Wounded after an opening championship 18-6 defeat to France last week, Gary Street’s side overcame a heavy pitch and a buoyant Scotland side to command this win.
A good crowd of 1000 or so watched a victory now sets up England for a significant clash against reigning Grand Slam champions Ireland at Twickenham Stadium on February 22, kick off 6:20pm immediately after England Men take on Ireland.
England Head Coach Street said: “I’m pleased with the win overall. Scotland is a difficult place to come but some of our play today was fantastic including the play between our backs and forwards. We made mistakes too, and that is partly because I made lots of changes to the team, but we know if we can keep playing with that sort of intensity we can still be a threat in this championship.
“Certainly losing to France rallied us on this week. It was a painful result but we have made amends today to an extent with this comprehensive result. Now this victory sets up a big clash against Ireland in two weeks’ time. Our entire World Cup training squad has now had an opportunity to show what they can do so selection for Ireland will be interesting.”
England dominated from the first whistle with Wasps lock Joanne McGilchrist, returning from injury for the first time this season, driving over to score after much pressure on the Scotland try line. Skipper Katy Mclean couldn’t add the conversion in the blustery conditions.
Scotland showed spirit with Stephanie Johnson going close but she hit an England wall, and instead the visitors turned the momentum with Mclean making a good break in the mid-field, hooker Vicky Fleetwood then got the ball out to centre Amber Reed who scored with some ease.
Scotland had a chance at some points with a penalty but Louise Dalgliesh couldn’t convert and instead on 24 minutes Lydia Thompson scored. The winger broke loose and then dummied her way through Scotland’s defence. She was brought down but the ball was recycled eventually back out to Thompson once again and she finished off the move.
Wasps prop Claire Purdy banked try number four for England, and her first ever international try, before vice-captain Sarah Hunter also muscled her way over. Mclean converted both tries making the score 29-0 at half-time
Mclean opened England’s account after the break with a 49th minute try. Hannah Gallagher made a good break after Scotland were penalised before Purdy and then Mclean showed strength to barge her way over the try-line.
England tested Scotland further when they made a whole host of substitutions and it showed in some powerful scrums and drives which the host’s couldn’t handle. The results came with Emily Scarratt and Maggie Alphonsi both scoring from some good work by the forwards.
Claire Allan, Sophie Hemming and Gallagher then rounded off proceedings as Scotland no longer could cope with this much improved England side, making the final score 63-0.
For Scotland, Steph Johnson had a good match looking threatening whenever she had the ball in any space. Annabel Sergeant also had some great runs, and the Scots backline performed well with ball in hand throughout. They frustrated England at the start of both halves, defending well and coming up fast, allowing England little room.
Scotland have not scored a try against England since 2008, but at times that looked certain to change with England pinned on their tryline in the first half - but excellent England defence kept them out. Up front Ruth Slaven and Tess Forsberg also had a good game, and the forwards retained ball better than they had at Ashbourne, but they were overpowered at times, especially in the second half when England's replacement forwards came together and outmuscled the Scots pack.
In the end it was a game that - despite the score - both teams will come away with positives. Gary Street will have been pleased with the performance of his players, all of whom will be threatening very hard for places in squads both against Ireland and for the World Cup in August. Scotland - while well beaten - are on a upward curve and, if given more opportunities to play together, showed that they can improve and begin to catch up with the rest of the teams in the tournament. It'll be a long climb, but the ability and commitment is there.
England
15 Emily Scarratt (Lichfield), 14 Lydia Thompson (Worcester), 13 Amber Reed (Bristol), 12 Rachael Burford (Thurrock), 11 Claire Allan (Richmond), 10 Katy Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks) C, 9 La Toya Mason (Wasps), 1 Claire Purdy (Wasps), 2 Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield), 3 Laura Keates (Worcester), 4 Rebecca Essex (Richmond), 5 Joanne McGilchrist (Wasps), 6 Hannah Gallagher (Saracens), 7 Marlie Packer (Wasps), 8 Sarah Hunter (Lichfield) VC. Replacements: 16 Mercedes Foy (Thurrock), 17 Sophie Hemming (Bristol), 18 Sasha Acheson (Bristol), 19 Emily Braund (Lichfield), 20 Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens), 21 Georgina Gulliver (Lichfield), 22 Ceri Large (Worcester), 23 Kay Wilson (Bristol)
Tries: McGilchrist, Reed, Thompson, Purdy, Hunter, Mclean, Scarratt, Alphonsi, Allan, Hemming, Gallagher,
Conversions: Mclean (4)
Substitutions: Foy for Fleetwood, Large for Burford, Wilson for Thompson (all HT), Braund for Hunter, Alphonsi for Packer, Hemming for Keates, Acheson for Purdy, Gulliver for Toya (all 54)
Scotland:
15 Stephanie Johnston (Worcester), 14 Annabel Sergeant (Richmond), 13 Gillian Inglis (Melrose), 12 Laura Steven (Murrayfield Wanderers), 11 Megan Gaffney (Hillhead-Jordanhill), 10 Lisa Martin (Murrayfield Wanderers), 9 Louise Dalgliesh, (RHC Cougars) 1Heather Lockhart (Hillhead-Jordanhill), 2 Sarah Quick (Murrayfield Wanderers), 3 Tracy Balmer (Worcester) (c), 4 Jade Konkel (Hillhead-Jordanhill), 5 Deborah McCormack (Richmond), 6 Ruth Slaven (Murrayfield Wanderers), 7 Tess Forsberg (Richmond), 8 Lindsay Wheeler (Saracens). Replacements: 16 Nikki McLeod (Stirling County), 17 Lindsey Smith (Hillhead-Jordanhill), 18 Lisa Robertson (Murrayfield Wanderers), 19 Emma Wassel (Murrayfield Wanderers), 20 Anna Stodter (Loughborough University), 21 Sarah Law (Murrayfield Wanderers), 22 Tanya Griffith (RHC Cougars), 23 Katy Green (Darlington Mowden Park)
| P | W | D | L | F | A | PD | Tr | Pts | ||
| 1 |  Ireland |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 73 | 6 | 67 | 12 | 4 |
| 2 |  France |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 6 | 41 | 7 | 4 |
| 3 |  England |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 69 | 18 | 51 | 10 | 2 |
| 4 |  Italy |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 40 | -28 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 |  Wales |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 26 | -9 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 |  Scotland |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 122 | -122 | 0 | 0 |
