![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3600.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe fortress walls of Murrayfield were finally at Scotland women\u2019s disposal for their first standalone game but England rocked its foundations with a statement performance where fans were left questioning if the world champions had injury problems at all.<\/p>\n
The 30,498 crowd was a record attendance for a women\u2019s solo sporting event in Scotland but they were shocked into silence after the hosts failed to live up to the occasion. Scotland were poor, particularly in defence, as England ran riot, with 12 tries and scoring the most points they have against their old rivals since their 89-0 result back in 2011. If Scotland turn up in Italy next week in the same form, Fabio Roselli\u2019s team will be licking their lips.<\/p>\n
Scotland were their own worst enemy with 13 handling errors and a tackle completion rate of just 59%, meaning the hosts missed 52 tackles. But that does not take away from the outstanding England outing. On the face of things John Mitchell\u2019s team should be struggling on pitch with 13 of their Rugby World Cup-winning squad missing through retirement, injury or pregnancy but the Red Roses are proving the endless pool of talent they have.<\/p>\n
The latest player to be given a baptism in international rugby was the 19-year-old Bristol Bears back-row Demelza Short. The youngster, who was playing for England Under-18s just last year, won her debut at blindside flanker with Alex Matthews injured and the usual back-rower Abi Burton employed in the second row, with England\u2019s unavailability list including four locks. Short had a solid game but there was another forward who shone, with Maddie Feaunati player of the match. The back-rower was key in Ellie Kildunne\u2019s opening try with a great line break. She also came up with a maul turnover and was the physical punch the Red Roses needed at times to launch attacks.<\/p>\n
England celebrate as Kelsey Clifford scores their fourth try. Photograph: Russell Cheyne\/Reuters<\/p>\n
Scotland were a shambles in defence and failed to capitalise on the front-foot ball they created but an area they were able to disrupt their opponents was at the scrum. The set piece was a positive element to the hosts\u2019 game, with multiple scrum penalties won, particularly in the first half.<\/p>\n
This was the first home game for Scotland\u2019s new head coach, Sione Fukofuka, and he was left in no doubt as to the gap he has to try to bridge, with Scotland conceding more than double the points than they did the last time the two teams met, in September\u2019s World Cup quarter-final. The Scotland captain, Rachel Malcolm, said: \u201cYou never want to see a scoreline like that. We need to dust ourselves off pretty quickly. We showed them too much respect and, at times, defensively, we were naive and let them come at us too much.<\/p>\n
Rhona Lloyd of Scotland escapes to score their only try. Photograph: Richard Lee\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
\u201cBut today was about so much more than just the game. For those who have been around for 10 years plus, we have come from a couple of hundred people in the stands [to today]. The reception was phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nothing will take away from what the team achieved off the pitch with a huge crowd. The anthem highlighted what it meant to the players, with Malcolm peeking over her shoulder to look at the piper on the roof.<\/p>\n
Quick GuideRoundup: France keep up 100% record against WalesShow<\/p>\n
France, England\u2019s main rivals for the title, continued their strong start to the campaign, scoring six tries in a 38-7 triumph over Wales in Cardiff, despite the hosts taking the lead.<\/p>\n
The influential scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus (pictured) claimed the bonus point for Les Bleues on the hour mark, having been one of two France players to be sent to the sin-bin in the first half.<\/p>\n
Wales went ahead against Les Bleus thanks to a 15th-minute penalty try following a lineout against 14 players, with Bourdon Sansus dispatched for its concession. But\u00a0France hit back through Madoussou Fall Raclot\u2019s try, converted by Carla Arbez, to leave the contest level at 7-7 going into half-time.<\/p>\n
