before sprinting for the line and diving full length for the score.

British hero Day said she was pleased with her try-count but said it was not a one woman show.

"When a winger scores it's always because the other 14 people inside have done their job," she said. "They made the space for me and I finished them off."

Day felt the game had not flowed as smoothly as either team would have liked.

"We would have loved to have put on a better show really," she said. "It was a bit scrappy and the wind was really taking the ball away from you when you were trying to handle it."

Despite that she felt the game had played its part in the development of the women's game worldwide.

"To be able to bring rugby somewhere like this when there is a lot of people who play rugby and love rugby is great for the game," she said. "Hopefully, we can do more in the future and maybe even expand the tournament. I don't think the boys will complain . . ."