The ultimate prize remains theirs to seek over the next fortnight, but by one metric, this record-setting England team is already the finest in test history. Surpassing their own peerless 30-match unbeaten run will mean little to the Red Roses if the Women’s World Cup crown they so covet is not procured at Twickenham on 27 September, but this win was nonetheless significant in taking them a step closer to that goal.
Win 31 of a run that began at the start of 2023 in the wake of the last World Cup final will not necessarily live long in the memory, an overmatched Scotland crushed in familiar fashion in truly wretched conditions in Bristol. Indeed, head coach John Mitchell might even have made more of the misfortune that so nearly befell waiting semi-final foes France against Ireland – Les Bleues just about remain afloat amid a storm in Exeter, but were briefly in very dangerous water indeed, and they will have to be 20,000 leagues smarter and better to rise to the level of the apex predator of the European game.
