UK Edition
Emphatic win for 14-player England a damning indictment of quality of Women’s Six Nations
Scotland Women 0 England Women 46
Another day, another emphatic victory for England, who overcame Amy Cokayne’s second-half red card to make it three wins from three in the Women’s Six Nations with an eight-try dismantling of Scotland.
The brutal reality is that the Red Roses, who set about ripping up what green shoots Bryan Easson’s side have carefully laid down during this campaign to shreds, could have played the entirety of this match with 14 women on the pitch and still reached a half-century of points. Such was their slick offloading and sheer physical dominance that Cokayne’s absence was barely felt. The hooker’s premature exit, which came when England were five tries to the good after head-on-head contact with Lana Skeldon earned her a second yellow card, was the only blot of the afternoon on England’s copybook.
John Mitchell’s side had been wary of the hosts harnessing the energy of a sold-out crowd at the Hive Stadium, which Cokayne, on an eventful afternoon for the Leicester Tigers front row, silenced inside the first 10 minutes. Marking her comeback after a year away from the international scene following a long-term calf injury, she punched her way over the whitewash, setting the tone for what would be a fruitful afternoon for the visitors.
At times it looked like she had never been away, although her rustiness was perhaps telling when she twice fell foul of Clara Munarini’s whistle.
Her first offence involved a lifting tackle on Evie Gallagher, before shoving into Skeldon in the second half. With neither upgraded by the bunker system, Cokayne could be available for England’s final two matches against Ireland and France. This was England’s second red card in three games, after Sarah Beckett was sent off for her crocodile roll in their opening round match against Italy, although Lou Meadows, England’s attack coach, brushed off concerns about her side’s discipline.
“It happens because we’re playing with such ambition,” she told the BBC. “We’re trying to retain and protect the ball. That involves bravery and a level of risk, and sometimes we’re not as disciplined in the risk-taking side of it. We’re not worried about it. I’m proud of girls getting after it, we want them to get after the ball.”
Meadows, who has been widely credited for spearheading a new brand of rugby that has emboldened England’s attack, can have few complaints given the manner in which her personnel swept Scotland aside. Abby Dow’s score – and England’s second – took pride of place on the highlights reel. It was a well-worked team try that encapsulated everything about the Red Roses’ crisp, intricate passing game which sliced Scotland open and culminated in Sadia Kabeya fizzing a pass on the edge to the winger.
There was a certain irony in how, in a week where World Rugby announced it had begun trialling smaller balls in the women’s game, Meg Jones fumbled a pass that saw Jess Breach’s first-half score disallowed. Maud Muir also saw her try scratched off after Cokayne’s tip tackle on Gallager, but both were merely mini blips in the greasy conditions that eventually dried out.
Even if England are scaling new heights of their own, it is impossible to shrink off the feeling of deja vu. The Red Roses can only play what is in front of them but the lack of jeopardy in their opening three matches has been startling. That a 14-woman team effortlessly blasted past a Scotland side high on confidence is a damning indictment of the competitive black hole that is still hampering this competition.
Yet it would be unfair to punish England for their supreme excellence, which was best epitomised when centre Jones kicked the ball infield to aid a racing Ellie Kildunne to dot down for the first of her two tries, bringing her championship total to six on a day when the Red Roses’ back-line dazzled.
Breach, who struggled to hold down a place in this starting side not too long ago, also executed a sensational individual score. Gathering the ball from a poor Scotland exit, she gilded past a sea of navy blue to cross in the corner. “It ranks quite high up there,” Breach said afterwards. “It’s credit to the people behind me – I think Ellie was behind me – and she was like, ‘Have a go.’ It’s really important as a team to back each other.”
And that is why this imperious Red Roses team is so good. If they are to continue on this trajectory, they will be unstoppable.
Match details
Scoring sequence: 0-5 Cokayne try, 0-10 Dow try, 0-15 Kildunne try, 0-17, Aitchison con, 0-22 Kabeya try, 0-24 Aitchison con, 0-29 Breach try, 0-34 Breach try, 0-39 Kildunne try, 0-44 M Packer try, 0-46 Aitchison con
Scotland Women: C Rollie; R Lloyd, E Orr, M Smith (L Thomson 41), C Grant (F McGhie 32); H Nelson, C Mattinson (M Mcdonald 56); L Bartlett (M Wright 53), L Skeldon (E Martin 59), C Belisle (E Clarke 53), F McIntosh (E Donaldson 50), L McMillan, R Malcolm, A Stewart (R McLachlan 56), E Gallagher
England Women: E Kildunne; A Dow, M Jones (S Gregson 72), T Heard (Z Harrison 65), J Breach; H Aitchison, N Hunt (L Packer 65); H Botterman (M Carson 56), A Cokayne, M Muir (K Clifford 56), R Galligan (C Powell 56), A Ward, Z Aldcroft, S Kabeya (M Packer 59), A Matthews (M Feaunati 59)
Sent off: Cokayne
Referee: Clara Munarini
Attendance: 7,774
Scotland v England: As it happened
Scotland manager Brian Easson disappointed
“I thought England were outstanding.
“Once you give them ball on the front foot they are going to put you under pressure.
“We didn’t really fire a shot … and we’re disappointed with that.
“It’s difficult for both teams … they got on the front foot, and it’s difficult to stop them.
