World Rugby participant of the yr Ellie Kildunne scored an eight-minute hat trick as England dismantled Wales in a 67-12 victory on the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.
England’s newest commanding Six Nations victory — their thirty first in a row — retains their hopes of a seventh consecutive championship on observe as they high the desk after two matches.
It was Wales, although, who took an early lead after England fly-half Zoe Harrison’s knock on in her personal strive space prompted a five-metre scrum. Roared on by a file crowd for a Welsh crew occasion in Wales (21,186), the hosts pushed the England scrum again earlier than Georgia Evans peeled off and introduced the assault to the whitewash earlier than Jenni Scoble dived over.
However England responded shortly as first Maddie Feaunati after which Meg Jones raced away from the Wales defence earlier than touching down.
5 minutes later, some fast fingers from Feaunati underneath the posts bypassed two purple shirts and allowed prop Sarah Bern to attain her twenty fourth Take a look at strive.
Abbie Dow thought she had scored England’s fourth, however her strive was chalked off after Kildunne’s go was dominated ahead. It proved to be solely a short lived reprieve for Wales as Feaunati added her second try to secured England’s bonus level following some haphazard defending.
Kildunne celebrated incomes her fiftieth cap with a Forty eighth-minute strive after she was present in area out huge through a sweeping go from Harrison. The fly-half fed Kildunne to attain once more within the 54th minute and she or he then accomplished her hat trick a minute later with an attention-grabbing strive that was awarded after a assessment from the TMO.
The 25-year-old has been instantly concerned in 26 tries throughout her final 15 begins for England (20 tries, 6 assists).
Two-time Olympian Abi Burton got here off the bench to make an emotional England debut within the closing levels. She spent 25 days in an induced coma after being recognized with autoimmune encephalitis — a situation the place the physique’s immune system mistakenly assaults the mind — in 2022, and was sectioned after an preliminary misdiagnosis. She additionally contracted pneumonia twice and misplaced over three stone in weight throughout three months in hospital.
After Dow scored the strive that she was denied within the first half with a mazy run, Burton celebrated her England debut with a primary worldwide strive as she powered by means of two drained tackles on the road.
With Wales’ will damaged, Dow and Burton each crashed over once more as England made their title aspirations clear after racking up 11 tries.
“Truthfully it would not get higher than that,” Kildunne advised the BBC in a post-match interview. “You’ll be able to’t write it, I could not have imagined it, every little thing as we speak has simply fitted in.
“We have nonetheless obtained rather a lot to work on, however to stroll out on my fiftieth cap in entrance of such a fantastic crowd in an incredible stadium is one thing I am very honoured for.
“Strain is unquestionably a privilege, each time we step out as an England squad we wish to shock, and lift the expectation as a result of we wish to carry on going. We’re not at our greatest but, we will carry on getting higher and there is much more to come back.”
Earlier on Saturday, France saved alive their hopes of a primary championship triumph since 2018 after they placed on a present within the second half to beat Scotland 38-15 in La Rochelle.
Scotland made issues troublesome for the hosts within the opening 40 minutes however a sensational drop aim from scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus gave the hosts the spark they wanted and Les Bleues reeled off a succession of tries so as to add some gloss to the scoreline.
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