England 69 Ireland 0

Despite falling to a heavy Six Nations defeat at the hands of the world’s number one side, Ireland women’s head coach Greg McWilliams was able to find encouragement from his team’s first-half display against England at Welford Road on Sunday.

Coming into this game without six starters from their previous round triumph over Italy – due to a combination of Sevens commitments and injury – the visitors produced an impressive defensive effort to only trail by 10 points at the midway stage of the contest.

The sin-binning of Dorothy Wall and a red card issued to the returning Sene Naoupu meant Ireland subsequently spent a large chunk of the second period with just 14 players but even though England made hay to set-up a Grand Slam decider with France next weekend, McWilliams wasn’t feeling overly deflated by a tough final scoreline for his troops.

“I’ve been coaching now for the guts of 26 odd years and tactically, in terms of a group of players who stuck to task, that first half was pretty much how we wanted to go. It was really impressive, we stopped England playing, which is what we had to do to stay competitive,” McWilliams acknowledged.

“I think in the second half, if you’re down to 14 players against the likes of England for up to a 25 minute period, it makes it so hard. Because you’re relying on a group of players to get up and continuously go against size and against a team who is dominant.”

Playing in front of another record crowd of 15,836 at the Leicester venue, the Red Roses issued an immediate statement of intent when hooker Lark Davies registered a second-minute try off a line-out maul.

Ireland were showing plenty of resilience – with Neve Jones and Edel McMahon leading the charge – but a second England try inevitably arrived through tighthead prop Sarah Bern off another clinical set-piece move. The visitors looked set to open their account when they were awarded a close-range penalty at the end of a sustained period of possession, but Nicole Cronin’s miscued kick drifted harmlessly past the target.

To their credit, Ireland were continuing to dig in from a defensive point of view and frustrated their hotly-tipped opponents by winning a succession of turnover penalties.

Yet England were desperate to claim another bonus-point triumph ahead of a winner-takes-all showdown with France in Bayonne next Saturday and this fuelled their explosive start to the second period. From a sweeping attack right across the Irish line, flanker Marlie Packer sprinted over in the left corner on 42 minutes.

Wall was yellow carded moments later following a head high challenge on Jess Breach. In her temporary absence, Davies, winger Lydia Thompson and replacement Poppy Cleall added further five-pointers to place the outcome well beyond doubt.

England’s lineout maul had been a devastatingly effective weapon for them throughout the action and back-up front row Hannah Botterman got over for their fifth set-piece finish in the 61st minute. An injury to Eimear Considine meant Niamh Byrne did get a chance to share an international debut appearance with her Railway Union club-mate Molly Scuffil-McCabe, but it was a very difficult baptism of fire for both players.

Additional English tries from Cleall and Ellie Kildunne preceded Naoupu’s dismissal for a high tackle on Emily Scarratt, who had contributed 10 points from the kicking tee. The hosts once again utilised their numerical advantage as Kildunne and Thompson joined Davies and Cleall in grabbing a brace of touchdowns to cap a ruthless display.

Scorers – England: L Davies, P Cleall, E Kildunne, L Thompson 2 tries, S Bern, M Packer, H Botterman try each, E Scarratt 5 cons, Z Harrison 2 cons.

England: H Rowland; L Thompson, E Scarratt, H Aitchison, J Breach; Z Harrison, L Infante; V Cornborough, L Davies, S Bern; Z Aldcroft, A Ward; A Matthews, M Packer, S Hunter. Replacements: E Kildunne for Breach, 45 mins; A Cokayne for Davies, H Botterman for Cornborough, M Muir for Bern, all 46 mins; P Cleall for Hunter, 48 mins; R Galligan for Ward, 57 mins; N Hunt for Infante, A Reed for Aitchison both 60 mins; Aitchison for Scarratt, 68 mins.

Ireland: M Scuffil-McCabe; A Doyle, S Naoupu, E Breen, E Considine; N Cronin, K Dane; L Djougang, N Jones, C Haney; N Fryday, A McDermott; D Wall, E McMahon, H O’Connor. Replacements: M Claffey for Cronin, 30 mins; K O’Dwyer for Haney, 44 mins; G Moore for McDermott, 51 mins; N Byrne for Considine, 64 mins; E Hooban for Jones, C Pearse for Djougang, A Reilly for Dane, M Óg O’Leary for Wall, all 74 mins.

Referee: A McLachlan (Australia).