Scotland Women 7 England Women 84

A record-breaking party for Scottish sport, and England’s Red Roses spoilt it.

On the day of the largest standalone crowd for a women’s sporting fixture north of the border, England’s march towards an eighth successive Six Nations title continued with aplomb, as the world champions delivered a 12-try clinic at Murrayfield.

England were depleted but one might not have known, inflicting Scotland’s heaviest defeat in this fixture since 2011. In hindsight, and considering the extraordinary depth at John Mitchell’s disposal, it seems bonkers to bleat about an availability crisis but the truth is that no other side – women’s or men’s – in the world could manage England’s absentee list and maintain such dominance.…