Jess Breach plundered a hat-trick as England continued their march through the Rugby World Cup group stage by overwhelming Samoa 92-3 at Franklin’s Gardens.
The mismatch between professionals and amateurs produced a predictable outcome with the Red Roses registering a 29th successive victory, sending records tumbling in the process.
It was their highest number of points scored in a World Cup match and their biggest margin of victory, while player of the match Helena Rowland’s individual haul of 27 points was the most in the nation’s history.
Rowland carved out her own slice of Red Roses history with the final act of the game when she converted Claudia Moloney-MacDonald’s try that was scored on the stroke of full-time.
Breach led the charge by lifting her total of Test tries to 52 with a trio of classy finishes and there was an eye-catching double from Megan Jones as England crossed 14 times against opponents ranked 15th in the world.
The win came even though head coach John Mitchell had made 13 changes to the starting XV after the United States had been thrashed in the tournament opener.
Samoa’s head coach Ramsey Tomokino described the showdown against a side that has never lost a World Cup group game as “mission impossible” and it took just 172 seconds for the size of the task to hit home.
The Islanders’ early tackling was ferocious but their organisation failed to match their intent, especially in the wider channels where Jones was the first over in the third minute before Breach showed her pace to finish in the right corner.
The drizzle at a gloomy Franklin’s Gardens took a toll on both sides’ handling, but the flow of points from England did not let up with Sarah Bern burrowing over from close range before Jones added her second.
The Red Roses were being presented with acres of space to attack, while their scrum was also dominant and when Maddie Feaunati and Lark Atkin-Davies touched down to reward the power of their pack, the lead grew to 40-0 with 30 minutes on the clock.
Samoa were being run ragged and were already showing signs of tiring, struggling to cope with the variety of their opponents’ play.
Lucy Packer added England’s seventh try, but the first-half finished with the Islanders on the rampage with fly-half Harmony Vatau and number eight Nina Foaese carrying hard.
The arrival of replacement tighthead Tori Losefo in the 33rd minute had steadied Samoa’s scrum and early in the second half they won a penalty at the set-piece that was slotted by Vatau, igniting wild celebrations on the field.
England then had to roll their sleeves up in defence and having weathered the storm, they advanced downfield to score through Kelsey Clifford before Breach went over for her second.
Rowland stuck and converted her own try, putting her joint level with Nicky Crawford and Sue Day as England’s record points scorer in a World Cup game on 25, but she was unable to push clear by failing to improve touch downs by Marlie Packer and Breach.
When Moloney-MacDonald crossed in the 80th minute, she had one last chance to nail the record and over went the touchline conversion.
