England continued their charge towards a record fifth successive RBS Women's Six Nations crown with an emphatic 51-0 victory over Scotland at Meggetland, scoring nine tries in the process and shutting out an opponent for the third time in this year's Championship.

The defending champions have conceded only one try - by Ireland second row Kate O'Loughlin - and scored 145 points in four matches to leave only France standing between the Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 hosts and a fourth Grand Slam in five years.

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England coach Gary Street had rung the changes for the encounter with the Auld Enemy, but his players picked up where they had left off against Ireland with wing Amber Penrith and flanker Heather Fisher crossing for tries in the opening 10 minutes.

Teenage starlet Emily Scarratt was next to touch down after Fiona Pocock was stopped just short of the line, and by the time referee Paul Haycock blew for half-time England had scored a fourth try through second row Jo McGilchrist.

Selection headache

The try-scoring continued after the break with Pocock running a great line to score England's fifth try before Penrith claimed her second and second row Rebecca Essex touched down. Two tries in three minutes - by Pocock and Scarratt - late on pushed England through the 50-point barrier for the first time this season.

"I am really pleased with this win. Scotland competed well for the whole 80 minutes but really our quality was telling in the end," admitted Street. "I changed our squad quite significantly for this game, and despite the changes, the players responded really well.

"They were full of belief and showed that we have a big squad full of quality players. Certainly all the players did their jobs today and that is going to make selection very difficult ahead of our game on Friday against France."

His Scotland counterpart Gary Parker acknowledged the better side had won on the day.

"We are an evolving squad, we have a lot of youngsters and they have a lot to learn. We have a lot of positives to take out of that, but England is a benchmark as to where you are. All credit to them, they played a great game. At the end of the day, they were fitter, faster, stronger and more clinical."

Seven-try France

France are all that stand between England and another Grand Slam, their own hopes of a clean sweep having been ended by a shock 10-8 loss to Scotland on the opening weekend.

France will welcome England to Rennes on Friday night looking for a fourth successive win after that setback, their most recent victory having come at Italy's expense with Sandrine Agricole and Céline Allainmat crossing for braces in a 45-14 win.

Agricole set France on their way with an eighth minute try before Marie-Charlotte Hebel, Stéphanie Loyer and Sandra Rabier also touched down to sent the home side in leading 26-0.

The centre started the second half in the same vein as she had the first with Allainmat's tries then coming either side of a mini Italian fight-back which saw Licia Stefan and Manuela Furlan touch down.

Ireland end long wait

Another side looking to end the Championship on a high are Ireland, who bounced back well from a 22-5 loss to England a fortnight earlier to beat Wales for the first time since 2005 with an impressive performance securing a commanding 18-3 victory at Ashbourne RFC.

Ireland did fall behind to an early penalty from Non Evans and survived some early pressure from Wales before full back Niamh Briggs ran in from halfway to give her side a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the evening.

The lively Briggs, a constant thorn in Wales' side with her pace, missed an opportunity to stretch Ireland's advantage on the stroke of half time, but as their confidence continued to blossom after the break they spent long periods camped in the Welsh half and edging the battle of the forwards.

Ireland did finally get the second try when scrum half Tania Rosser exploited gaps in the Welsh defence to score out wide and Briggs then kicked a penalty having narrowly missed another opportunity to add to her first half try. There was still time for number 8 Joy Neville to score from a late pushover effort in the corner.

Long hard look for Wales

"We are much fitter and more physical than we were in last year's Championship," admitted Neville. "We have increased the amount of strength and conditioning work we have done under Sammy (Dowling) and now that it is bearing fruit. It has really come together and I think you saw that in the second half against Wales.

"The contests between Wales and ourselves are always tight and although we had not beaten them since 2005 the games have never had a lot of points in them. We are delighted to get the win and hopefully we can kick on against Scotland and really end our Championship on a high."

Wales finished second for the third time in four seasons in 2009, but have only one win in this year's Championship - against Scotland - to leave coach Jason Lewis somewhat disappointed as the Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 draws ever closer.

"The bottom line is we weren't good enough," admitted Lewis. "We lost the contact area and lacked composure and we have to take a long look at ourselves. We aren't doing the simple things well at the moment. We are not quite firing on all cylinders like we did last season."

Wales will have a chance to right the wrongs when they face Italy - the only side without a win in the 2010 Championship - at Bridgend on Sunday, two days after France host England in Rennes and Ireland meet Scotland at Ashbourne RFC.

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