Abendanon inspires England triumph (From Halstead Gazette)

Abendanon inspires England triumph

8:50pm Tuesday 19th June 2012 in National Sport © Press Association 2013

Nick Abendanon scored a first-half hat-trick as England ran in eight tries to claim a hard-fought 57-31 win in their tour match against the Northern Barbarians.

The tourists may eventually have won by a convincing margin at Profert Olen Park but were given a tough workout by a South African scratch side who scored four tries themselves through Joubert Engelbrecht, Shaun Venter (2) and Deon Scholtz with JC Roos kicking over four conversions and one penalty

Jonny May also touched down twice for the tourists but their evening was soured by a serious-looking injury to wing Ugo Monye. Monye did not get up after attempting to tackle Barbarians scrum-half Venter in the 27th minute and was carried off on a stretcher after lengthy treatment.

England also touched down through Ben Morgan and Anthony Allen while they also benefited from a penalty try and Charlie Hodgson scored 17 points.