Key events
29 min: Now England win the scrum penalty. From a Scottish line-out and maul, in a flash Harrison hoofs the penalty out on the 10 metre line. England will run off the top of the line-out and go from left to right, all the way to Breach. But there’s a forward pass along the way. Yup, Sing’s final ball drifted out of her hand.
28 min: Scotland get a rumble on from a line-out inside England’s patch. It makes some ground and then splinters. It collapses and the ball can’t be released out the back. England win the scrum call in their own 22.
26 min: Another wasted opportunity from Scotland as they make a mess of a line-out inside England’s 22 following a penalty that was kicked out. Against the best you have to be at your best and Scotland have been well short of that.
TRY! Scotland 0-21 England (Kildunne, 24)
Ellie at the double! England at their best. Starts with Sing gathering a tough ball low down and launching a counter. Then it was with the forwards as Muir and Cokayne made great ground with strong carries around the fringe. Then Harrison launched it down the line, right to left. Rowland to Jones who skipped a runner and found Kildunne free on the left wing. She still had about 20 metres to finish but made it look easy. Harrison adds the extras.
22 min: Smith takes over the kicking duties from Nelson and she launches a huge bomb that lands just infield way down town. England now have to get free from this line-out inside their own half. Harrison does just that and after the return kick, Sing is on the counter. England hunting again.
20 min: Sloppy from England as Rowland throws a forward pass. England didn’t quite get their formation set from that scrum. After a slick start, they’ve dropped their standards the last five minutes.
19 min: Well then. Scotland get away with that as they win a scrum penalty. Big let off. Campbell can thank her front row mates.
OH! But Nelson doesn’t find touch with the penalty kick so England counter from deep. Then there’s a Scottish knock-on following Breach’s off-load back infield from the right wing.
That all ends with England awarded another scrum, this time about 30 metres out all the way on the right.
17 min: England will have a scrum inside Scotland’s 22 after some dilly-dallying from Campbell put her team under pressure. The Scotland winger mopped up a long kick from Harrison but chose to run it back rather than kick. That meant the England wall could rush up and a phase later they forced a Scottish knock-on. They look more ruthless than they did last week against Ireland. This could get messy for the home team as England look in the mood.
15 min: Coubrough knocks on in midfield as she gets hit hard. The difference between these two teams seems to be the punch they possess in contact. England routinely get over the gainline. Scotland have kept the ball well but they just can’t breach the brick wall.
TRY! Scotland 0-14 England (Jones, 13)
Too easy for England! Again, off the line-out, they get Kabeya on the ball and charging forward. Weak defence allows her to bust a tackle and then off-load for Jones, who ran a superb line on the inside. The skipper stepped off her right foot to beat the last defender and she was away. Harrison makes no mistake with the easy shot at goal.
12 min: This time Feaunati and Killdunne make a pig’s ear of things down the left. After some meaty carries, with Clifford bulldozing three defenders, the England No. 8 had the ball and was caught in two minds. Does she pass or run. She chose the latter and by the time she shovelled it on to Kildunne to her left they were too close to each other and the try-scorer spilled it. They’ll get another chance or two, no doubt.
10 min: England are so good off first phase play. Off the top of the line-out they launch a choreographed attack that was just delicious with dummy runners and skipped passes. Jones had it last before she kicked ahead. A kinder bounce of the ball would have seen Kildunne gather and score in the left corner. Instead Scotland will get the line-out and clear.
9 min: Nelson overcooks another kick from hand so England will have another line-out on halfway.
TRY! Scotland 0-7 England (Kildunne, 8)
Stunner from Kildunne! She was off the pace last week but here she shows why she’s regarded as the best player in the world. It started with Feaunati’s stiff hand-off to open the space and then the pass to find Kildunne on the left wing. From there it was all pace as she seemed to climb through the gears in no time at all. She had about 25 metres to score and she ate the ground up with one big bite! Great try.
Harrison from the right tram lands a brilliant conversion.
7 min: Almost for England! Off the line-out they maul but then shoot it out the back where Harrison nudges a lovely grubber through the onrushing defence. Jones gives chase but she just can’t get there as it bounces out of touch at the far end. Nifty from the Red Roses.
6 min: A bit of kick tennis is emphatically ended by Harrison who lands a wonder of a 50-22 that just drops over the Scottish fullback and bobbles out of touch. Now England have a chance to maul from the line-out.
5 min: It’s all Scotland. England haven’t touched the back except to kick it from deep. Clarke on the ball again. They keep possession but don’t make much ground. Just no punch so Nelson kicks from hand but overcooks it. She hoofs it straight out which will hand England a line-out 10 metres inside their own half.
3 min: And it’s held up! Clarke was on the ball and she had support from behind as she pushed forward. She manages to wriggle away from the contact and gets over the line, but three English players hold her up and they get a relieving clearing kick from their goal line.
3 min: The scrum doesn’t get going and it collapses, giving Scotland a free-kick. They’ll tap and go from right in front….