“Today was poor. Today wasn’t us. We are going in the right direction. There are glimpses in there that we’ve got some good things in us.
“We’ll draw a line under that one...We’ll learn a lot from that.
“The lineout’s been frustrating... second half, when we threw to the front, we got some decent ball...but by then the game was gone.”
Natasha Hunt says England have more to give
“We’re getting there…there is more in there that we want to go after.
“Playing with a pack like that, that give you that go-forward, is anyone’s dream really.
“In the week it’s tough because we go at each other so hard, but it makes things easier when it comes to the games.
“We want to be offensive in our defence.”
Ellie Kildunne speaking after the final whistle
“I think it was quite a sticky game. The weather didn’t help.
“We all got soaked during the anthems but we adapted to the conditions. There’s a lot to work on, but to put eight tries on a very good team, we’ve got to be proud of ourselves.
“It was a team performance. We [the backs] got space on the edge only because of the girls working in the middle.
“We speak about confidence, we speak about taking the handbrake off … each game we seem to discover a new strategy, and we’re building for the big ones at the end.”
60 mins: Scotland 0 England 34
It’s been the best of times and worst of times for Amy Cokayne, scorer of England’s first but is the recipient of England’s second red card in this championship, after Sarah Beckett was saw red in the Red Roses’ opener against Italy. The hooker can have no complaints there - she doesn’t dip enough as she rips the ball from Skeldon. Scotland will play out the remainder of this fixture with a one-woman advantage and they need to make it count.
54 mins: RED CARD! Scotland 0 England 29
Emma Orr manages to hold England up as Cocayne powers through in search of Try No 6. But there’s a TMO involvement here and it’s a (second) yellow for England hooker Cocayne. It’s gone to bunker review, but the shoulder hit seems marginal surely? Anyway the Red Roses are down to 14 now.
52 mins: TRY! Scotland 0 England 29 (Breach)
That’s quality! A fifth try as England go wide and fast. Winger Breach wraps around from her right wing to pop up on the left and take the pass in her stride to cross for the best try of the afternoon.
Half-time verdict
It’s been pretty one-way traffic. England have continued where they left off and Scotland haven’t really had a sniff. That said, it’s been far from a perfect performance from the visitors, who have let their handling error count creep up. The conditions haven’t exactly helped, but it has been drying out here a while now. Their silky offloading game has been out in force and Alex Matthews and Hannah Botterman have been continually bulldozing their way through Scotland’s line. They’ll be disappointed with these two disallowed scores but Cokayne’s absence has barely been noticed.
32 mins: Scotland 0 England 10
Scotland have been unable to get a foothold in this game so far. They’ve barely been in England’s 22. They showed so much promise against France but haven’t been able to capitalize on mini momentum swings against the Red Roses. After Amy Cokayne’s yellow card they really do need to make that extra woman count. Nice to see Muir step up a England’s designated line-out thrower.. she can play across the front three.
22 mins: Scotland 0 England 10
Scotland break from the scrum and put together a dangerous move but its quickly thwarted by England who go on their own attack led by Botterman. She kicks it into touch. Moments later Rollie puts the after burners on after a mishandle from Kabeya but it is pulled back.
World class Botterman!
We keep on mentioning how much attacking flair England have added to their game and it was on show for Dow’s try there. Hannah Botterman has made two storming carries into Scotland’s 22 which has set the platform for both of the visitors’ tries so far. She really is developing into a world class loosehead.
TRY! 12 mins: Scotland 0 England 10 (Dow)
Brilliant England move finished off by Abby Dow in the corner. Almost every England player touched the ball before Dow scored the try. Kabeya gave the final pass right into the hands of Dow who was happy to contribute.
Cokayne no stranger to crossing the whitewash
Amy Cokayne - scorer of a hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final - is no stranger to crossing the whitewash. After such a long time away from the international scene, she’ll be thrilled with that, although kudos to Mo Hunt who resisted being pushed into touch as Scotland scrambled to keep England out there.
TRY! 7 mins: Scotland 0 England 5 (Cokayne)
Hunt passes to Amy Cokayne who uses her power and strength to place the ball over the line for the first try of the game. Aitchison misses the conversion as the wind takes it left and wide of ther posts.
Late change for Scotland
England are heavy favourites today but then again, they always are. This is a huge game for Scotland, who have come on leaps and bounds over the past year and came close to pushing France all the way a fortnight ago. They’ll be looking to harness the energy of a sold out Hive Stadium, where a crowd of 7,774 is expected here today.
There’s been a late change for the hosts - Emma Wassell has dropped out - we assume because of injury or illness but the SRU have not yet clarified - with Saracens second-row Fi McIntosh now starting for her Test debut. Eva Donaldson comes onto the bench.
The Red Roses take on Scotland
Afternoon all and welcome to today’s live blog for the Women’s Six Nations clash between the might Red Roses and Scotland at Hive Stadium. Hunting for their sixth consecutive Six Nations, England will have their work cut out for them today against a Scotland side who are coming into the game in fine form. They opened their campaign with a first win on Welsh soil in 20 years, before pushing France all the way in Edinburgh in round two.
That said, previous meetings between the two haven’t gone down so well for the Scots. In their last six meetings England have put up 343 points to Scotland’s 30, scoring at least 43 points in each match. Safe to say this doesn’t bode well for the hosts. Hive Stadium is sold out for the fixture, the first time this has happened for a Scottish women’s rugby game.