EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — England thrashed Scotland 84-7 at Murrayfield and France put down Wales 38-7 at Cardiff Arms Park in sun-drenched Women's Six Nations rugby on Saturday.
The only two unbeaten teams after two rounds remained on track to meet in a Grand Slam decider in the last round in Bordeaux in a month.
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England's Marlie Packer, center, celebrates scoring her side's ninth try of the game, during the Women's Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday April 18, 2026. (Ewan Bootman/PA via AP)
England's Megan Jones scores a try during the Women's Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday April 18, 2026. (Ewan Bootman/PA via AP)
England's Maud Muir is tackled by Scotland's Rachel Malcolm, left, and Lana Skeldon during the Women's Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday April 18, 2026. (Ewan Bootman/PA via AP)
England's Sadia Kabeya breaks from Scotland's Rachel Malcolm during the Women's Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday April 18, 2026. (Ewan Bootman/PA via AP)
Ireland could yet spoil France's chances when they play in Clermont-Ferrand next weekend after beating Italy by a record 57-20 in Galway.
The tournament continued to draw record crowds. The 30,498 at Murrayfield was the biggest standalone crowd in Scottish women's sports history.
England's 35th successive test victory was expected but not the scoreline.
The English were rusty in beating Ireland 33-12 at Twickenham last weekend. Injuries then stripped them of three more World Cup winners this week. Back-rower Abi Burton had to lock for the first time, 19-year-old back-rower Demelza Short debuted, and Emma Sing got a shot at fullback, bumping Ellie Kildunne to the wing.
They unleashed a clinic: 12 converted tries from 18 visits to the Scotland 22.
No. 8 Maddie Feaunati was a relentless dynamo, the player of the match, supported by Sadia Kabeya, prop Maud Muir on the occasion of her 50th test, slick scrumhalf Lucy Packer, Zoe Harrison, captain Megan Jones and Sing.
The tries were shared by 10 players including Kildunne, whose brace gave her 50 in 59 tests, former captain Marlie Packer's 53rd, and for other replacements Sarah Bern, Mia Venner and Haineala Lutui.
“That was a special performance,” England coach John Mitchell said. “There's been a lot of moving parts over the last few weeks, with some serious injuries.”
England is the only team in Six Nations history to score 80+, and for a seventh time. This was the fourth highest tally and third 80-pointer against Scotland.
“Where we are in our cycle, England aren't a team that we are ready to compete with,” Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm said. “We created some pretty cool chances but we didn't stop them enough times.”
France wondered how it could be 7-7 at halftime.
Ironically, France had to lose two players to fire up. Prop Yllana Brosseau was sin-binned for giving away four penalties in the first 14 minutes, and moments later scrumhalf Pauline Bourdon Sansus joined her for collapsing a Welsh rolling maul and conceding a penalty try.
France's 13 played tighter and scored through lock Madoussou Fall Raclot. For the rest of the half Wales was disciplined and tough defensively.
But the resistance was broken after halftime. France captain Manaé Feleu finished a break by Aubane Rousset. Then when Wales' Gwen Crabb was yellow-carded, Bourdon Sansus set up Léa Murie's try and touched down untouched herself within five minutes.
The score blew out with a late brace for wing Anaïs Grando in her second test.
“We need to better prepare our starts,” Fall Raclot said. “We've had two close games now and that can't happen again. We were able to talk to each other, get back together, and in the end we got the job done.”
The Irish rebounded from a uptight opening performance against England with a dazzling effort in their first test in Galway. They attracted 9,206 to Connacht's 12,500-capacity stadium.
Winger Beibhinn Parsons, who made her Ireland debut at 16 in 2018, took the chance to play a first test at her home ground by grabbing a hat trick of tries. Fellow wing Robyn O'Connor, from the sevens program, scored on debut, the bonus-point fourth try in just the 23rd minute.
No. 8 Aoife Wafer, last year's Six Nations MVP, overcame her quiet start to the championship with an impressive 12 carries, eight tackles, one turnover and a try in a 53-minute shift.
Ireland led 45-10 at halftime. Italy rallied for a four-try bonus point but nine-try Ireland beat its previous high against Italy, 54 a year ago.
Coach Scott Bemand turned his attention to toppling France in France for the first time next Saturday.
“There are some things to tidy up from today but if we get those bits right we know we can put in a performance to compete with the French,” Bemand said. “We think we are getting better.”
