England women overwhelm Ireland after change of gear at the break

In front of a record crowd for a Red Roses home match of 15,836, England extended their record unbeaten run to 22 with an emphatic victory over Ireland. Even before kick-off the end result was assured. The only challenge England faced was entertaining their fans with a show-stopping performance. In truth, they were only 50% successful.

The first half was a difficult watch. One hopes that anyone not yet converted to the women’s game didn’t turn off at the interval. England conceded nine penalties and made eight handling errors across a disjointed 40 minutes and would have been punished had they played against a better resourced team.

Ireland deserve credit for turning it into a scrap, but they arrived in Leicester with a mere 282 Test caps among the match-day squad, six less than England’s bench, and were never going to be anything more than a spanner in the works.

England spent most of the first half camped inside Ireland’s 22 but did little with their time there. Two mauled tries from lineouts - scored by Lark Davies and Sarah Bern on two and 17 minutes respectively - was all they had to show for their dominance in territory and possession.

One spark came from Helena Rowland who was largely a spectator at full-back. She collected a high kick under pressure, beat several tackles with quick steps and burst through two more to make 20 metres. Emily Scarratt, playing her 100th Test, was too eager when cleaning up and gave away a penalty, encapsulating England’s ill-discipline at the breakdown in the opening period.

England were ready for the second half early, a tell-tale sign of a rollocking during the interval. Whatever coach Simon Middleton said worked as Marlie Packer completed a slick move in the corner two minutes