YORK, England — England climbed to the top of the Women’s Six Nations table with a 38-5 win over Italy on Sunday.
After a dominant first half, England struggled to maintain momentum in the second period, only scoring one try at the very end.
However, with a bonus-point win secured, England’s pursuit of a seventh straight title is off to a winning start.
It is also a year where England will look to win a home World Cup and coach John Mitchell gave valuable playing time to some of his less experienced players including a new look back-three of Claudia MacDonald Mia Venner and Emma Sing.
However, a dominant forward pack which included seasoned veterans like Marlie Packer, Zoe Allcroft, Amy Cokayne and Maud Muir set the platform for the backline to shine in the opening exchanges.
Venner opened the scoring after three minutes as England rolled forward with relative ease, swinging the ball from right to left and cruising through Italy’s defence.
Emily Scarratt, playing in her 117th England Test, added a second three minutes later and the home side were well on their way.
Rosie Galligan was awarded a penalty try 20 minutes in after Italy illegally disrupted a rolling maul. Laura Gurioli was sent to the sin bin for the action. It was already becoming an afternoon to forget for the visitors.
Holly Aitchison then turned on the class a perfect cross-field kick which found MacDonald in acres of space. It seemed anytime England wanted to show their true ability, they could.
Italy did eventually manage to get deep inside England’s half and apply some pressure of their own. It won’t have gone unnoticed by Mitchell that the first time his defence came under sustained pressure, Italy managed to score through Francesca Sgorbini.
Italy showed more resilience to start the second half and made England work for any success.
The visitors built pressure and tested England’s defence, with the home side’s discipline at times costing them too.
Mitchell may have welcomed the challenge and questions that were asked of his side given tougher assignments will follow this year.
Equally, as much as England pushed and probed on attack, they couldn’t find a way through Italy’s defence which looked a completely different outfit after the break.
England looked to have broken the second-half deadlock with less than 10 minutes to play, but the TMO picked up a forward pass in the build-up to Sadia Kabey’s try, which was ruled out.
Fullback Sing eventually found a way through as England moved the ball left to earn their first points of the half.
The try capped off an underwhelming second half but England did what they needed to in pursuit of another Six Nations crown ahead of a visit to Wales next Saturday.
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Source: espn.com