I don't think I've ever seen Women's rugby before so, accompanied by all the obvious prejudices, I went along to Sunbury interested to see what it was like.

Despite it being an international, the atmosphere was a throwback to days gone by. Ticket sales were from a table near the gate, the programme was only one pound and we weren't assailed by hordes of people trying to sell us stuff!

The crowd was a traditionally joyful rugby crowd too with lots of beer being consumed and plenty of banter with people you'd never met. Even the chef in the burger van was involved in the game, crying "Great try!" and craning his neck to see rather than serving my chips!

We took our seats in time to see England A being overrun by the Nomads in the curtain-raiser, which I feared could be a bad omen for the main match. This game was quickly followed, without too much fuss, by the teams coming out for the National Anthems sung with much gusto on both sides.

England kicked off and showed intent by winning the ball and setting up a strong maul which Wales had to bring down illegally to stop. The ensuing kick set up an England line out 7m out from the Welsh try-line. Wales won the English throw. A poor clearance and England knock-on led to a Welsh scrum just inside their own 22. In that passage of play lay two of the keys to the game. England losing their own line-out and dominating in the scrum. England drove this first scrum back and won a penalty in the next shortly after as the Welsh front row collapsed under the pressure.

Ten minutes of relatively scrappy play, lost line outs, knock ons and scrums found England with a penalty just short of 10m out. A quick tap put Charlotte Barras, England's full-back in under the posts, converted by Katy McLean for 7 - 0.

Another succession of penalties ended with England penalty on the Welsh 10m line kicked to the 22. England won the line out and Wales had no answer to the strong England maul which moved quickly to the Welsh 5m line. The England No.8 and Captain, Catherine Spencer peeled from the back and staying close to the maul crossed for the second try. 12 - 0.

The Welsh kick-off was returned by a long kick which went over the heads of the whole Welsh team. It bounced twice into the 22 before being recovered by the Full-back Non Evans. Challenged strongly by England's Left Wing, Michaela Staniford the ball came free and was carried over for a try by Flanker Sarah Hunter, converted by McLean for 19 - 0.

Now the England team was starting to buzz with confidence. A nice dummy from Right Wing Danielle Waterman followed by a perfect tip pass from Centre Rachael Burford to put her Centre partner Claire Allan in the right-hand corner. 24 - 0.

The clock ran to half time without further score, England's drift defence giving the Welsh back-line no room to run.

Wales second half restart went straight out . England was turned at the scrum, but then won the next against the head. Scrum-half Amy Turner broke away and passed to Open-side Margaret Alphonsi who was becoming increasingly influential. England won a lineout on the 5m line and drove to 2m before Wales pulled it down. England chose to scrum, passed the ball all the way down the line before the tiniest show of the ball by Allan opened up the Welsh line to allow her in for her second try, successfully converted by McLean for 31 - 0.

There was no lack of effort or commitment from Wales but they didn't seem able to get any consistency. England's positional discipline was stronger which made it hard for the Welsh backs to make progress. A Welsh dropped ball was hacked on by Burford from the Welsh 22 and Danielle Waterman beat two defenders to the ball to touch down for 36 - 0.

Five England substitutions mixed things up, but didn't seem to disrupt England's concentration. After barely a minute on the pitch, replacement full-back Victoria Massarella gave a little show allowing Claire Allan in for her third and 41 - 0.

Five more minutes, two Welsh substitutions and a further one from England and the play broke up for a while. Running strongly from inside the England half, the ball passed through six pairs of England hands before Wales ran out of tacklers and new Right Wing Katherine Merchant went under the posts. Converted by replacement fly-half Alice Richardson the score was now 48 - 0.

England's final substitution and two more Welsh replacements came on with 15 minutes to go.

Another loose ball, hacked on by England was recovered by Alphonsi, who now seemed to be involved in everything. A nice pass to her opposite flanker and Jane Leonard crossed for England's final try converted by Richardson.

Wales never gave up. Non Richards put in a great run which would almost certainly have led to a score had she not just been hauled back by a despairing grab at her back. But in the end it was England's day as a result of dominance in the scrum and resilient defence.

So where does that leave me and my prejudices? Yes, the game was slower than a top-flight men's game, but some of the skills on display were as good as you could hope to see and there was no faulting the players' commitment or fitness.

In summary, great atmosphere, a fun if rather one-sided game and real and obvious team-spirit. I really enjoyed it and would happily go again or recommend it if asked.

One last prejudice to deal with? No, they didn't swap shirts!

Note from the photographer at the game - thanks to Julia Hutton for the Media Pass. The Women were great fun to photograph. The team spirit in the England team could teach the men a lesson. Catherine Spencer led from the front as evidenced by her presence in so many of my photos. If you want to see all the photos from the game can be found here: England Women vs Wales

Claire Jones - Unofficial England Rugby Photographer

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