England beat Ireland in front of record Women's Six Nations crowd

England beat Ireland 49-5 in last year's Six Nations [Getty Images]

Women's Six Nations

England (21) 33

Tries: Cokayne, Bern 2, Breach, Kildunne Cons: Rowland 4

Ireland (0) 12

Tries: McGann, King Con: O'Brien

England opened their title defence with a comfortable win over Ireland in front of a record Women's Six Nations crowd of 77,120 at Allianz Stadium.

It was the Red Roses' first match since they became world champions in front of a record women's crowd of 81,885 at Allianz Stadium in September.

Hooker Amy Cokayne crossed for the opening try, with prop Sarah Bern grabbing two first-half scores.

Slick handling then put Ellie Kildunne clear, but unlike her brilliant solo try in the World Cup final, the full-back lost control when attempting to ground the ball in one hand.

Early in the second half, Jess Breach raced onto a kick through to expertly grab the important bonus-point try.

Ireland scored next through replacement Anna McGann, which was cancelled out by an excellent finish from Kildunne.

Captain Erin King bagged the final try of the game as the visitors avoided another heavy defeat by the Red Roses.

John Mitchell's side, who are on a record 34-game winning run, are seeking an eighth straight Six Nations title and fifth Grand Slam in a row.

England will now face Scotland (13:30 BST) at Murrayfield next Saturday, while Ireland host Italy (17:40 BST) in Galway later that day.

Kildunne bounces back from poor error

England delivered a clinical performance to defeat Canada on their last appearance at Allianz Stadium, ending their 11-year wait for a World Cup.

Eight changes from the World Cup final starting XV and a new captain in Megan Jones, who is standing in for pregnant skipper Zoe Stratford, brought a new look to the world champions.

Mitchell has developed his side's attacking game to get his lethal backs on the ball more, but close to the tryline his forwards have remained near unstoppable.

The opening scores came through his pack as Cokayne, who started and scored in the World Cup final, finished off the back of a rampaging maul and Bern powered over from close range.

Bern's second try came after a neat offload from Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, which rewarded the hosts' willingness to play an open and expansive brand of rugby.

Despite dropping what would have been a first-half bonus-point try, Kildunne accelerated on an outside arc and confidently dotted down with one hand.

Kildunne looked dangerous throughout the game to put what was a poor first-half error behind her.

The Red Roses always looked in control of the game but one area of concern will be the loss of another lock after Morwenna Talling was carted off on a stretcher.

World Cup winners Stratford, Abbie Ward and Rosie Galligan, who have all played in the second row under John Mitchell, all recently announced their pregnancies.

More to follow.

Pressure resulted in Kildunne losing control of the ball for what looked a certain try [Getty Images]

Line-ups

England: Kildunne; Breach, Jones (capt), Rowland, Moloney-MacDonald; Aitchison, L Packer; Clifford, Cokayne, Bern, Talling, Ives Campion, Feaunati, Kabeya, Matthews.

Replacements: Powell, Carson, Muir, Lutui, Burton, Hunt, Harrison, Sing.

Ireland: Flood; Parsons, Dalton, Higgins, Elmes Kinlan; O'Brien, Lane; Perry, Moloney-Macdonald, Djougang, Wall, Tuite, Hogan, King (capt), Wafer.

Replacements: Jones, O'Dowd, Cahill, Campbell, Moore, Whelan, McGillivray, McGann.

Match officials

Referee: Clara Munarini (Italy)

Assistant referees: Amber Stamp-Dunstan (Wales) and Berenice Loubet (France)

Television Match Official (TMO): Estelle Whaiapu (New Zealand)