Just before England’s Women’s Six Nations match against Scotland kicked off on Saturday, Red Roses head coach John Mitchell was asked if this spell was the biggest test of his team’s strength in depth since he took charge.
“No doubt,” he replied. “But you have to adapt and respond to it.”
In front of 30,498 people at Murrayfield – a record crowd for a standalone women’s sporting event in Scotland – the world champions did that and more, winning 84-7.
England were not quite at their best in the 33-12 home victory against Ireland seven days earlier, which in hindsight was probably to have been expected given the turnover in their squad since they lifted the World Cup on that magical day at Allianz Stadium in September.
Four players, including captain Zoe Stratford, are unavailable because of pregnancy. Emily Scarratt and Abby Dow have both since retired.
Earlier this week, injured quartet Natasha Hunt, Morwenna Talling, Hannah Botterman and May Campbell were ruled out for the remainder of the tournament. The same fate had befallen Tatyana Heard before it had even started, while Alex Matthews’ shoulder problem prevented her from being involved in Edinburgh.
But a much-changed line-up delivered a statement victory that demonstrated once more why the Red Roses are the benchmark to which all other nations aspire in women’s rugby union.
Mitchell described it as a “special performance”, while captain Meg Jones, who scored one of England’s 12 tries, said the Red Roses were “relentless” in registering a 35th consecutive victory.
She added: “We want to keep building on every performance we have. This game gives us tremendous feedback and we can just keep getting better and better.”
‘They dominated from minute one to minute 80’
Analysis: Other teams should be ‘very worried’ by England performance
The absences of Stratford, Talling and Abbie Ward mean England are light on options at lock at the moment.
Lilli Ives Campion, winning her seventh cap, was the senior partner in the second row alongside Abi Burton, who is usually a back row.
Demelza Short, 19, made her debut in the back row alongside the outstanding Sadia Kabeya and player of the match Maddie Feaunati.
Prop Maud Muir marked her 50th cap with a series of powerful carries in the 51 minutes she was on the field, before her replacement, Sarah Bern, scored two tries for the second successive match.
Katy Daley-Mclean, who captained England to World Cup success in 2014, said on BBC Two: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them as accomplished as that performance was.
“They dominated from minute one to minute 80. It didn’t matter whether it was their starters or their bench, whether it was players who had one cap or 113 – everybody came in and did their jobs.
“We’ve sometimes seen England do it in bits, but never as polished as that. They were outstanding.”
Maggie Alphonsi, another member of England’s 2014 world champions, added: “It was an impressive display. After the way they played against Ireland, you could say they were very rusty and left opportunities behind.
“Today, they capitalised on every chance they got when they went into the opposition’s 22.
“All the forwards really stepped up. Last weekend against Ireland, you didn’t really see the forwards get into the game, win the collisions or go forward. Today, they owned it. This England team have got a really good power game.”
Kildunne reaches 50 international tries
There were changes among England’s back division for the trip to Murrayfield, too.
In at fly-half for Holly Aitchison, Zoe Harrison had a magnificent day with the boot, converting all 12 tries.
England’s lightning-quick ruck speed was a feature of their play, causing Scotland problems throughout.
Emma Sing capped a fine display at full-back with a first-half score, while Ellie Kildunne – who had been switched to the wing after starting at 15 against Ireland – scored twice to bring up a half-century of international tries.
Daley-Mclean said Kildunne had played “like a woman on a mission” while summarising England’s first-half performance.
“Everybody around her has gone well today,” she continued. “Ellie’s tries have been extremely well-taken but a lot of it is the work done by other people around her. The ball from Jones [for Kildunne’s second try] is sublime.
Alphonsi added: “People were questioning whether Kildunne could do it on the wing and she’s putting on a show.”
How Mitchell uses Sing and Kildunne moving forward is his “biggest challenge”, according to Daley-Mclean.
“What we’ve seen today is the difference in them,” the former England fly-half said in commentary.
“Ellie’s top-end pace is like that of a winger and her strength. What Emma brings is really good aerial threat and she’s got a really good kicking game.
“Using them is probably John Mitchell’s biggest challenge. If Ellie wasn’t there, Emma would be England’s starting full-back and potentially would start for other nations in the Six Nations.
“She’s probably unlucky that she’s behind someone like Ellie, but for England it’s how you use them to suit what the team needs to do.”
On this evidence, England will take some stopping if any team is going to prevent them from clinching an eighth successive Women’s Six Nations title and a fifth straight Grand Slam.
Winless Wales are next up in Bristol on 25 April, followed by a trip to Italy (9 May) and a potential Grand Slam decider in France eight days later.
