England secure Women's Six Nations Grand Slam with emphatic victory in Italy
Italy 0 England 54
After half an hour at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma, it was clear that England’s meeting with Italy was becoming a victory march towards the Grand Slam. It wasn’t just that the Red Roses had scored three out of an eventual eight tries, the tackle count told the story in stark fashion. The Azzurre had to put in 70 compared to just 17 from England in the opening 30 minutes.
A vibrant start saw full-back Ellie Kildunne, in her first international XVs match back after having been made redundant from the sevens programme, run over for a try after four minutes. Back-row Poppy Cleall and Emily Scarratt, the reigning World Player of the Year, then followed with tries before the half hour mark - the latter making a darting run through the Italian defence.
A second Grand Slam in a row shows that professionalism is working well for England’s women. But the glaring gaps are not good for the viability of the game, particularly as Six Nations organisers are still in the hunt for a title sponsor for the women’s tournament. Over the course of five games, England conceded only 20 points and this victory over Italy was the third where Simon Middleton’s side didn’t concede a single point, with Scotland and Ireland also held scoreless. A fantastic achievement for English women’s rugby but Middleton is acutely aware of how a more level playing field would make the game more appealing.
“It would be fantastic if all the other unions could do what we are doing. It is really challenging for us, we have made a real statement of where we see the women’s game,” he said. “It is a priority for us as an organisation. We would love to be able to have a Saturday like yesterday where you have three teams going for the Six Nations [Championship]. We would love to have that but we can only deal with the cards we are dealt, unfortunately.”
Despite the skewed nature of the Women’s Six Nations – victory over Italy was an important marker for England – not only as they go in search of reclaiming the World Cup from holders and hosts New Zealand next year but also in the fact they were the only women's side to complete all their games. France versus Ireland and Wales versus Scotland were called off before the weekend due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in the French camp. Scotland and Italy will also meet in December.
Second row and player of the match Abbie Ward sealed the bonus point with a try just before the interval. The 27-year-old, who did not think she would get to be part of England’s 2020 Six Nations campaign due to a long term injury, was relieved she and her team-mates could complete all their fixtures. “It has been very surreal, I didn’t think I would have had a chance to be involved. Hats off to everyone behind the scenes to get this finished. It was a very emotional day. The pressure was on for us to finish the Six Nations and to finish it on our terms” she said.
After a scrappy 20 minutes following the interval – the bench showed England’s strength and depth. The scoring was rounded out by prop Sarah Bern, wing Jess Breach and flanker Marlie Packer.
Match details
Scoring: 0-5 Kildunne try, 0-7 Scarratt con; 0-12 Cleall try, 0-14 Scarratt con; 0-19 Scarratt try, 0-21 Scarratt con; 0-26 Ward try, 0-28 Scarratt con; 0-33 Bern try, 0-35 Scarratt con; 0-40 Breach try; 0-45 L Riley try, 0-47 Harrison con; 0-52 Packer try, 0-54 Harrison con.
Italy: M Furlan (V Ostuni Minuzzi 53), M Magatti, M Sillari, B Rigoni, S Stefan, V Madia (B Mancini 73), S Barattin (A Muzzo 60); S Turani (E Skofca 60), M Bettoni (G Cerato 77), L Gai, V Fedrighi (S Tounesi 28-38, 60), G Duca (M Merlo 79), F Sgorbini, G Franco, E Giordano.
England: E Kildunne, J Breach, E Scarratt (Z Harrison 61), A Reed, A Dow, K Daley-Mclean (H Rowland 60), C MacDonald (L Riley 61); V Cornborough (D Harper 60), L Davies (A Cokayne 56), S Bern (S Brown 59), A Ward, M Talling, P Cleall (A Matthews 56), M Packer (A Matthews 14-20), S Beckett (H Millar-Mills 60).
Referee: Aurelie Groizeleau (France)
