Red Roses rusty but still relentless in pursuit of more history

Ireland will take pride from how they conjured two second-half scores via McGann and captain King. Bringing an energy late on that the Red Roses could not match, Scott Bemand, their head coach, implored his team to use their much-improved display as a springboard for the rest of the championship.

Intriguingly, no England side – male or female – have won a Six Nations in the year following a World Cup. The team of part-time teachers and plumbers who triumphed in 2014 endured a miserable championship the following spring. That is the next challenge facing this world-beating Red Roses team if they are to create the “dynasty” that Mitchell mentioned earlier this week. On this evidence, there is still work to be done.

Match details

Scoring sequennce 5-0 Cokayne try, 7-0 Rowland con, 12-0 Bern try, 14-0 Roland con, 19-0 Bern try, 21-0 Roland con, 26-0 Breach try, 28-0 Rowland con, 33-0 Kildunne try, 33-5 McGann try, 33-10 King try, 33-12 O’Brien con.

England E Kildunne; J Breach, M Jones, H Rowland, C Moloney-Macdonald; H Aitchison (Z Harrison 50), (N Hunt 50, E Sing 64); K Clifford (M Carson 50), A Cokayne (C Powell 69), S Bern (M Muir 50), M Talling (H Lutui 43), L Ives Campion, M Feaunati (A Burton 69), S Kabeya, A Matthews.

Ireland S Flood; B Parsons (A McGann 60), A Dalton, E Higgins (N McGillivray 50), V Elmes Kinlan; D O’Brien, E Lane (K Whelan 69); E Perry (N O’Dowd 50), C Moloney-Macdonald (N Jones 60), L Djougang (E Cahill 69), D Wall (R Campbell 50), F Tuite, B Hogan, E King, A Wafer (G Moore 62).

Referee Clara Munarini (Italy).

Attendance 77,120.