England’s bid for a sixth successive Women’s Six Nations title remains firmly on track after a ruthless demolition of Scotland in round three, despite the dismissal of Amy Cokayne.
The Red Roses, winners of their last 27 matches in the competition, ran in eight tries in total and pitched a defensive shutout in a typically dominant 46-0 bonus-point thrashing in Edinburgh on Saturday, with a brace each for Ellie Kildunne and Jess Breach.
Cokayne, Abby Dow, Sadia Kabeya and skipper Marlie Packer also crossed the whitewash at a sold-out Hive Stadium as John Mitchell’s side built a six-point lead over nearest challengers France, who host Italy in Paris on Sunday.
Hooker Cokayne opened the scoring after six minutes when she took a pass from scrum half Mo Hunt to step inside and break clear.
Kabeya then provided the final pass to unleash Dow into the corner, before Scotland saw a try from Maud Muir chalked off on review because of a dangerous ruck clear out from Cokayne, who was shown a yellow card and sent to the sin bin.
England scored again before the break after centre Meg Jones kicked infield for Kildunne to scoop the ball over the line, with Holly Aitchison adding the conversion to see England into half-time with a healthy 17-0 lead.
Kabeya dived over to add a bonus-point try three minutes into the second half before Breach took a pass from Dow to canter off into the corner to further press home England's advantage.
In the 54th minute, Cokayne was shown her second yellow card of the match following a high tackle on Scotland hooker Lana Skeldon, and was sent off.
Despite the player disadvantage, England continued their momentum as Breach touched down again before Kildunne added her second after 65 minutes, going over in the corner for her sixth try of the tournament.
Squad captain Packer came off the bench to power over and claim England's eighth try, which Zoe Harrison converted to round off another comprehensive victory for the defending champions.
