England Women 42 Scotland Women 13

Winger Ruth Laybourn scored the first of her three tries after 58 seconds, woman of the match Tamara Taylor grabbed the second three minutes later and Katy McLean had a hand in both.

A crowd of 7,620 braved the numbing temperatures, with traffic congestion leaving an estimated 2,000 still outside the ground when the men's Under 20s curtain-raiser kicked off at 5.30.

The tailback on the Darlington by-pass was an obvious result of Mowden's massive effort in selling the game, with marketing boss Lee Rust saying: "It's not just about the club. It's for the region and to show the RFU there's a big market for rugby up here. We had great support from the council, plus our sponsors and partners."

While many rugby clubs which regularly used to field four men's teams now struggle to put out a second XV, the women's game is booming, even in countries like the USA, Mexico and India. Worldwide participation figures rose from 1.5 to 1.77 million last year.

The main things distinguishing this from the men's game were the plethora of ponytails and the willingness to move the ball through the hands.

Perhaps the latter stems from the tackles not going in as hard, but the game is all the more enjoyable for that and the only worry is that the advent of women's professionalism will lead to greater physicality.

One Scotland prop could have been described as slightly rotund, but she was mobile enough and the overall impression was of 30 athletes keen to display their running and handling skills.

The Sharks have come an incredibly long way since moving from Thirsk to Mowden and they also had three who went on from the bench in Heather Kerr, Abbie Scott and Fiona Davidson, who had an immediate impact when she went on at scrum half after 60 minutes.

To provide both the England captain (McLean) and the vice-captain (Taylor) is a huge feather in the Sharks' cap and the only disappointment on a proud night for McLean was that she missed all five conversions before handing over the kicking duties.

The first attack she launched saw the ball moved sweetly out to Laybourn on the right wing. Covering the last 20 metres was no formality, but she skilfully evaded two tackles to stretch over in the corner.

Scotland came straight back with the first of two penalties by Nuala Deans, who plays for Wasps while most of her team-mates are still based north of the border.

Then came the early highlight with McLean making the running before putting her vice-captain through a gap five metres out. Taylor might be the second most famous product of Dunston after Paul Gascoigne, but although she took her try well it will not prompt any phone hacking by a national tabloid.

England resorted to male tactics with close-range tries from their props, Justine Lucas (Lichfield) and Rochelle Clark (Worcester) to lead 20-6 at half-time.

To huge roars McLean twice went within inches of scoring before the ball was shipped out for tries by full back Fiona Pocock (Richmond) and Laybourn.

Scotland winger Eilidh Sinclair nipped over inbetween, but Worcester winger Lydia Thompson went under the posts for replacement Amber Reed (Bristol) to kick England's only conversion. Laybourn again finished well for the eighth try, completing her hat-trick.

Kerr went on for her first cap shortly before McLean retired to warm applause with ten minutes left. Despite their opening defeat by Wales, her team are still in the running for the Six Nations title.

Taylor said: "It was an amazing experience to play an international on our home ground. I'm not a great try scorer so for me to score so early in the game was a bit of a surprise. Then I looked up and saw my parents and some kids I have coached.

"It has been a fantastic night and shows how much women's rugby is growing in the North-East. For the Sharks to have six players on the pitch proves how far we have come. I was so pleased for Abbie to get on for the first time."