07 March 2020

England dominate Wales to claim victory in Six Nations as Poppy Cleall scores a hat-trick

England have beaten Wales in a 66-7 victory in the Six Nations.

The win means the Red Roses have won all four of their matches and the triple crown trophy.

They will have to wait to see if they can secure the Grand Slam as their game against Italy has been postponed due to the coronavirus.

Red Rose Lydia Thompson was back for her first game since the autumn internationals and she made her presence known in the first five minutes with a break for the line, just coming a few metres short of England's first try.

However, lock Poppy Cleall crashed over in the sixth minute with captain Emily Scarratt adding the extras to put the hosts 7-0 up.  

Cleall was in again in the 11th minute for what seemed was going to be a long afternoon for Wales.  

The Welsh scrum was impeccable and causing trouble for England throughout the first half which set up some promising attack play for the Dragons but they couldn't convert the opportunities into points.

England were firing again as Katy Daly-McLean made a phenomenal break from just behind the 22. 

She ran in England's third score of the afternoon in the 27th minute, Scarratt hit the post with her conversion and so England were 19-0 up.

England secured the bonus point try just before half-time as Vicky Fleetwood found herself at the back of the driving maul. The hosts led 26-0 at the break.

The Red Roses had turned the scoring tap on and they let it pour in the second-half with Harriett Millar-Mills going over in the 42nd minute.

Cleall secured a hat-trick in the 50th minute and Amy Cokayne added another try on her 50th appearance for England.  

Wales were awarded a penalty try a few minutes later with England replacement Natasha Hunt being shown a yellow card as she tackled Wales' Kerin Lake while she was off the ball.  

Shanaugh Brown in action (PA Images)

Despite being down to 14, England secured another try through Zoe Aldcroft to give them a 54-7 lead.  

England's Hannah Botterman and Sarah McKenna then scored to seal their ten-try victory.

While the official attendance wasn't confirmed, it was announced that 10,975 tickets were sold which broke the record for a women's Six Nations match.

Hat-trick scorer Cleall picked up Player of the Match.

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