Scores from Manae Feleu, Lea Murie and Bourdon Sansus secured the bonus point for the visitors before the hour mark. The\u00a0Wales lock Gwen Crabb was was sent to the sin-bin for head-on-head contact after the first of those three tries before Ana\u00efs Grando crossed twice in the closing stages to complete France\u2019s resounding comeback victory.<\/p>\n
“We know it\u2019s not enough,” France’s head coach, Fran\u00e7ois Ratier, said of a second slow start, after being only 5-0 up against Italy at half-time in week one. “It\u2019s a real challenge for us to start games on the right footing.”<\/p>\n
Ireland scored nine tries to thrash Italy 57-20 in their Women\u2019s Six Nations clash as Beibhinn Parsons ran in a first-half hat-trick in Galway. Ireland responded from an opening defeat to England with a dominant display, chalking up seven tries during a rampant first half at the Dexcom Stadium to open up a 45-10 lead.<\/p>\n
The scrum-half Emily Lane set the tone with a try after six minutes, with Aoife Wafer, Robyn O\u2019Connor on her debut and Ellena Perry also going over around Parsons\u2019 treble.<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s first-half tries came from Vittoria Vecchini and a fine breakaway score from the full-back Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi.<\/p>\n
Ireland further extended their advantage in the second half with tries from Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Brittany Hogan, with Italy \u2013 who remain bottom of the table \u2013 at least managing to salvage a bonus point as Veronica Madia and Alyssa D\u2019Inca also touched down.AFP and PA<\/p>\n
Photograph: Ben Brain\/Shutterstock Editorial<\/p>\n
Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n
When the action got under way England scored five first-half tries, the best of the bunch seeing Kildunne dot down after Feaunati\u2019s break. Kildunne\u2019s second was her 50th for her country.<\/p>\n
Scotland got on the board through Rhona Lloyd\u2019s effort, converted by Helen Nelson, but they proved the only points of the game for the hosts, with the visitors adding a further seven scores in the second 40. Sarah Bern scored two of the tries to add to the two she scored last week against Ireland.<\/p>\n
Sarah Bern smiles after touching down her second try and her team\u2019s eighth. Photograph: Molly Darlington\/RFU\/The RFU Collection\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
If Wales were thinking England might take their foot off of the gas against them in the next round after such a big win they would be mistaken, according to Mitchell. \u201cIt is very unlikely I will ever get complacent,\u201d the head coach said. \u201c\u201cI am probably at my worst when we win because I drive to try to raise the floor even more. We are clearly very fortunate to have great depth, which has been extremely tested.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quick GuideScotland v England: teams and scorersShow<\/p>\n
Scotland\u00a0Rollie; Lloyd (Darroch 62), Wills (Scott, 44), Smith, Campbell (McGhie 48); Nelson, Brebner-Holden; Bartlett (Swann 58), Skeldon (Martin 61), Clarke (Poolman 58), Wassell, Cunningham (Bogan 48), Malcolm, Stewart (McLachlan 48), Coubrough.\u00a0Try\u00a0Lloyd. Con\u00a0Nelson.<\/p>\n
England\u00a0Sing, Breach, Rowland (Aitchison 62), Jones, Kildunne (Venner 62); Harrison, L Packer (Robinson 64); Clifford (Carson 52), Cokayne (Powell 52), Muir (Bern 52), Burton, Campion (Lutui 58), Short (M Packer 58), Kabeya, Feaunati.\u00a0Tries\u00a0Kildunne (2), Jones, Clifford, Sing, Cokayne, Bern (2), M Packer, Kabeya, Venner. Cons\u00a0Harrison (11).<\/p>\n
Referee\u00a0Zoe Naude (SA).\u00a0Attendance\u00a030,498.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n
Scotland will have to recover from the hammering quickly for their trip to Italy next Saturday, while England will host Wales with general sale tickets all sold-out at Ashton Gate. Scotland will be a part of the next big milestone in this tournament when they travel to Dublin for the final round, with Ireland\u2019s first standalone game at the Aviva Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fortress walls of Murrayfield were finally at Scotland women\u2019s disposal for their first standalone game but England…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-615728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}