England’s most capped player, Sarah Hunter, ended her career in style as the Red Roses defeated Scotland 58-7 in their Women’s Six Nations opener.

Hunter, who has earned 141 caps, announced before the tournament that this clash in her home town of Newcastle would be her last and the team marked it with an impressive triumph.

The Red Roses controlled the match from start to finish, scoring 10 tries in total, as they thrashed the Scots at Kingston Park.

Marlie Packer led the way with three tries while Claudia MacDonald (twice), Amy Cokayne (twice), Tatyana Heard, Poppy Cleall and Sadia Kabeya also crossed the whitewash.

Fast start

Hunter, who hails from North Shields, led the side out in Newcastle and they took the lead nine minutes in after pressure on the Scottish goal-line allowed MacDonald to burst through the gap to touch down.

Scotland had a chance to pull one back with a fantastic attack on England’s goal-line and Emma Orr came incredibly close to scoring, but she grounded the ball slightly short with the hosts able to recover and clear.

England stretched Scotland with some quick passing allowing hooker Cokayne to finish off another great team move in the 18th minute and MacDonald soon got her second with an incredible sprint from the halfway line, weaving past the Scottish defence to finish in the left corner.

16 years. 141 caps. The end of an incredible career. The end of an era 😢#ThankYouSarah pic.twitter.com/PVnsghU2sW

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 25, 2023

Heard scored her first Red Roses try after powering past two Scotland defenders to cross in the 27th minute and a driving maul from the line-out allowed Cokayne to grab her second just before the break.

England picked up where they left off straight after the break when Poppy Cleall crashed over the line and Abby Dow did well to hand the ball off to Sadia Kabeya, who scored their seventh try of the afternoon.

Packer then got in on the act as the Red Roses used the driving maul flawlessly three times for the co-captain to score her hat-trick, with all three tries happening within just 10 minutes of each other.

Scotland then found some consolation in the final stages, with Chloe Rollie putting points on the board for the visitors with a late try.

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