TOTAL WIPEOUT
Ruthless Auld Enemy run in eight tries as Scots fail to fire in front of record crowd
SCOTLAND were thrashed by England in poor conditions in front of a record crowd in Edinburgh yesterday, despite the Auld Enemy playing with 14 for half the match and having two tries disallowed.
After improved performances in the first two rounds of this year’s Six Nations against Wales and France, this hammering by the English serves as a reminder that, for all the talk of Scotland’s improvements since they went fully professional in 2022, they are still a mile off the world’s best.
The scoreline reads marginally better than last year’s 58-7 defeat. But the fact England scored eight tries in foul conditions and played without hooker Amy Cokayne for most of the game — yellow-carded in the 29th minute, then sent off in the 54th — was chastening for Scotland head coach Bryan Easson.
‘It’s disappointing, it was a difficult day at the office,’ he said. ‘That is not a performance that we are proud of… we didn’t really fire a shot.
‘One of the most disappointing things today was that we didn’t put on a performance that the crowd deserved.’
It was hoped that Scotland’s attack might improve after just one try against France, but the Scots never threatened the English tryline. And for all Scotland’s defence was heroic in defeat in the last round, here they fell off 40 tackles and were lucky to keep England below 50 points.
The first half was played under heavy rain with a strong wind behind the Scots. But they failed to take advantage as England got their first try after just six minutes through Cokayne, who burst through three would-be tacklers to cross from close range.
England were undeterred by the conditions, playing with variety and width. And a superb offload from openside flanker Sadia Kabeya sent right winger Abby Dow over in the 12th minute.
Jess Breach looked to have scored England’s third try in the 25th minute, but her effort was ruled out after the TMO flagged a knock-on by outside centre Megan Jones in the build-up. Moments later, England had another try disallowed and Cokayne received her first of two yellow cards.
After a lengthy TMO review, prop Maud Muir’s ‘try’ was chalked off and Cokayne was sent to the bin for lifting Scotland No 8 Evie Gallagher beyond the horizontal in a clear-out just before Muir touched down.
It didn’t take long for England to get their third and final try of the half, though. A moment of footballing brilliance saw fly-half Aitchison grubber through, before outside centre Jones kicked the ball back inside to the onrushing Ellie Kildunne, who dotted down. Aitchison converted for 17-0.
England secured the bonus-point just four minutes into the second half with flanker Kabeya touching down after a powerful midfield scrum sent the Scots backwards.
England added their fifth try seven minutes later, a flowing backline move leaving the Scots flatfooted and unable to stop Breach crossing. Dow’s final pass to Breach looked to have drifted forward but the TMO didn’t check.
Cokayne was then given her marching orders after she slammed her shoulder into the head of Lana Skeldon. But Scotland again failed to take advantage, with Helen Nelson’s aimless clearance kick gifting Breach a counterattack against a tiring defence. Breach danced round four flailing defenders before stepping Nelson to score again.
Breach then turned provider in the 65th minute as she sent player of the match Kildunne over for her second try on the game. The visitors added their eighth not long after as England’s regular captain Marlie Packer, dropped to the bench for a rest, crashed over. Replacement Zoe Harrison converted to leave the final score 46-0.
Scotland will need to dust themselves off as they travel to Parma next Saturday to face Italy.
Easson recognised how poor his side’s performance was but insisted they’re still on the right track.
‘We’ll draw a line under that one and learn from it,’ he said. ‘We’ll regroup and set our sights on Italy. We know we are better than today. We put in two good performances against Wales and France, so we are going in the right direction.’