England's young guns make perfect start

England's up-and-coming generation stepped up and gave their team the perfect start to the Six Nations. A nine-try 47-0 demolition of Scotland put England in pole position after the first round of games in this year's championship.

Admittedly the result was no real surprise - Scotland have not scored a point in this fixture since 2009 - but the young players (several technically still U20s) were clinical in their execution of the home team in front on a packed stand at Lasswade RFC. In fact the only player who seemed to perform less than perfectly was captain  Katy McLean who was only able to convert one of her nine kicks, which meant that England failed to hit 50 points against Scotland for the first time in four years.

It will be interesting to see whether Gary Street stays with this team for the next game against Italy, the Six Nations other less than challenging opposition (though they have been improving of late). Earlier in the afternoon France strolled to a 32-0 win over their continental rivals - four tries to nil in this case, as their kicker - Aurelie Bailon - was rather more on form. Played in sub-zero conditions, France's young team out-muscled opponents who normally have a reputation for being physically stronger.

Next weekend France take on Ireland and, in the other game, Scotland will play Wales.