Red Roses stay on course for Grand Slam

By BEN JAYCOCK

Ireland……………………………0pts

England ……………………….48pts

Tries: Beckett 2, Heard 16, Kildunne 21, M Packer 26, Talling 36, Reed 71, Matthews 78, 80

Conversions: Tuima 37, Rowland 72, 78, 80

England stayed on track for the Grand Slam with an eight-try victory over a resilient Ireland side.

The win ensures the Red Roses will go to Twickenham next weekend for their first ever standalone fixture in front of a world record crowd against fellow title challengers France in head coach Simon Middleton's final game in charge.

Middleton said: “It's going to be a great occasion (against France next weekend) and I'm really fortunate that I get to experience another great game like that. But it'll only be great if we get the performance we want and we get the result we want.

“We've got quite a bit of work to do this week in terms of fixing people up and fixing our team up, in terms of how we'll play.”

Natasha Hunt returned for the first time after being dropped for England's World Cup campaign and the scrum-half said: “I'm buzzing to be back in the shirt. It means so much to put on the shirt. Pulling on the Rose and being in the dressing room, there's no feeling like it.

“That breakdown was an absolute mess for us today. There's loads of positives, we were just a little bit loose when we came out wide.”

Middleton's side had banked the bonus point in a first half that produced tries for Sarah Beckett, Tatyana Heard, Ellie Kildunne, Marlie Packer and Morwena Talling, but they lost their way after the interval.

Run in: Tatyana Heard scores for England

Ireland were heavily beaten by Wales, France and Italy in the previous rounds but they made life difficult for England until falling away in the final 10 minutes at Musgrave Park when England scored three late tries.

The hosts' set-piece was overwhelmed, yet they became the first team in this year's tournament to prevent the Red Roses from breaching the 50-point mark.

It took until the 71st minute to break the second-half stalemate when Amber Reed burrowed over from close range as pre-match fears of a 100-point mauling failed to materialise.

No.8 Alex Matthews added two more tries as a build-up of pressure in the final 10 minutes took its toll on Ireland.

For all the shortcomings evident in the penultimate round, England still made it four maximum five-point hauls as they secured a 23rd successive win in the tournament.

After taking a few moments to find their feet, England made an impact after just two minutes as Beckett went over in the corner following a Hannah Botterman turnover in Ireland's half.

Although Ireland tried to wrestle the momentum back through the scrum, the Red Roses remained patient and got their reward in the 15th minute as Heard finished off a Holly Aitchison pass in the corner.

The visitors increased their lead six minutes later as a Beckett break was rounded off a few phases later as Kildunne went in through the gap, the bonus point being secured in the 26th minute as captain Marlie Packer finished off a short pass right near the sticks.

Driving force: Sarah Beckett charges through

PICTURES: Getty Images

With just a few minutes remaining of the first half, Packer was forced off with an ankle injury and replaced by Talling who made an immediate impact, scoring a try off the rolling maul. Tuima converted to give England a 27-0 lead at the break.

Ireland came out for the second half with intent and attacked England's breakdown, 11 handling errors early on hampering the Red Roses' progress as the match became scrappy.

Although Ireland had much-improved possession, they could not make it count, despite multiple phases in England territory, and remained scoreless.

England's first chance of the second 40 came with just over 10 minutes remaining as Kildunne thought she had romped in for her second try but the pass from Sarah Bern to Helena Rowland in the build-up was judged as forward. However, just a couple of minutes later, as they threaded the phases together, Reed barrelled over, Rowland adding the extras to increase England's lead.

With England finding some consistency late on, they rounded off the match as Matthews went in under the sticks before finishing off a scrum drive to seal her double and round off the scoring.