England were pushed all the way by Scotland as they began their 2025 Six Nations Women’s Summer Series campaign with a 31-17 victory over the Auld Enemy.

Scores from Player of the Match Joia Bennett, Grace Clifford, Lucy Simpson, Amelia MacDougall and Molly Luthayi were enough to seal the win at the Centre for Sporting Excellence in Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly.

But they came up against a gutsy Scotland side who battled valiantly for 80 minutes and continually refused to let their opponents get away from them in the scoring, as Holly McIntyre, Emily Norval and Poppy Mellanby crossed over for the Scots.

Amidst the tranquil backdrop of the Welsh Valleys, the action on the pitch was anything but as both sides gave no let up during the opening exchanges.

Hooker Simpson thought she had given England the lead early on when she crossed over after a well-worked rolling maul, but after a TMO intervention, the try was ruled out for an obstruction in the preceding line-out.

But after a scoreless opening 24 minutes, England broke the deadlock after they produced wave after wave of attack on the Scottish defence.

The pressure eventually told as flanker Bennett crashed over for the opening score of the match, which Lia green duly converted.

Clifford extended England’s advantage 10 minutes later, crossing from close range after another sustained assault on the Scottish backline before Simpson produced a neat finish from the back of a maul to make the score 17-0.

Scotland skipper Merryn Gunderson and her charges refused to roll over and were rewarded with a try of their own while the clock was in the red at the end of the first half.

Lucy Macrae’s pinpoint cross-field kick was collected delightfully by McIntyre, who then stepped inside to create space for herself before scoring superbly.

England made a fast start to the second half which they converted into seven more points as Simpson and Bennett combined brilliantly to set-up fly-half MacDougall who glided over the whitewash.

Yet again though, Scotland had a response in them as Norval showed all her athleticism to finish in the right corner following Ceitidh Ainsworth’s slaloming run.

However, Molly Luthayi’s converted try close to the hour mark increased England’s buffer to 21 points to lead 31-10.

With time ticking down, Scotland still continued their pursuit for points and saw Mellanby sprint half the length of the pitch to collect a kick forward to register her side’s third try of the game.

Next up for England is a clash against Italy in six days’ time while Scotland take on Wales in their second game.