A RECORD crowd at THE DAM Health Stadium saw Scotland suffer a heavy defeat to England in the opening match of the 2022 TikTok Women’s Six Nations campaign.

Scotland started the brighter and looked encouraged by a crowd that were right behind them.

An early offside in midfield gave Helen Nelson a shot at goal from 35 metres in front of the posts, but the ball flew just right of the target.

England scored the first try in the 9th minute when a quick tap penalty got the Red Roses up to the try line, and a phase later Rosie Galligan forced her way over.

Their second try arrived moments later following driving maul off the back of a lineout took England close before an offload found Poppy Cleall in space to dive over from two yards.

The Scots pulled five points back with  a try made in the Borders. A penalty was kicked into the right corner by Lisa Thomson. Lana Skeldon took the throw and a few phases worked the ball to the left when Hannah Smith wonderfully offloaded to Chloe Rollie who dived over the whitewash.

England regained their two-try advantage in the 22nd minute when Heather Cowell scored in the corner.

The bonus point came moments later when Abby Dow raced down the wing before cutting inside and scoring.

A driving maul then led to Marlie Packer touching down in the left corner and the visitors grabbed a sixth with the last play of the half, as Packer gathered an offload to score her second and make the half-time score Scotland 5 England 38

Scotland again started the half the better and thought they had grabbed their second try in the 49th minute. A lineout was stolen by England on their five-metre line but the ball bounced loose, and Rachel McLachlan was first to react and dived over. But the TMO adjudged that the ball had been knocked on by the hosts in the lineout and the score was chalked off.

England added to their lead in the 53rd minute when Rowland chipped over the top and Holly Aitchison gathered the ball under the posts.

Ten minutes later Connie Powell rumbled over the whitewash to increase the lead then the visitors struck again when Packer wrestled off the attempts to hold her up and grabbed a hat-trick.

Scotland battled hard and were camped on the England line in the 70th minute, but a knock on gave England the chance to relieve the pressure.

Scotland fought to the end, showing their grit by working their way down the pitch after the clock was red, but England won it back and kicked out for victory.

Final score Scotland 5 England 57

Attendance: 4000