England send another Women’s Six Nations message with Scotland demolition

Scotland 0-46 England: The Red Roses stayed perfect with a dominant victory in Edinburgh depite another red card

England ran in eight tries during the comprehensive victory (Steve Welsh/PA Wire)

England sent a reminder of just how far ahead the rest of the Women’s Six Nations sides they are, after running in eight tries to thrash Scotland 46-0 in front of a record crowd at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh.

Scotland stunningly beat Wales away from home in the opening round and pushed France close in a 15-5 loss last time out but were blown away by a rampant England.

The Red Roses built on a fast start from tries through Amy Cokayne, who was later sent off, and Abby Dow to comfortably record a third straight tournament victory, stretching their overall winning run to 27 Six Nations matches.

Hooker Cokayne opened the scoring after six minutes when she took a pass from scrum half Mo Hunt to step inside and break clear.

Sadia Kabeya then provided the final pass to unleash Dow into the corner, before Scotland saw a try from Maud Muir chalked off on review because of a dangerous ruck clear out from Cokayne, who was shown a yellow card and sent to the sin bin.

England scored again before the break after centre Meg Jones kicked infield for Ellie Kildunne to scoop the ball over the line, with Holly Aitchison adding the conversion to see England into half-time with a healthy 17-0 lead.

Hannah Botterman drives forward for England yesterday (Reuters)

Kabeya dived over to add a bonus-point try three minutes into the second half before Jess Breach took a pass from Dow to canter off into the corner to further press home England’s advantage.

In the 54th minute, Cokayne was shown her second yellow card of the match following a high tackle on Scotland hooker Lana Skeldon, and was sent off.

Despite the player disadvantage, England continued their momentum as Breach touched down again before Kildunne added her second after 65 minutes, going over in the corner for her sixth try of the tournament.

Squad captain Marlie Packer came off the bench to power over and claim England’s eighth try, which Zoe Harrison converted to round off another comprehensive victory for the defending champions.

Marlie Packer came off the bench to score England’s eighth try (Reuters)

“It was a sticky game, the weather didn’t help. We adapted to the conditions and put a good amount of points on another good team so we have to be happy with that,” said player of the match Ellie Kildunne after the win.

“I feel today was a team performance, we got the space on the edge because of the girls working in the middle. Hats off to the team. We speak about confidence and taking the handbrake off, and each game we try to do that a little more. Each game we unlock a new strength or strategy and now we build for the big ones at the end.”

Scotland head coach Bryan Easson had nothing but praise for his opponents, although he insisted his young team would learn lessons from the defeat.

“England were outstanding,” admitted Easson. “Once you give them ball on the front foot they will put you under pressure. We didn’t really fire a shot and I’m disappointed with that. England are very physical, and it’s very hard to stop them once that happens – their ruck speed is amazing.

“The first two weeks have been very good but we will draw a line under this and learn from it. Today was poor – it wasn’t us. We put in good performances against Wales and France but we let England off the hook.”