1 min: From the kick-off, Sing’s clearing kick doesn’t go long so Scotland can launch off the line-out. They make great ground off first-phase strike play and Coubrough is away. But they soon knock on five metres short of England’s line as they looked to gather through the phases. Promising, but that’s a sloppy miss from the Scots and a wasted opportunity to land an early blow.
Kick off!
Really looking forward to seeing how Short, on debut at 6, gets on.
Murrayfield is bathed in beautiful sunshine. The crowd is buzzing. All the ingredients there. Can the players deliver?
And they’re off!
Maud Muir leads the teams out on the occasion of her 50th cap.
She is beaming the BIGGEST smile you will ever see. What a vibe!
England’s defence coach, Sarah Hunter, speaks on the long, long, list of absentees from the side:
It’s quite unheard of within an England squad over the years. As a coaching squad, we’re taking it in our stride.
It gives an opportunity to someone else and the great thing about our squad is that whoever comes in is welcomed and fits in.
If we think about it in a four-year cycle [between World Cups], it’s almost good that we’re having this situation now, that we can grow and develop some of the younger players coming through who might be there in four years’ time.
It might be accelerating them a little bit, but all of the players who have come in have been playing brilliantly for their clubs in PWR. They’ve been a credit to this group and it’s exciting that they get the opportunity.
There are 24 Scottish players in the wider 38-woman group who ply their trade in England’s PWR.
I don’t think that will count for much, but it does show that coaches in the best league in the world rate them.
Another Women’s Six Nations game, another record crowd.
This is the first time more than 30,000 tickets have been sold for a Scotland home game.
How about some stats I’ve dug up (pulled straight from Scottish Rugby’s own website):
-
England (57%) and Scotland (55%) had the highest territory rates of any sides in Round One of this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
-
Scotland had the highest ruck success rate of any side in last weekend’s fixtures (97.8%), while England’s average attacking ruck speed of 2.56 seconds was the quickest of any team last time out.
-
Scotland (5/5) and England (8/8) were two of three sides not to lose a single scrum on their own put-in during the opening round of this year’s Championship (also France, 3/3).
Sarah Rendell – our eyes and ears on the ground today – has written a couple of banging pieces focussing on Scotland.
The first is a report from inside the Scottish camp as a contract dispute continues to bubble in the background:
The next is a preview looking ahead to this ‘landmark’ game:
England team
A trio of injured players – scrum-half Natasha Hunt, lock Morwenna Talling and back-rower Alex Matthews – who copped blows against Ireland, are unavailable.
Lucky for John Mitchell, his team is stacked with immense depth in every position.
Lucy Packer starts at 9 with a shuffle in the back row. Demelza Short makes her Red Roses debut in the 6 jersey with the aggressive Maddi Feaunati slotting in at the back of the pack.
Ellie Kildunne – who wasn’t quite at the races last week – shifts to wing as the impressive Emma Sing gets a shot at fullback.
Helena Rowland will play the creator at second receiver as the metronome that is Zoe Harrison will run things at 10.
England: Emma Sing; Jess Breach, Megan Jones (c), Helena Rowland, Ellie Kildunne; Zoe Harrison, Lucy Packer; Kelsey Clifford, Amy Cokayne, Maud Muir, Abi Burton, Lilli Ives Campion, Demelza Short, Sadia Kabeya, Maddie Feaunati.
Replacements: Connie Powell, Mackenzie Carson, Sarah Bern, Haineala Lutui, Marlie Packer, Flo Robinson, Holly Aitchison, Mia Venner.
Scotland team
Just one change to the team that did the business against Wales.
Evi Willis moves into midfield, replacing Emma Orr at outside centre.
The pack remains the same while Francesca McGhie and Rachel McLachlan occupy the bench having missed out on the match-day 23 last week.
Scotland: Chloe Rollie; Rhona Lloyd, Evie Willis, Meryl Smith, Shona Campbell; Helen Nelson, Leia Brebner-Holden; Leah Bartlett, Lana Skeldon, Elliann Clarke, Emma Wassell, Hollie Cunningham, Rachel Maclolm (c), Alex Stewart. Emily Coubrough.
Replacements: Elis Martin, Demi Swann, Molly Poolman, Holland Bogan, Rachel McLachlan, Rianna Darroch, Lucia Scott, Francesca McGhie.
Preamble
Hi everyone! Welcome to the second round of the 2026 Women’s Six Nations.
England have travelled north of the border in search of a 25th consecutive win over Scotland in the competition. And you wouldn’t bet against them, would you?
Scotland, though, will believe in miracles after they snatched a dramatic victory over Wales last week. Sure, this is a whole different kettle of fish. But momentum can play out in interesting ways in sport and, well, you never know. Right?
Oval Insights – a supercomputer of sorts, for those in the back – has predicted an English win by 35 points and give the visitors a 95% chance of leaving with all the marbles.
I guess it’s a question of how many today. But still plenty to play for as the improving Scots could show what they’re about with a performance to be proud of.
We’ll find out how they get on when things kick off at 1:30pm
Teams and other updates to come.