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England player ratings vs Scotland | 2024 Guinness Women's Six Nations
By Liam Heagney
England player ratings live from Hive Stadium: It was an afternoon where the weather was four seasons piled into one, but the greasy/windy/rainy/sunny elements didn’t throw a massive spanner in the works of John Mitchell’s England, who notched a 46-0 win that leaves them another step closer to sealing a sixth Six Nations title in succession.
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Head coach Mitchell explained post the round two success over Wales in Bristol that this campaign’s mission was to expand the England playbook and finesse their different ways of playing. This all-encompassing approach produced some teething difficulties and reduced winning margins against Italy and Wales compared to 2023.
It was marginally similar here in Edinburgh. Fifty-one points was the gap last year, England winning 58-7 in Newcastle, and it was 52 two in 2022 – 57-5 – when the countries previously clashed at the Hive.
Here, their eight-try triumph only had a 46-point margin, the inclement weather hampering the English attack, which also suffered from too many turnovers. There was also a swathe of penalties given up, while Scotland deserved kudos for their nuisance breakdown work.
All this combined to delay the English from bagging the four-try bonus until the 44th minute, and the visitors then suffered the red-carding of hooker Amy Cokayne 11 minutes later, as a yellow-carded shoulder to the head contact followed her first-half foul play where she lifted an opponent over the horizontal in a tackle.
England did get off to a flyer with early tries from Cokayne and Abby Dow but they then had scores for Jess Breach and Maud Muir disallowed, the latter due to Cokayne’s sin-binned tackle in the build-up.
The slender 0-10 gap and the advantage of an extra player for the next 10 minutes roused the capacity 7,000-plus home crowd, but a converted Ellie Kildunne try scuppered their chance to strike back and it gave the visitors a 17-point interval lead.
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That was crucial, and four second-half minutes were all England needed for Sadia Kabeya to score the bonus point try.
A brace from Breach followed either side of the permanent exit of Cokayne, and Mitchell’s team then closed out the fixture with scores from the classy Kildunne and no-nonsense sub Marlie Packer.
Here are the England player ratings from Edinburgh with Ireland next up at Twickenham next Saturday:
15. Ellie Kildunne – 8
Too frantic at times in Bristol, she illustrated here why she has the potential to be a world-class Rugby World Cup standout next year with her alert defence and silky attack. There was an acrobatic, gather-and-rollover finish for her 34th-minute score, and then her intelligence was evident when generating the two-on-one for her 65th-minute walk-in.
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14. Abby Dow – 7
Picked up where she left off at Ashton Gate, showcasing her ability to exploit space with an 11th-minute finish out wide. Was eager for involvement, as seen in her switching wings to give Breach the assist on 52 minutes.
13. Megan Jones – 7.5
Would have cursed her knock-on that denied Breach a first-half score, but she reacted positively and her football-style right-footed pass inside to set up the Kildunne try was supreme. Very tidy 72-minute effort.
Dow ? Kildunne ?
A second try for the fullback ? @RedRosesRugby #GuinnessW6N #SCOENG pic.twitter.com/jDZg3gUL8e
— Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 13, 2024
12. Tatyana Heard – 7
Her defence came to the fore more in her 65 minutes as she finished the opening half joint top of the English tackle count and she continued on from there to ensure her team ‘nilled’ the Scots.
11. Jess Breach – 7.5
Was left disappointed that her 25th-minute try was cancelled due to a knock-on inside her, but she remained patient and finished with two lovely taken scores in a seventh-minute second-half spell. Her footwork for her second after securing a loose Scottish kick was electric.
10. Holly Aitchison – 7
Her struggles off the kicking in Bristol continued here, although the filthy wind was a serious factor. Other than that, she played her role well, producing numerous well-timed interventions with actions such as the smart kick behind the defence for the third try and then her running around Heard for the fifth with a scrum penalty advantage.
9. Natasha Hunt – 7.5
Impressive work rate on a day where the conditions could have been very problematic. Showed she was on her game with the swift way she tidied up a loose ball that squirted from a maul in the lead-up to the opening try. Tackled well as well in the traffic throughout her 65 minutes.
WINTER HASN'T GONE AWAY: The April conditions in Edinburgh turned horrible for the England national anthem. #GuinnessW6N #SCOvENG #rugby #ScottishRugby #EnglandRugby pic.twitter.com/Cv97WVN2Lv
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 13, 2024
1. Hannah Botterman – 8
The pick of the forwards during her 57 minutes. It wasn’t just her set-piece that caught the eye, she was greedy for ball carrying and was involved in several scores. Also lit up the crowd with her 22nd-minute intercept, break, and kick. Okay, it shanked into touch but it was the type of exciting moment that got a great reaction.
2. Amy Cokayne – 2.5
Celebrated her first Test appearance in 12 months with a lovely seventh-minute step to opening the scoring, but her performance was ruined by a pair of unnecessary yellow carded tackles which left her red-carded with 25 minutes remaining.
3. Maud Muir – 7
Can’t be happy with the 22nd-minute scrum penalty conceded on an England put-in, but she was otherwise a fine set-piece operator whose willingness to carry a great asset for her team
4. Rosie Galligan – 6
Player of the match in round two, this was a contrasting 58-minute performance that ended with England needing to get the sub hooker when reduced to 14 players. Her frustrations were best summed by the botched first-half pass straight into touch when the score was 17-0.
5. Abbie Ward – 6.5
Promoted from the Ashton Gate bench, the star of a brand new RugbyPass TV documentary had one of those afternoons that was all about the unseen work in the trenches.
6. Zoe Aldcroft – 7
Switched from second row to skipper the side in place of the benched Packer, she shrugged off a soft knock-on less than 90 seconds in to play a captain’s part across her 80 minutes. Topped her team’s tackle count and kept them composed when down to 14 for 10 first-half minutes and again when a player short for the closing 25 minutes of the second.
7. Sadia Kabeya – 7.5
A lovely 60-minute effort from a very mobile player. Super footwork and pass put Dow in for her early score, and she was rewarded later by dotting down the bonus point try off the back of a dominant scrum.
8. Alex Matthews – 7.5
Another whose display was very positive, being dynamic in the carry while also defensively robust when required.
First phase perfection from @RedRosesRugby ?@JessBreach extends their lead out wide ?#GuinnessW6N #SCOENG pic.twitter.com/4hUXRL1I8b
— Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 13, 2024
Replacements:
It wasn’t until two minutes after the red card, with the score at 29-0, that England made their first switch, sending on their entire sub front row whose first contribution wasn’t great as they conceded a penalty at the scrum.
The other two forward subs were introduced on the hour, with Packer finishing nicely on 73 minutes. The first backs alterations were Lucy Packer and Zoe Harrison on 65 with Sydney Gregson following seven minutes later.
Would still love love to see player ratings on other nations in the competition.
I tend to agree, I rather suspect that England get a greater degree of examination than other countries because of their physical dominance.
I’m confused as to why the first Cokayne yellow card was given at all. Lifting the leg is foul play, but neither the laws nor WR’s interpretation guidance make any mention of it being an automatic YC (and there was a Scottish tackle that took an England player past horizontal later in the game that wasn’t even penalised).
The ref and TMO agreed that it wasn’t dangerous play, Gallagher was returned to the ground safely and there was a mitigating factor of a second player involved.
Given all that, I am struggling to see how it justified a YC. The second YC was justified - but would likely have stayed at yellow.
It didn’t change the outcome of the game, but it’s the sort of decision that could have changed the outcome of a closer match.