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There is an alternate universe where Meg Jones played the Six Nations clash between England and Wales in a red shirt instead of a white one. The Red Roses captain was born in Cardiff and can speak fluent Welsh but she chose to play for England, being qualified through her mother. That decision is surely one of the most important to England’s current form with Jones an integral and irreplaceable cog in the Red Roses machine.

Jones was named skipper before the Six Nations with Zoe Stratford pregnant and she has more than stepped to the plate. The 2025 World Rugby player of the year nominee has scored in two of the three opening matches of the tournament, bagging two against Wales at a sold-out Ashton Gate. Not only is she getting herself on the scoresheet, she is also proving to be the linchpin in most of the side’s attacking moves. Off pitch she is also inspiring the next generation, speaking candidly about the grief she has experienced after losing both of her parents in 2024. Jones said in the buildup to the game this particular match means that much more now and she displayed that on the pitch with another stellar performance.

Jones and her team may have inflicted their 11th consecutive win over Wales, despite losing Sadia Kabeya to injury after 21 minutes, but the team have clearly improved under Sean Lynn. Wales secured a bonus-point with four tries, the final one coming from Seren Lockwood. The 24 points scored by the visitors was the most they had ever recorded against England and was 12 more than they had in their previous encounter at last year’s Six Nations.

The area seeing the most progress is their mentality as they remained in the fight and in doing so closed the gap to their rivals but their defence is where they need to improve as they only conceded five fewer points than their last game against the Red Roses. At the heart of the performance was the scrum-half Keira Bevan, who scored a try and kept an energetic tempo.

Wales were also boosted by the return of the experienced back-row Alisha Joyce who started from the bench but came on in the 54th minute to play her first international match since giving birth to her son, Ralphie, just 158 days ago.

Marlie Packer sparked life into England in the early phases with a great break and a charge down but it was Maddie Feaunati who got over the line first. Debutant Millie David scored next but her first cap was cut short after she failed a head injury assessment. Tries were exchanged, including quality team try seeing Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Ellie Kildunne combine to send Jones through for her second, to see England 29-12 ahead at the break.

The Red Roses ran away with the game in the second half which was sparked by tries from Amy Cokayne and Moloney-MacDonald. A beautiful pass from Holly Aitchison saw the replacement wing Jess Breach over with the former captain Packer, who played her first full 80 minutes for England since the Samoa game at the Rugby World Cup, adding her second of the game. The replacement prop Maud Muir rounded off the scores to ensure England continued their winning streak, now up to 36 across all competitions.

Wales will have to sit with the hurt of losing to their rivals for two weeks with the fallow week of the competition coming next weekend. Lynn’s side will next play Ireland on 9 May when the tournament returns, while the Red Roses continue their title defence against Italy. The Red Roses have bagged the triple crown, now two games stand between them and an eighth consecutive Six Nations trophy.