ESHER, England - Canada's senior women's rugby team picked up their first win at the Nations Cup tournament on Tuesday, beating their American counterparts 15-0.

After a scoreless first half, Canada finally got on the board in the second frame with a penalty from Anna Schnell.

In the 75th minute, replacement centre Mandy Marchak was the benefactor of some hard work at a series of rucks inside the U.S. 22 metre line, finally picking up a loose ball and scampering across for the first try of the game. Julianne Zussman converted to give Canada a 10-0 lead.

Then deep in injury time Maria Gallo fielded a US clearance kick 40 metres from the line as the Edmonton native went in on clean heels to ice the game for Canada with the 15-0 win.

The victory gives Canada a 1-1 record heading into the final match of the tournament against England on Aug. 29. Canada opened the tournament with a 43-29 loss to England on Aug. 24.

Canadian coach Quentin Fyffe was pleased with the win. He said that the game plan worked well in the first half and then the adjustments that were made led to the tries in the second half.

"We knew the USA were going to be tough up front but in the second half we came over top of them," said Fyffe. "The first half we played to our plan and then made the adjustments for the win".

Team Captain Maria Gallo said the win over the U.S. was crucial to the team both for the tournament and the team psyche.

"We were a bit deflated after the England game," admitted Gallo. "We knew we had one opportunity to redeem ourselves. It was to beat the USA and not go home with two losses. We did that and we are really pleased".

Fyffe was especially pleased that he had gotten such a good result from essentially two totally different selections.

"If you look at the team we put out against England and the team that won tonight - there are a lot of changes," he said. "The key now is to find the balance in the performances and get the strongest possible side on the field to face England".