England’s crushing 46-0 away win against Scotland is frustrating for the “integrity” of the Women’s Six Nations, says former flanker Maggie Alphonsi.
Despite Amy Cokayne’s red card in the second half, the Red Roses scored eight tries and controlled every aspect of the game.
With three games remaining to play and maximum points earned, England leads the table and is destined to win a sixth straight championship.
“It is incredibly frustrating when the scores are like this because there is no jeopardy,” Alphonsi stated to BBC One.
In stormy Edinburgh conditions, England played for nearly thirty minutes with fourteen players after Cokayne was sent off for collecting two yellow cards.
But Scotland failed to score a point because they were unable to apply any pressure with the additional player.
In three games, the Red Roses have scored 24 tries, amassing 140 points, and only giving up 10 after blasting Italy 48-0 in Parma in their opening game then beating Wales 46-10 in Bristol.
Former England forward Alphonsi added: “The big focus should be on how we support the other nations to make sure we are closing the gap.
“Even as an England fan I want that gap to reduce. I don’t want to see big dominant scores, I want to see closer games.
“It’s about the integrity and the quality of the competition and you want to have different teams winning this tournament.”
Alphonsi’s sentiment is borne out by the statistics:
- England have won every Women’s Six Nations title since 2019, including four Grand Slams
- England have not lost in 27 Six Nations matches
- Scotland have not beaten England since 1999
- The last team to win the Six Nations other than England was France in 2018
- Ireland are the only other side to have won the Six Nations – in 2013 and 2015
In 2019, England became the first nation in the Six Nations to offer its players full-time, permanent contracts.
Before defeating to France in this year’s Six Nations, Scotland has progressed since full-time professional contracts were first awarded in December 2022. They won the WXV2 during a run of seven straight victories.
Scotland’s injured number eight, Jade Konkel, feels the team needs more time to continue improving and get closer to the Red Roses.
“If you look back at 2013, Ireland were the Grand Slam winners and the team that were toughest to play against,” Konkel stated to BBC One.
“Then England get professional contracts and sky rocket above everybody else and they have had that for a substantial amount of time.
“That is not to take credit away from their depth and calibre of players, and you are starting to see some improvement now with the Scotland professional contracts coming in- but it has only been a year so there is still a way to go.
“You cannot speed that process up – and England are also continuing to build. They are not showing any signs of plateauing.”
But according to former England hooker Brian Moore, the team can only focus on its own progress and it is not “their fault” that there is a gulf between them and the other teams.
Moore told BBC One that “England have to play to their own standards.”
If one were to assess them by their exacting standards, they may have made a few mistakes here and there, but overall they fared well considering the unfavorable circumstances, particularly during the first half.
“They need to put in more effort; it’s not their fault that other nations aren’t performing up to par. Either you participate in a tournament or not.”