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England's Marlie Packer, center, celebrates scoring her side's ninth try of the game, during the Women's Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday April 18, 2026. (Ewan Bootman/PA via AP)
England's Megan Jones scores a try during the Women's Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday April 18, 2026. (Ewan Bootman/PA via AP)
England's Maud Muir is tackled by Scotland's Rachel Malcolm, left, and Lana Skeldon during the Women's Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday April 18, 2026. (Ewan Bootman/PA via AP)
England's Sadia Kabeya breaks from Scotland's Rachel Malcolm during the Women's Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday April 18, 2026. (Ewan Bootman/PA via AP)
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Progressive leaders from around the globe gathered in Barcelona on Saturday to try and galvanize their forces and defend the multilateral rules-based order in a world turning to the right and violently torn by superpowers.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, an outspoken critic of U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, hosted two overlapping events about democracy and progressive politics in Spain’s second-largest city.
Democrats U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were both present alongside the leaders of Brazil, South Africa and high-ranking officials from other left-leaning governments.
While no foreign leader criticized Trump by name in public, the staunchly unilateral position of the American president that breaks with decades of U.S. foreign policy, including his derision of NATO and the United Nations, hung over the meetings.
“We all see the attacks against the multilateral system, the repeated attempts to undermine international law and the dangerous normalization of the use of force,” Sánchez said.
Trump again lashed out on Saturday on social media at Sánchez, who has faced Trump’s scorn for not allowing the U.S. to use jointly operated military bases in Spain for operations related to the Iran war and for refusing to raise military spending from 2% to 5% of GDP.
“Has anybody looked at how badly the country of Spain is doing. Their financial numbers, despite contributing almost nothing to NATO and their military defense, are absolutely horrendous. Sad to watch!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Spain, like the U.S. and other developed countries, is in debt, but it has one of the world’s leading economies under Sánchez.
Sánchez told the rally of progressive politicians and party members held later on Saturday that the populist right “screams and shouts not because they are winning but because they know their time is running out.
“They know their vision of how the world should be ordered is falling apart due to the tariffs and wars,” he said. “Their embrace of climate change denial, of xenophobia, or sexism is their greatest error.
“They have tried again and again to make us embarrassed of our beliefs. That ends now. From now on they can be the ones who feel ashamed.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and other leaders and officials, including Cabinet members from the United Kingdom and Germany, were in attendance at the IV Meeting in Defense of Democracy that kicked off Saturday's double-header of political events at the Barcelona convention center.
Later in the day, Sánchez, Lula and Ramaphosa stayed put to attend the inaugural Global Progressive Mobilization, where some 6,000 left-leaning elected officials, policy analysts and activists exchanged ideas.
“The far right is international, so we must be too,” German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil told a crowd of activists.
Sen. Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, spoke at the progressive rally and he didn’t shy away from blasting Trump while celebrating the loss of power of Trump's ally Viktor Orbán in elections in Hungary last week.
“Donald Trump is out to end our democracy,” Murphy said. “We are not on the verge of a totalitarian takeover, we are in the middle of it.”
But, he said, “Americans are watching what is happening across the world, and the victory in Hungary just one week ago lifted our sails.”
Walz, Kamala Harris' vice presidential candidate who has faced a violent ICE migration crackdown in Minnesota, threw barbs at U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who campaigned for Orbán and has backed far-right parties in Europe.
“Unlike our current vice president, I’m not here to arrogantly lecture or scold you, I am not here to pick a fight with the Pope or host a rally for any local wannabe authoritarians,” Walz said.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders all sent video messages played at the rally.
Among concrete proposals to come from the events, Ramaphosa said South Africa will present a draft resolution to establish an International Panel on Inequality, aiming to tackle the growing wealth gap both within and between nations, to the U.N. General Assembly in September.
Sheinbaum plugged her idea that governments commit to spending the equivalent of 10% of their military budgets on reforestation projects.
“Each year, instead of planting the seeds of war, we will plant the seeds of life,” she said.
Sánchez argued for the importance of regulating social media to stop the spread of hate speech and disinformation. His government also said that it is working with Lula's Brazil on a tax for the ultrarich.
Lula, who met with Sánchez in a bilateral summit on Friday in Barcelona, kept the focus on how to invigorate the progressive moment. He avoided naming Trump except when he called for U.N. Security Council members to “fulfill their obligation and guarantee peace.”
“Stop this madness of war because the world cannot bear any more wars,” Lula said.
Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., delivers a speech at the Global Progressive Mobilisation summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, left, reacts next to Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the end of the Global Progressive Mobilisation summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., delivers a speech at the Global Progressive Mobilisation summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, center, applauds as he poses with attendees at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit, in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, center, poses with attendees, at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, center, poses for a photo next to Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left, and his wife wife Rosangela Lula da Silva, at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit, in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, right, greets Colombia's President Gustavo Petro at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, right, greets Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, center, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center left, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, second right, Uruguay's President Yamandu Orsi, left, and Chile's former President Gabriel Boric, right, attend the Meeting in Defence of Democracy summit in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
