Roses make it two wins from two

  • +1

England Women made it two wins from two in the 2018 Six Nations as they secured a bonus-point 52-0 victory over Wales at the Twickenham Stoop.

England were ahead inside the opening 10 minutes when Poppy Cleall crossed following a succession of pick and drives by the forwards.

Abigail Dow crossed for England’s second, before some neat work at the base of the ruck put Leanne Riley over and Ellie Kildunne’s break through the middle saw Simon Middleton’s side secure a bonus-point score inside half an hour and it stayed that way until the break as England led 26-0.

Flanker Marlie Packer dotted down from a powerful driving maul for England’s fifth, before Katy Daly-Mclean’s perfectly weighted grubber was pounced on by Rachael Burford.

Cleall’s second was England’s seventh try of the afternoon as they managed to continue their attacking momentum despite the worsening conditions towards the end of the game. Kildunne finished the game to score her second try of the match.

England Women head coach Simon Middleton today said: “I couldn’t be happier with the outcome of the game, to score over 50 points was terrific. I was pleased with the defence in particular, it is a focus area we want to ramp up, we talked about it during the week and today we were a lot more physical, than we were against Italy.”

Middleton added: “We set our stall out at the beginning of the tournament, we want to win the Six Nations and we want to do it with good performances. Our forwards were terrific today, not perfect, but they’ll know that and that’s what drives them. We have an unbelievably young back line in terms of age and in terms of experience and they’ll grow and learn from today. Overall I’m happy with where we are positioned at the moment and knowing also that we still have plenty to work on as a squad.”

The Red Roses are next in action on Friday 23 February when they travel to Glasgow to face Scotland, KO 7:30pm (live Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports Arena).

England Women match-day 23 v Wales, Six Nations 2018

15. Danielle Waterman (Wasps FC Ladies, 79 caps)
14. Abigail Dow (Wasps FC Ladies, 4 caps)
13. Ellie Kildunne (Gloucester- Hartpury Women, 5 caps)
12. Rachael Burford (Harlequins Ladies, 77 caps)
11. Charlotte Pearce (Loughborough Lightning, 2 cap)
10. Katy Daley-Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, 96 caps)
9. Leanne Riley (Harlequins Ladies, 18 caps)

1. Rochelle Clark (Wasps FC Ladies, 134 caps)
2. Amy Cokayne ( Wasps FC Ladies, 38 caps)
3. Sarah Bern (Gloucester Hartpury, 17 caps)
4. Abbie Scott (Harlequins Ladies, 26 caps)
5. Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, 113 caps)
6. Poppy Cleall (Saracens Women, 18 caps)
7. Marlie Packer (Saracens Women, 56 caps)
8. Sarah Hunter © (Loughborough Lightning, 103 caps)

16. Lark Davis (Worcester Valkyries, 9 caps)
17. Vicky Cornborough (Harlequins Ladies, 36 caps)
18. Justine Lucas (Wasps FC Ladies, 30 caps)
19. Rowena Burnfield (Richmond FC, 44 caps)
20. Izzy Noel-Smith (Bristol Ladies, 40 caps)
21. Caity Mattinson (Bristol Ladies, 5 caps)
22. Lauren Cattell (Saracens Women, 22 caps)
23. Lagi Tuima (Bristol Ladies, 3 caps)

England Women Six Nations 2018 playing schedule:

Italy 7 – 42 England
Tries: Bern, Cleall, Hunter (3), Kildunne, Dow
Cons: Daley- Mclean (2)
Pens: Daley-Mclean

England 52 – 0 Wales
Tries:Cleall (2), Dow, Riley, Kildunne (2), Burford, Packer
Cons: Daley-Mclean (6)

Scotland v England
Friday 23 February, KO 19:30, Live Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports Arena via red button
Scotstoun, Glasgow

France v England
Saturday 10 March, KO 20:00 GMT, Live Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports Mix
Stade des Alpes, Grenoble

England v Ireland
Friday 16 March, KO 17:30, Live Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports Mix
Ricoh Arena, Coventry

Report courtesy of the RFU