England’s surge to another grand slam continued in Glasgow on Friday as they scored seven tries to overwhelm their opponents on another difficult night for the Scots. A much-changed side without their captain, Sarah Hunter, defeated Scotland for the 20th successive time.
Simon Middleton’s team took advantage of the power of their forwards but once again the 18-year-old Ellie Kildunne, England’s rising star who moved to full-back at the Scotstoun Stadium, caught the eye with another stunning try just before the interval. Katy Daley-Mclean, captain for the night, converted four of the tries and controlled the game in which Rochelle Clark came on for her 135th international appearance, a world record for a prop.
Lauren Cattell opened up the Scottish defence a little too easily to give Danielle Waterman the chance to cruise over by the posts and when the tight-head prop Sarah Bern crashed over for a second try six minutes later the evening began to look ominous for the Scots.
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Playing into the teeth of a stiff wind England were then blown off course when the No8 Jade Konkel powered over for a Scottish try before another mix-up in the home defence gave Charlotte Pearce the chance of a score in the corner.
England were forced to play the last 10 minutes of the first half with 14 women after their flanker Izzy Noel-Smith was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball under some heavy pressure from the Scottish pack. It made little difference as they ran the ball from inside their own 22 with a touchline run by Waterman and Kildunne finished off a brilliant counterattack to ensure a four-try bonus point.
After the break Pearce took Kildunne’s pass and took full advantage of some weak tackling to score her second try. Rowena Burnfield then followed her fellow flanker Noel-Smith to the sin-bin but the one-way traffic continued as Lagi Tuima, with a 40-metre run and dummy, scored a sixth try. Waterman glided over for her second with hardly a Scottish hand laid on her but was denied a hat-trick when she was dragged into touch with the last move of the game.
Hunter will be back to face France in Grenoble next month and the French will be wary of opponents who have scored 137 points in their three games in this tournament.
Round-up
Two tries from Claire Molloy propelled Ireland to a 35-12 bonus-point Six Nations win over Wales in Dublin. Leah Lyons, Sene Naoupu and Hannah Tyrell also crossed as Ireland dismissed the Welsh for their second straight win in the competition.
The hosts took a 14-0 lead into the break, only for Amy Evans and Sioned Harries to cross for Wales and cut the Irish lead to just two points. Ireland lost Lindsay Peat to a yellow card, but the undeterred home side pressed on, with Naoupu’s try effectively making the win safe.
Tyrell’s try and a late second for Molloy ensured Ireland built on their 21-8 win over Italy, with clashes against Scotland and England ahead.
On Saturday, France beat Italy 57-0 in Corsica to keep pace with England at the top of the table. Jessy Trémoulière was the standout player, scoring 22 points, while Cyrielle Banet ran over for two first-half tries.