England forwards dominate as Red Roses crush Scotland in World Cup quarter-final

England’s forwards bulldozed a path into the World Cup semi-finals with a wet-weather masterclass underpinning a 40-8 victory at Ashton Gate.

The Red Roses will meet France for a place in the final after registering a 31st successive victory with a dominant performance that confirmed their status as tournament favourites.

Scotland were pulverised at the scrum as part of a one-sided battle up front and were prevented from venturing outside their own territory for much of the second half as the promising signs seen during the group stage quickly became a distant memory.

Natasha Hunt and Holly Aitchison provided England with intelligent direction at half-back, particularly Aitchison who marked her first start of the tournament following an ankle injury by showing the variety in her game.

But a rain-swept afternoon belonged to the forwards, who supplied four of their six tries, with the selection of second row Morwenna Talling as player of the match reflecting the strength of their pack.

The scoring rate slowed in the second half and there were spells where they drifted along, but it was otherwise a comprehensive win against Six Nations rivals who at least crossed through Rhona Lloyd on the stroke of full-time.

While France had struggled to dispatch their underdog opponents earlier in the afternoon, England showed no such big-match jitters in negotiating their quarter-final assignment in Bristol.

By the end of the first quarter they had swallowed up an encouraging Scotland start, leaked three points to the boot of Helen Nelson and crossed twice with the tries setting the tone for the forward dominance to come.

First Kelsey Clifford twisted and turned in a powerful surge over the line before Talling blasted over from short range with England happy to let their forwards take control.

Just when it looked like the wind had been taken out of their sails, though, they produced a monster scrum that led to a renewal of their assault on the line.

A maul try was ruled out for off-side and the slippery ball made handling treacherous, but it was a long pass by Aitchison that sent Abby Dow over for her 50th Test try after Scotland had been softened up through the middle.

Dow unleashed a devastating 50-22 that pinned the blue shirts back in their 22 with the attack producing a second try for Clifford.

Matthews’ excellent pick-up and the awareness of Hunt made the score possible, as did the ascendancy of England’s scrum, which continued to give the Scots a torrid time early in the second half.

A maul try for Amy Cokayne kept the foot on their throats, but the pace of the game then dropped significantly with the Red Roses huffing and puffing in the 22 without reward.

The scoring eventually resumed in the 65th when Aitchison got on the end of a break, but the final act belonged to Scotland when Lloyd finished a sweeping late attack.