As responses go, this was an emphatic answer to New Zealand’s earlier statement of intent. England scored seven tries in their most authoritative performance to date, squeezing the life out of the USA in Dublin to clinch a third straight victory at the Women’s World Cup and ease into the semi-finals.

Four of their tries came from their much-vaunted driving maul – coach Simon Middleton has been reluctant to show his full hand but at the very least this was England flexing their muscles. It was supposed to be their sternest challenge yet but they cruised through it, for the first hour at any rate.

The USA finished strongly but England’s dominant pack and the shrewd game management of Katy Mclean were too much for their opponents, who have dangerous runners out wide but who could not live with England’s ferocity up front.

For the first time in the tournament they fell just short of 50 points but their ability to shut down the USA’s back three until the match was already won will please Middleton greatly, as will Emily Scarratt’s improved kicking at goal. All things considering it was a fine retort to New Zealand’s 48-5 win over Canada on the same pitch shortly beforehand, which ruled the 2014 finalists out of the last four. The last 20 minutes will cause some concern for the only professional side in the tournament but the USA were hell-bent on a four-try bonus point, England on conserving energy as the competition now heads to Belfast.

“We would have preferred to finish the game better than we did but we were absolutely outstanding in the first half, we were clear in thought and our execution was fantastic,” said Middleton. “We had the job done at half-time. We have achieved our objective, which was to get out of the pool and into a semi-final and we are now looking forward to that challenge.”

The first try came from Scarratt, who got on the end of Mclean’s grubber to overtake the fly-half as England’s record scorer. From then until half time, Mclean and the forwards took over. The USA’s left winger, Kris Thomas, is dangerous going forward but time and again Mclean kicked into her corner, causing her and the fullback, Cheta Emba, all manner of problems going backwards.

England had their second score after 16 minutes, their first from a driving maul, with the referee, Joy Neville, not shy of blowing her whistle throughout, awarding the penalty try and sending the hooker, Kathryn Augustyn, to the sin-bin. The USA were rattled – their sevens stars stunned by England’s line speed – and Marlie Packer added two more similar scores before the half-hour mark.

Ask any England player about their forwards coach, Matt Ferguson, and nothing but praise will follow and there is no doubting he has created a powerful weapon indeed. The scrum, too, was dominant and in Mclean England possess the tournament’s most accomplished fly-half. She spun out of a tackle to add try No5 just before the interval, soon after the USA’s hard-hitting openside, Kate Zackary, had put her side on the scoreboard from close range.

They were staring down the barrel however when Amy Wilson-Hardy finished off an overlap early in the second half, Scarratt converting to make it 40-7. Amy Cokayne then added another try from a driving maul before a rally from the USA in the last 20 minutes.

First Emba went over, then the right winger Naya Tapper. In injury time Thomas scored a superb try, bursting clear down the left, then cutting inside before arcing back towards the corner for the bonus point.

For all that sevens speedsters have brought pace to the tournament, England’s forward muscle will take some stopping in the knockout stages.