England's Red Roses thrash Wales' women in sell-out Six Nations Cardiff clash; nine tries, including a stunner from Abby Bow; England go top of the table
Monday 17 April 2023 11:31, UK
England thrashed Wales in Cardiff to make it three wins from three Six Nations games as they ran in nine tries.
Wales were looking to secure a Triple Crown after an unbeaten start to the tournament, and were in the ascendancy early on as they pummelled the England defence, which managed to only leak three points to a penalty.
England then switched up a gear, with tries from captain Marlie Packer and Tatyana Heard before a stunning effort from Abby Bow just before half-time.
Wales were unable to fight back as England kept on coming during the second half with tries from Holly Aitchison, Jessica Breach, Ellie Kildunne, Maud Muir, Hannah Botterman and Sarah Beckett.
With all 12,125 tickets sold, the previous record attendance for a women's international in Wales of 4,962 was smashed.
It looked as though the home crowd had given Wales the advantage as they went close with Kelsey Jones before scoring a penalty to go 3-0 up thanks to the sure boot of Keira Bevan.
But the home side were left to rue not converting their fine start into more points as England turned on the style with an opening try from a ducking and diving Packer.
Heard then scored her third England try before a jaw-dropping run saw Dow beat six defenders to put England 19-3 up before the half-time whistle.
Wales were unable to change the direction of the tide in the second half as Aitchison found herself in plenty of space to get try four just five minutes after the break and secure England's bonus point.
The floodgates then opened as Breach, Kildunne, Muir and Botterman added a try each before discipline became an issue for both sides, with three yellow cards dished out as the game went on.
England had Packer and May Campbell sent to the sin-bin but Wales were unable to capitalise, conceding a late Beckett try as the Red Roses roared to victory on a huge day for women's rugby.
England tryscorer and captain Marlie Packer hailed the start of an new era in the English game on what was a "massive occasion" in women's rugby.
"I'm really proud of the girls' performance, we went down to 13 but it is testament to the character within the group [that we] put on the performance," said Packer.
"There's only probably about 10 players that were in the World Cup final that were playing today, so it just shows this is a new group to us.
"We're galvanising together, we're learning on the go, we're growing as this tournament goes on."
Meanwhile, Wales' captain Hannah Jones said her side will be "disappointed" with a scoreline that does not reflect her impression they are "closing the gap" to England.
"Mostly, we're disappointed with the score," said Jones.
"The score doesn't really reflect some of the performance but we'll reflect, regather and move on to the next match - I think we are closing the gap.
"There's definitely moments of world class there. I know how reflection of some moments that maybe we will look to work on."
Next week, unbeaten England will travel to bottom-of-the-table Ireland, and Wales to France.
