Red Roses master conditions and sidestep Scots to set up France semi-final

As rain sheeted down on the Ashton Gate roof, it was clear this was an afternoon for making progress, rather than statements.

New Zealand hit their straps against Ireland last weekend, winning 40-0. Canada underlined their title credentials with a superb performance against Australia on Saturday.

And England?

Well, England cruised through the pool stages below full cylinders.

While United States, Samoa and Australia were all comprehensively beaten, the Red Roses are working to their own internal higher standards.

When you have won 30 straight matches, you have to.

Head coach John Mitchell has pointed to a little untidiness here, some slack hands there, and periods where England have been slow to start or let up the pressure on the accelerator.

On another day, under a different sky, an eager and enterprising Scotland might have been ideal opponents for England to show off the polished 80-minute, all-court performance we have yet to see at the World Cup.

As it was, near-monsoon conditions on this quarter-final Sunday washed those ideas down the drain. England racked up win number 31 in their growing list and got out of here.

Her range of passing put the ever-impressive Meg Jones into a hole, before another lovely wide ball gave Abby Dow space to scamper in for her 50th England try.

Aitchison slid in during the second half herself after Zoe Harrison, off the bench to reclaim the 10 shirt, slipped her a smart inside ball.

On another attack, Aitchison put boot to ball, attempting to pick out Dow with a cross-field bomb.

That was overcooked. And perhaps over-ambitious.

“She was a bit rusty early on I thought and then she grew into the match,” said Mitchell of Aitchison.

“Then when she went to inside centre she was around that line break [that led to Scotland’s late try] so there are a couple of things for her to fix up.

Ultimately, whatever aspirations England had to push the envelope, it made more sense to shove it up the jumper.

No team is better suited to the close-quarters combat.

Morwenna Talling was named player of the match, but second-row partner Rosie Galligan, crashing across the gain line again and again, can’t have been far behind.

Captain Zoe Aldcroft, back for the first time since the tournament opener after a knee injury, put to bed any fitness doubts with a performance of fury and accuracy.

Sadia Kabeya topped the game’s tackle count with 20, a remarkable statistic considering England had 55% of possession as well.

Maud Muir was immense, while Kelsey Clifford filled in ably for the injured Hannah Botterman at loose-head, bashing over for two tries.

Much of the focus in the build-up had been on Helena Rowland.

Ellie Kildunne, whose concussion symptoms must have eased judging by the way she was whacking a pitchside drum, has more obvious stardust to her game.

The step, the spurt of speed, the top-end pace are matched by few in the game.

They make up the highlight-reel content that makes Kildunne a world player of the year.

But Rowland has subtler gifts.

The way she cut in late on one first-half pass from Jones, taking her past Scotland’s Rhona Lloyd and Chloe Rollie before they had realised where they were, was a prime example.

She is also alert in the backfield and, in contrast to last week where Australia poked holes with kicks, Rowland ably fielded whatever Loughborough Lightning team-mate Helen Nelson pinged her way.

Mitchell enjoyed those small details and his side’s pragmatism.

“I thought it was a terrific performance,” he told BBC Sport.

“We put them in their own half, we kept them there and we broke them and built pressure on them with set-piece – frequently.

France dealt with similar conditions in Exeter against Ireland and, by a smaller margin, also found a way through the maelstrom. It is they who England must tackle next.

The long-range forecast for next Saturday in Bristol, for what it is worth, is wet again.