England Women 88 Ireland Women 10
This was a Twickenham training session for England, who delivered a ruthless performance at the home of English rugby with a 14-try thumping of Ireland. They will go to Bordeaux next week where only their French neighbours will be able to thwart their hopes of landing a sixth consecutive Six Nations title. Given the way this team is playing, that looks unlikely.
It seemed almost cruel that Ireland were facing the domineering Red Roses so soon after their ego-boosting win over Wales last week. They never had a chance to build on that momentum after being pulverised by an England outfit who looked even more dangerous than usual on the wide pitch in front of a 48,778-strong crowd.
You wonder whether the bumper attendances will keep coming if England are going to continually slaughter opposition with such ease. Yet John Mitchell, the head coach, was unequivocal in his belief that the Red Roses fanbase would only continue to swell.
“We’ve got a drive to fill the stadium on a consistent basis because we want to play here consistently,” said the New Zealander. “If we can continue to produce performances like that it won’t be too long before we do fill all the little green seats at the top.”
His side were undeniably energised by the attendance. While at times the atmosphere felt palpably flatter than the headline Grand Slam fixture against France last year, on the pitch England’s performance never waned.
They set about painting a tapestry on the hallowed Twickenham turf and barely dropped any stitches, their colourful attack creating hat-tricks for Abby Dow and Ellie Kildunne as well as two tries apiece for Jess Breach and Meg Jones as their phenomenal back-line reigned supreme.
Dow’s first two scores dovetailed a relentless first half that yielded half-a-dozen tries. The winger showed her innate strength to score near identical tries in the corner after shrugging off Lauren Delaney and Brittany Hogan. It was a microcosm of Ireland’s torrid defensive effort – the visitors missed 61 tackles compared to England’s six – but it was the manner in which the hosts went about carving open the floundering green machine that was most impressive.
Lark Atkin-Davies’ direct run to set up Dow’s opener was emulated by Natasha Hunt’s break moments later, a move which the scrum-half finished off herself as she sniped over the whitewash (Hunt enjoyed one of her sharpest performances in an England shirt). Soon after Meg Jones and Zoe Aldcroft finished under the posts. By the time Sophie Ellis-Bextor took centre stage with a half-time performance of ‘Murder on The Dancefloor’, it was 38-3. Not so subtle.
The manner in which England continued to carve open Ireland was further confirmation of how they have moved away from their maul-heavy game. Their forwards were in full flight, with Sadia Kabeya delivering a standout performance that saw her being deployed as an effective distributor in the outside channels. At 22-years-old, the blindside flanker has already singled herself out as a leader of this Red Roses side, having captained England at points throughout this campaign and shown her versatility by playing on both flanks. Few can match what she provides on both sides of the ball and her 48th-minute try – bulldozing her way over from close range – was no less than she deserved.
So too, was the speed at which the Red Roses recycled the ball from a lineout deep in the red zone in the build-up to Kildunne’s first. England’s lethal try-scoring machine, whose trio of scores brought her championship total up to nine, spent the entire afternoon snake-hipping her way through green shirts in a performance that illustrated why she can realise her ambition of becoming “the best player in the world”. In a sobering snapshot of her elusiveness, she made more than 190 metres before the break.
It is a mark of this superhuman England side that they showed no signs of wilting. Even as Mitchell unloaded his bench, his personnel continued blooming. When the excellent Tatyana Heard – whose deep angled offloads to Holly Aitchison outfoxed Ireland all game – made way for Emily Scarratt on the hour mark, the tempo ceased to drop. The veteran Red Roses centre engineered a sublime hack upfield that unleashed a racing Kildunne for her third.
A young Ireland side showed flashes of their improvement but were no match for England. This is a side in the throes of a rebuild, but their holy trinity of winger Katie Corrigan, flanker Aoife Wafer and fly-half O’Brien were dissolved by a wall of white. Having failed to register any points against England since 2019, O’Brian’s penalty and a second-half penalty try after the break, when Lucy Packer was penalised for bringing down a maul, were small wins. “Tough day at the office,” said Scott Bemand, who described his side as “shellshocked” at times against a side that has scored 242 points in their four championship matches.
You have to tip your hat to the Rugby Football Union for the way in which they have marketed another landmark occasion despite the fact England were hardly tested. “I’m sure some people will chat about the competitiveness,” said Mitchell. “At the end of the day, we drive ourselves. That’s all we can focus on.”
Match details
Scores: 5-0 Dow try, 10-0 Hunt try, 12-0 Aitchison con, 17-0 Jones try, 19-0 Aitchison con, 24-0 Aldcroft try, 26-0 Aitchison con, 26-3 O’Brian pen, 31-3 Kildunne try, 33-3 Aitchison con, 38-3 Dow try, 43-3 Breach try, 48-3 Kabeya try, 50-3 Aitchison con, 50-10 penalty try, 55-10 Breach try, 57-10 Aitchison con, 62-10 Dow try, 64-10 Aitchison con, 69-10 Kildunne try, 71-10 Aitchison con, 76-10 Breach try, 78-10 Aitchison con, 83-10 Kildunne try, 88-10 Feuanati try.
England: E Kildunne; A Dow, M Jones (S Gregson 67), T Heard (E Scarratt 60), J Breach; H Aitchison, N Hunt (L Packer 49); H Botterman (M Carson 45), L Atkin-Davies (C Powell 34), M Muir (K Clifford 49 (L Hanlon 75), M Talling (L Hanlon 75), Z Aldcroft, S Kabeya, M Packer (M Feaunati 58), A Matthews.
Yellow card: L Packer.
Ireland: L Delaney (M Deely 40); K Corrigan, E Higgins (E Breen 40), A Dalton, B Parsons; D O’Brien, A Reilly (M Scuffil-McCabe 59); L Djougang (S McGrath 59), N Jones (C Moloney 44), C Haney (N O’Dowd 48), D Wall, H O’Connor, A Wafer, E McMahon, B Hogan (S Ikahihifo 55).
Replacements not used: D Wall
Attendance: 48,778
Referee: A Groizeleau