England head coach Simon Middleton was pleased with how his side rallied to beat Wales 58-5 in Round 3 of the TikTok Women’s Six Nations at Kingsholm.
The Red Roses ran in ten tries in Gloucester, seven of which were in the second half, as England weathered the Welsh storm to enjoy their third consecutive bonus point win of the Championship and sit top of the table.
Lark Davies and Jess Breach both scored braces, while there were also tries from TikTok Women’s Player of the Match Abbie Ward, Sarah Bern, Alex Matthews, Shaunagh Brown, Emily Scarratt and captain Sarah Hunter as England impressed the record crowd of 14,689.
Middleton believes his side can be better and he does not believe that they were quite at the races in the first half, but he was delighted with how his side changed things in the second half.
He said: “It was exactly like we thought it would be to be honest, it was tough, physical, hugely competitive, we were off the pace a little bit, but we were off the pace because Wales forced us off the pace, we weren’t accurate enough in the first half.
“Whether we got a bit rattled but you expect it to be like this, that’s international rugby and the key is can you get it back on track?
“We still had some good moments in the first half, but in the second half, we just went through one or two things that we thought we needed to do to get it back on track.
“We put it into practice really well, and I was really pleased with our second half, the tries that were scored were fantastic, and it was great to get the crowd out of their seats which was hugely important today.”
Early in the first half, full-back Abby Dow suffered a serious injury and had to be stretchered off, and Middleton wished Dow and her family well.
He added: “Obviously your first thoughts are for the player, but then your thoughts switch to if their parents are in the crowd.
“It’s just a horrendous moment for parents, as well as your loved ones, your thoughts switch to that straight away.”
As well as England’s impressive second-half showing, much of the talk was about the record crowd for a women’s rugby match in England, and Middleton was another who was very pleased so many came to see the Red Roses play.
“Everybody is buzzing about the crowd, it’s fantastic, what a great job Gloucester have done,” he said.
“For me, the atmosphere, it was weird because we were up in those glass boxes and until you come out, you don’t appreciate just how fantastic it was.
“But you can see at the end what it means to the players, it’s the right stage for these guys playing rugby, it’s brilliant.”
