France and England again secured bonus-point victories to stay neck and neck at the top of the Women’s Six Nations standings.
Ireland also impressed with four tries of their own against Wales as they pulled clear in third place.
Scotland 8-43 England Scotstoun Stadium
England ran in seven tries in their 43-8 win over Scotland in Glasgow in front of a record crowd of 3,278 for a Scotland Women’s home game.
Danielle Waterman, Sarah Bern, Charlotte Pearce and Ellie Kildunne secured England’s try bonus point in the first half, with Jade Konkel scoring for Scotland in reply.
Pearce and Waterman doubled their try tallies for the night in the second half, with Lagi Tuima going over for the visitors’ seventh.
There was also an historic moment for Rochelle ‘Rocky’ Clark who won her 135th international cap and surpassed Gethin Jenkins to become the most capped front-row forward in history.
Full-back Waterman played alongside 18-year-old Kildunne and 24-year-old Pearce in the back three and was full of praise for her try-scoring teammates.
She said: “It’s exciting isn’t it and it’s really brilliant as they’ve got an enthusiasm, a courage and a skillset that is second to none.
“The cliché is that we’re building, we’re a new side, there’s glimpses of unbelievable rugby but there are basic errors that are letting us down at the moment, so that is something we can put right.
“Physically we’re going to have to step it up against the French as they’re an unbelievably dominant side in terms of their pack.
“We’re all enjoying it, loving the challenge and I can’t wait for the next two games.”
England travel to Grenoble on March 10 for what looks to be a title decider against France.
France 57-0 Italy Stade Furiani
Jessy Trémoulière was the stand-out player, scoring 22 points in France’s eight-try victory over Italy in Corsica.
Cyrielle Banet and Marine Menager bagged two tries each, but Trémoulière took the plaudits for her near-perfect kicking performance and showed a clean pair of heels to break through the Italian defence on the halfway line and score a try of her own.
Agathe Sochat, Yanna Rivoalen and Pauline Bourdon were the other try-scorers for Les Bleuets in arguably their most impressive win of the Championship so far.
Italy remain bottom of the standings on zero points, after their previous defeats against England and Ireland.
Scrum-half and try-scorer Bourdon said: “We had to start the game well, which we did.
“After that we had a trickier period in the second half but we were able to manage our weaker passages and that made for a good victory.”
Centre Camille Boudaud said: “We had to make up for the performance in the match against Scotland.
“We were calm coming into the game, while being humble – that’s one of our key words, being humble but hungry.
“We didn’t take Italy lightly, you cannot take any team lightly.
“We showed humility and fight and that’s important for us.”
Ireland 35-12 Wales Donnybrook
Ireland and Wales played out the weekend’s tightest match, with Ireland coming away with an impressive win after a Welsh fightback in the second half.
Ireland led 14-0 at half-time thanks to tries from Leah Lyons and Claire Molloy, but Wales responded through Amy Evans and Sioned Harries shortly after the interval to narrow the deficit to just two points.
Sene Naoupu was instrumental in helping Ireland to victory however, scoring one try as they regained the lead and setting up three others throughout the match.
Tries from Hannah Tyrrell and Molloy in the final ten minutes gave Ireland the bonus point and the scoreboard a more comfortable look for the hosts.
Ireland Women’s head coach Adam Griggs said: “There was more progression from us.
“Every time we’re stepping on the pitch at the moment, we’re improving and that’s all you can ask for.
“Finally a few of those last passes stuck, which we’ve been working on, so we are pretty happy overall.
“Claire Molloy is immense. That last try, she’s running out there like a back-three player.
“She’s invaluable to us, especially her work around the breakdown as well, so I’m just delighted that she’s putting in those performances.”
