England's immense defensive effort against Ireland impressed head coach Simon Middleton as the Red Roses remained on track for back-to-back Grand Slam titles.

The defending Women’s Six Nations champions blitzed the first half at Doncaster’s Castle Park, scoring four tries to wrap up the bonus point by the interval.

Captain Sarah Hunter was the first to dot down in front of the sell-out 5,000 crowd and her try was quickly followed by scores from Abby Dow, Jess Breach and Vicky Fleetwood.  

After the break, Ireland were able to stop the hosts in attack and limited England to just one try as Sarah McKenna crossed over to seal a 27-0 victory.

Despite putting out a resolute defensive performance, Middleton was left frustrated by the lack of attacking flair in the second half.

“It was a really tough game and both sides defended fantastically well, I’m absolutely thrilled with the way that we defended,” Middleton said.

“In the first half, we played some great rugby, attacked really well, attacked in different ways and gave ourselves a platform to play off and kick on from.

“But we didn’t execute in the second half and from an attacking point of view that was very disappointing.

“We didn’t look fluid in the second half but at the same time we put a first half together.

“I’m scratching my head a little bit about that second half as it’s probably the worst in attack we’ve been for quite a long time and we just didn’t look like we had the right amount of discipline with the ball.”

With three victories from three in this year’s championship, England sit top of the standings with two matches remaining and the Grand Slam in sight.

The Red Roses host Wales at the Twickenham Stoop in round four and captain Hunter believes there is still more to come from her side in attack.

“We’ve been chomping at the bit to get back on home soil and there’s no better place to come than Doncaster as we’ve been a few times and it feels like home,” Hunter added.

“We are a bit frustrated with our performance. I can’t fault our defence, I thought our defence was outstanding, but we were probably a little bit loose with the ball. 

“We knew Ireland were going to be tough, they frustrated us and maybe we didn’t respect them enough.

“We won, we’re happy with the win and we’ve got to keep winning to win the championship, but we’re going to have to look at that and see where we need to sharpen up a little bit, especially in attack.”