Women's Six Nations: Red Roses overpower Scotland

An insatiable performance from the Red Roses earned them an 84-7 victory over Scotland in front of a record women’s crowd at Murrayfield in Round 2 of the Guinness Women's Six Nations.

30, 498 supporters watched on as the world champions extended their winning streak to 35 matches, while Scotland proved unable to build on their narrow victory over Wales in Round 1. 

The first of England’s 12 tries came from Harlequins hero Ellie Kildunne when she touched down in the corner, relieving early pressure from the Scots.

Captain Meg Jones was next over, underlining an exemplary performance from the Trailfinders Women centre, who proved instrumental in many of England’s line breaks throughout the afternoon.

Kildunne scored once more to reach a half-century of international tries, before Kelsey Clifford and Emma Sing romped home before half-time. 

A stunning try from Sale Sharks’ Rhona Lloyd gave the crowd something to celebrate, but England always remained in control.

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A flurry of action beset Scotland’s tryline in the second half, spearheaded by Sarah Bern, who grabbed two tries for herself. She was joined on the scoresheet by fellow forwards Amy Cokayne, Marlie Packer, Sadia Kabeya, and Haineala Lutui.

Among the backs, Mia Venner darted through late on, but perhaps the day’s outstanding performance came from Saracen’s Zoe Harrison, who converted all twelve of her kicks in a truly astonishing display of accuracy across the pitch.

Speaking after her 50th cap, Maud Muir said: “I think we’re just confident within ourselves. We just want to be the best we can. We have so much still to work on, and we’re always hardest on ourselves.

“We have so much strength in depth. People are so flexible. Our team has changed so much within the last week and everyone gees each other up.”

Meanwhile, Ireland hit back after their opening day defeat to England by beating Italy 57-20, thanks to a first-half hat-trick from Beibhinn Parsons.

Aoife Wafer made the most of a driving lineout to get on the scoresheet, and she was soon joined by another PWR star in Gloucester-Hartpury prop Ellena Perry, who emulated her club’s success just before half-time, bulldozing her way through the Italian back line.

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Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Brittany Hogan also scored in the second half for the Irish to make it four PWR names on the scoresheet.

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand said: “We always want to win in Ireland regardless of who we play against.

"We have got to take stock of this performance and go to France next week.

“We're going to go after ourselves, there are some things to tidy up from today but if we get those bits right, we know we can put in a performance to compete with the French.”

In Cardiff, Wales fell to a 37-8 loss to France, but they did take the lead by pressuring the French into conceding a penalty try from a driving lineout.

Les Bleues needed a second-half flurry to get the job done and move to two wins from two alongside title rivals England.

Wales captain Kate Williams said: "It doesn't matter about size. If you're looking one-on-one, we can go toe-to-toe with grit and effort, but as a nation we need to be so much technically and tactically better [than their opponents]," she said.

"We're good at that in patches, but if we're not, you know, weight wins when you play the likes of France.

"We know that. We're not going to suddenly grow 20kg heavier, so that [technique and tactics] is where we are focusing our efforts and improving."

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