It is a mark of this superhuman England side that they showed no signs of wilting. Even as Mitchell unloaded his bench, his personnel continued blooming. When the excellent Tatyana Heard – whose deep angled offloads to Holly Aitchison outfoxed Ireland all game – made way for Emily Scarratt on the hour mark, the tempo ceased to drop. The veteran Red Roses centre engineered a sublime hack upfield that unleashed a racing Kildunne for her third.
A young Ireland side showed flashes of their improvement but were no match for England. This is a side in the throes of a rebuild, but their holy trinity of winger Katie Corrigan, flanker Aoife Wafer and fly-half O’Brien were dissolved by a wall of white. Having failed to register any points against England since 2019, O’Brian’s penalty and a second-half penalty try after the break, when Lucy Packer was penalised for bringing down a maul, were small wins. “Tough day at the office,” said Scott Bemand, who described his side as “shellshocked” at times against a side that has scored 242 points in their four championship matches.
You have to tip your hat to the Rugby Football Union for the way in which they have marketed another landmark occasion despite the fact England were hardly tested. “I’m sure some people will chat about the competitiveness,” said Mitchell. “At the end of the day, we drive ourselves. That’s all we can focus on.”
Match details
Scores: 5-0 Dow try, 10-0 Hunt try, 12-0 Aitchison con, 17-0 Jones try, 19-0 Aitchison con, 24-0 Aldcroft try, 26-0 Aitchison con, 26-3 O’Brian pen, 31-3 Kildunne try, 33-3 Aitchison con, 38-3 Dow try, 43-3 Breach try, 48-3 Kabeya try, 50-3 Aitchison con, 50-10 penalty try, 55-10 Breach try, 57-10 Aitchison con, 62-10 Dow try, 64-10 Aitchison con, 69-10 Kildunne try, 71-10 Aitchison con, 76-10 Breach try, 78-10 Aitchison con, 83-10 Kildunne try, 88-10 Feuanati try.
England: E Kildunne; A Dow, M Jones (S Gregson 67), T Heard (E Scarratt 60), J Breach; H Aitchison, N Hunt (L Packer 49); H Botterman (M Carson 45), L Atkin-Davies (C Powell 34), M Muir (K Clifford 49 (L Hanlon 75), M Talling (L Hanlon 75), Z Aldcroft, S Kabeya, M Packer (M Feaunati 58), A Matthews.
Yellow card: L Packer.
Ireland: L Delaney (M Deely 40); K Corrigan, E Higgins (E Breen 40), A Dalton, B Parsons; D O’Brien, A Reilly (M Scuffil-McCabe 59); L Djougang (S McGrath 59), N Jones (C Moloney 44), C Haney (N O’Dowd 48), D Wall, H O’Connor, A Wafer, E McMahon, B Hogan (S Ikahihifo 55).
Replacements not used: D Wall
Attendance: 48,778
Referee: A Groizeleau
