Key events
Hold up ⦠this is going to be ruled out for foul play by Cokayne in the build up.
Try! 29 min: Scotland 0-15 England (Muir)
Power and precision, and another England try.
28 min: Orr is penalised at the tackle area with the Red Roses on the move down the right wing. England boot the penalty for the corner. This is another stern test for the Scotland defence.
26 min: There is still pressure on Scotlandâs defence but Gallagher, the No 8, does superbly to snatch the ball off the back of a defensive scrum and carry the ball away from danger. Scotland then win a penalty. The score remains 10-0 to England and the visitors have been largely dominant. But Scotland are not out of this.
25 min: No, itâs a knock on by Englandâs Megan Jones. No try.
25 min: Breach is over for England in the corner! The referee wants to check for a knock on by Jones ⦠I think this is a try.
24 min: Englandâs first try via the Red Rosesâ Twitter:
22 min: Botterman nabs an intercept from a sloppy Scotland offload in midfield. She bursts forward and hacks the ball ahead, but it skews off her boot, and out for a lineout to Scotland in their own half.
20 min: The slippery ball is a bit of an issue. England knock on to gift Scotland a scrum. England win it back on the floor, but Kabeya then knocks on again, this time in Englandâs half. Scrum for Scotland.
19 min: The rain has ceased. The sun is out. The wind is still an issue but even that looks like it may have dropped a fair bit.
18 min: England win a scrum penalty and Megan Jones is soon sprinting into the danger zone again. She offloads to Kabeya who canât gather the pass and itâs a scrum for Scotland near their own posts. And they win a scrum penalty, Muir penalised for collapsing.
15 min: Scotland are gifted an attacking scrum by an England error but Mitchellâs side get the shove on, and the hosts cannot capitalise.
Such an impressive score by England. Scotlandâs defence is stretched to breaking point when the Red Roses move the ball swiftly from left to right in the home 22. Kabeya bursts towards the line and it looks like the try might be on for the openside flanker, but she offloads clinically to Dow, who applies a smart finish diving into the corner. Excellent stuff.
Try! 11 min: Scotland 0-10 England (Dow)
Sensational handling, sensational try in the corner for Dow.
10 min: Itâs all England. Aitchison tries a grubber kick into the 22 and Kildunne tries to gather. Scotland manage to hang on â¦
Try! 7 min: Scotland 0-5 England (Cokayne)
Third-phase ball off an attacking lineout for the visitors. The English ranks are massed a few metres from the Scottish try-line. There is a slip in the hostsâ defensive line and a yawning gap opens for Cokayne to bundle over with a short-range carry. Englandâs players bundle on Cokayne as they celebrate. Aitchison misses the conversion which is entirely understandable given the howling wind.
5 min: A superb offload in contact by Muir finds her fellow front rower Botterman and England are storming into the Scots 22. Again Scotland scramble and clear their lines. England immediately attack down the right wing and there is more defending to do for the hosts with a defensive lineout.
4 min: A seriously strong run by Kabeya off the base of the scrum has Scotland backpedalling on Englandâs left. Scotlandâs defence is energetic though and they close things down after Kabeya is brought to earth.
2 min: Despite the weather England build some attacking continuity to begin. Aitchison kicks for touch â it looks like it went out on the full but England get the lineout anyway â and Aldcroft then knocks on after the Red Roses work the ball from right wing to left.
First half kick off!
Letâs go.
The Italian referee, Clara Munarini, looks freezing as she waits for kick-off.
Wassell withdraws for Scotland
Emma Wassell is a late withdrawal from the Scotland pack. Fiona McIntosh takes her place for her Scotland debut.
The teams are out, and we now have rain to add to the wind.
The weather forecast for 3pm is 97% rain and 44mph wind. Spicy!
âWeâre not benchmarking ourselves against England or France,â says Bryan Easson on the BBC, while being buffeted by the wind. âBut we will benchmark our performances [against them].â
âExperience is important today, especially with the weather ⦠weâll have to manage the game.â
Sarah Hunter, now the England defence coach, has a quick chat with the BBC. She is mic-ed up while out on the pitch helping with their warm-up.
âItâs a bit blustery but the same for both sides,â Hunter says of the strong winds in Edinburgh. âWeâve got a plan for playing with the wind and against it ⦠our half-backs will control that for us.
âMarlie hasnât been dropped. Sheâs gone on to the bench. Itâs not based on performance ⦠itâs horses for courses and Marlie has got a great role to play when she comes off the bench.â
The England lock Rosie Galligan has a remarkable back story:
This weekendâs other matches in the Womenâs Six Nations are:
Ireland v Wales (4.45pm today)
France v Italy (12.30pm tomorrow)
Hereâs hoping that France v Italy is as exciting as the menâs version:
Any thoughts on todayâs match? Feel free to email me.
Kick-off is coming up at 2.15pm BST.
Sarah Rendell previews todayâs match. Is this a New England, in view of the new head coach John Mitchell taking the emphasis away from the driving maul?
âThe fallow week presented a moment to reflect on the opening rounds and grow the elements of our game,â the England head coach, John Mitchell, was quoted as saying on the RFU website.
âOur learnings all build towards evolving our performance. We are looking forward to building on this and taking another step forward together against Scotland this weekend.â
Teams
Lana Skeldon, the hooker, and full-back Chloe Rollie return for Scotland, along with Meryl Smith in the centres. For England the headline is the captain, Marlie Packer, starting on the replacementsâ bench: Abbie Ward and Amy Cokayne come in with Zoe Aldcroft switching to blindside flanker and taking the captainâs armband. Emily Scarratt is sidelined by a calf injury.
Scotland: Rollie; Lloyd, Orr, Smith, Grant; Nelson, Mattinson; Bartlett, Skeldon, Belisle, McIntosh, McMillan, Malcolm (capt.), Stewart, Gallagher. Replacements: Wright, Martin, Clarke, McIntosh, McLachlan, McDonald, Thomson, McGhie.
England: Kildunne; Dow, Jones, Heard, Breach; Aitchison, Hunt; Botterman, Cokayne, Muir, Galligan, Ward, Aldcroft (capt.), Kabeya, Matthews. Replacements: Powell, Carson, Clifford, Feaunati, M Packer, L Packer, Harrison, Gregson.
Referee: Clara Munarini (Ita)
Preamble
Who can stop England? The Red Roses have won 26 straight Womenâs Six Nations matches and are two from two in this yearâs tournament under their new head coach, John Mitchell. They have won five consecutive titles and victory today would keep them on course for a grand slam.
Todayâs hosts last defeated England in 1999, so the head-to-head record is hardly encouraging, but on the plus side they will have a Scottish record crowd for womenâs rugby cheering them on: Edinburghâs Hive Stadium is sold out and will be packed with 7,774 supporters (mostly) praying for a win over the Auld Enemy.
Bryan Eassonâs Scotland recorded a narrow victory against Wales in their opening fixture before impressing defensively in a 15-5 loss to France. Mitchellâs England have been aiming to play a more expansive game, so home defending will definitely need to be on point. âIf we stick to the gameplan we want to play we have got nothing to worry about,â said Scotlandâs full-back, Ellie Rollie, this week. Scotland have won two of their past three home matches, and belief wonât be an issue, but a powerful England team remain heavy favourites.
Kick-off: 2.15pm BST
