WORCESTER Rugby Club's Nicky Crawford boosted England's World Cup hopes with a try in a 13-5 win over Spain in the second round.

The Sixways winger touched down in the second- half to seal a semi-final spot against Canada tomorrow. Crawford, however, was critical of the team's performance.

"It was quite frustrating at times," she said. "We feel we didn't really play to our potential. Hopefully we're going to click very, very soon. But we tried out best, we took it to them and although sometimes we missed our opportunities, thank goodness we scored on those occasions we had to and were therefore able to win."

New Zealand will face France in the other semi-final while England will play Canada at the Estadi de Palau in the picturesque mountain town of Girona.

Meanwhile, North Midlands missed out on a place in the final of the Tetley's County Championship Shield when they were edged out 10-8 by Berkshire in their semi-final. They now have to travel to play Surrey at Esher on Saturday for a play-off promotion.