England (15) 39 – 7 (7) Italy
England – Tries: Matthews, Scott, Large, Mclean, Gallagher, Wilson
Cons: Mclean 2, Goddard
Pen: Mclean
Italy – Try: Severin
Conv: Sillari
A strong second half performance from England saw them beat Italy 39-7 at The Stoop to record their first victory of this year’s 6 Nations.
Italy started powerfully and Severin crossed for the first try of the game in answer to an early Katy Mclean penalty. The Sillari added the conversion and Italy led 7-3 early in the game.
However, that was as good as it got for the Italians, as first Alexandra Matthews and then Abbie Scott crossed the line following periods of sustained England pressure to make the score 15-7 to the hosts at half-time.A strong second half performance from England saw them beat Italy 39-7 at The Stoop to record their first victory of this year’s 6 Nations. Italy started powerfully and crossed for the first try of the game in answer to an early Katy Mclean penalty. The conversion was added and Italy led 7-3 early in the game.
The World Champions cut loose in the second half with some fine further tries from Ceri Large, Mclean, Hannah Gallagher and Kay Wilson. The pick of the scores came from openside Gallagher, who was impressive throughout. Gallagher cut a superb line to wrong foot the Italian defence and canter in from 25m out.
The win was a welcome boost for England after their opening day defeat to Wales in Swansea but it is to be borne in mind that this is very much a new England side and they have brought through youngsters like Amy Cokayne since a lot of more experienced players have been involved with the Sevens tournament. Only Katy Mclean was brought back for this test and her experience added massively to getting the back row going. The willingness to play with the ball in hand bodes very well for this young side and as they grow together the errors will be ironed out. We look forward to the next test against Ireland in two weeks time.
England Women
15. Kay Wilson (Thurrock)
14. Ruth Laybourn (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)
13. Abigail Brown (Bristol)
12. Ceri Large (Worcester)
11. Sydney Gregson (Bristol)
10. Katy Mclean (vice-captain, Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)
9. Bianca Blackburn (Worcester)
1. Rochelle Clark (Worcester)
2. Victoria Fleetwood (Saracens)
3. Laura Keates (Worcester)
4 Tamara Taylor (captain, Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)
5. Abbie Scott (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)
6. Alexandra Matthews (Richmond)
7. Hannah Gallagher (Saracens)
8. Harriet Millar-Mills (Waterloo)
Replacements: 16. Amy Cokayne (Lichfield)*, 17. Victoria Cornborough (Richmond), 18. Justine Lucas (Lichfield), 19. Rowena Burnfield (Richmond), 20. Hannah Field (Richmond), 21. Fiona Davidson (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 22. Megan Goddard (Worcester), 23. Sarah McKenna (Saracens) *denotes new cap
The two other 6 Nations scores are:
Wales 30 – 3 Scotland
France 10 – 5 Ireland
Remaining England Women Six Nations fixtures
Friday 27 February – Ireland vs England, kick-off 7.30pm, Asbourne RFC. Live stream by IRFU
Friday, 13 March – England vs Scotland, kick-off 7.35pm, the Northen Echo Arena, Darlington. Live on Sky Sports.
Saturday, 21 March – England vs France, KO 7.20pm, Twickenham Stadium. Live on the BBC red button.
