England crush Scots in huge win

England have continued their march towards another women's rugby 6 Nations title and a Grand Slam with a 51-0 hammering of Scotland.

England ran in nine tries in total and conceded none in another superb performance. They will travel to France next week confident of another championship clean sweep.

England coach Gary Street had handed the captain's armband on the day to outhalf Katy McLean(pictured)with regular skipper Catherine Spencer rested to the bench amid a number of other changes.

The rejigged line-up had little difficulty in gelling together as Worcester's Amber Penrith, Richmond's Fiona Pocock and Lichfield's Emily Scarratt all secured braces of tries whilst there was also touch downs for Heather Fisher, who was named player of the match, Jo McGilchrist and Rebecca Essex.

Worcester wing Penrith, who had been called up after impressing for England A, showed her class early on when a counter attack from a poor Scotland kick saw England gain possession, spin the ball out through the backs, to allow Penrith to finish off the move in the opening minutes.

McLean missed the conversion but flanker Fisher nudged England into a 10-0 after as many minutes. Some good pressure by England saw the ball moved from the left to the right wing, and Fisher battled through the Scottish defence to score under the posts. McLean this time converted handing England the 10-0 lead.

England's young centre Emily Scarratt then got on the scoreboard, claiming the first of her two tries on 14 minutes. Pocock, starting her first ever game for England at full back, made a good break but she was brought down just short of the try line. Penrith was in support and she then released to the impressive 19-year-old.

Richmond lock Jo McGilchrist rounded off England's dominance in the first half with a fourth and final try to hand the visitors a 22-0 lead at half time.

After the restart, the one way traffic continued with Pocock, in fine form, touching down for the first or her two tries. A good line out saw the ball spun into the midfield, and Pocock took it on and found a great line to score under the posts. McLean added the conversion.

Penrith's second try came on 55 minutes after a good scrum and drive saw the ball eventually popped out to the backs and then to Penrith on the left wing. Lock Essex then added England's seventh try after some good pressure by England which enabled Essex to muscle her way over the line and score. Scarratt, taking over the kicking duties, converted.

With just minutes remaining on the clock England kept the tempo high and ran in two tries in the space of three minutes courtesy of Pocock and Scarratt, the latter of which was a great individual score.

England coach Gary Street said: "I am really pleased with this win. Scotland competed well for the whole 80 minutes but really our quality was telling in the end.

"I changed our squad quite significantly for this game, and despite the changes, the players responded really well. They were full of belief and showed that we have a big squad full of quality players. Certainly all the players did their jobs today and that is going to make selection very difficult ahead of our game on Friday against France."

The loss continues a frustrating season for Scotland who kicked off the competition in style with a win over France but the team has struggled since, losing to Wales and drawing with Italy. They travel to Ireland next Friday night for their final game.