Key events
Final score: England 38-5 Italy
83 mins: It ends with a knock-on, and England bank the anticipated win thanks to a convincing first-half display and a much-inferior-but-still-impressively-resolute-when-it-had-to-be second-half performance.
82 mins: Italy win a penalty but take it fast and run with it. They want a second try and are moving – very slowly – towards one …
80 mins: As the clock ticks past 80 minutes England knock on but Italy collect the ball and play on. They’re a long way out, only just inside the England half.
TRY! England 38-5 Italy (Sing, 79 mins)
And nobody’s disallowing this one! From a right-wing lineout England eventually cross the line a few yards from the other touchline, moving the ball too quickly for the Italy defence, and Emma Sing touches down! She gets up to miskick her conversion attempt.
78 mins: England are pushing now, trying to get some points on the board before the half is done. They’re in front of the posts as I type, five yards out.
76 mins: Another England attack ends with a forward pass, only over a distance of about a foot into Hannah Botterman, but they all count.
73 mins: Another disallowed try! Sarah Bern crashes her way through three tackles, and from there England work it wide to Sadia Kabeya, who goes over – but there was a forward pass from Holly Aitchison earlier in the move, and it’s chalked off.
70 mins: Again it’s Italy on the attack, but again England hold them at bay and eventually they win a penalty and kick clear.
67 mins: A huge cheer from a crowd that had become very quiet over this rather dreary half, as Keighley’s Ellie Kildunne comes on.
65 mins: Another England attack ends with a knock-on, this time from Venner.
61 mins: And there’s another, Rowland taking much too long over her kick and hitting it into two blue shirts.
60 mins: Halfway through the second half, and the scoreline remains unchanged since the interval. Italy are much improved, for sure, but England have taken too many unnecessary mistakes.
56 mins: England win the ball from the lineout and work the ball over to the right, but Sadia Kabeya, just on as a replacement, is penalised for rolling forwards after being tackled and Italy will have the ball.
55 mins: England have got out of their half now, but eventually a long pass wide to Feaunati is too loopy and just inaccurate, ends the momentum, and two defenders gang up to shove her into touch.
52 mins: An Italy knock-on gives England a scrum on the 10-yard line. They haven’t had any attacking possession at all this half, haven’t even been out of their half.
49 mins: England have yet to settle into this half, and Italy continue to threaten to take advantage. This time their attack ends with Stefan chipping a kick just beyond the tryline, but it’s England’s Lucy Packer who gets there first to ground it.
48 mins: Italy bring Vecchini back on for Gurioli. The England and Italy both knock the ball on in the space of about a second – England did it first, so Italy have the scrum.
46 mins: Sgorbini scores another try! Only just, mind – the ball lands on half of the line, but that’ll do. Rigoni messes up the conversion again. But then the TMO gets involved, and the try is eventually scrubbed out because Veronese was guilty of obstruction from the lineout.
45 mins: England get the chance to kick clear but Rowland makes a hash of it, and Italy have a five-yard lineout.
44 mins: Great play for Italy, who work the ball with real pace from right to left, get it over the tryline, but are then unable to ground it as England hold them up.
42 mins: A hugely error-prone opening minute to the second half ends with a knock-on and an Italy scrum.
41 mins: England have indeed started the second half.
The players are back out, and England are ready to start the second half.
Half time: England 33-5 Italy
And that’s half-time! Almost complete dominance for England, but Italy managed – eventually – to convert their one and only entry into the English 22 into a try.
TRY! England 33-5 Italy (Cokayne, 39 mins)
Italy have the lineout. It’s thrown in by the prop Silvia Turani rather than Laura Gurioli and she gets it completely wrong, misses her own players and Amy Cokayne turns up at the back of the lineout, catches it and goes over! And it’s a straightforward conversion for Sing.
38 mins: England go close again! Mia Venner tries to go over in the corner, but Muzzo pushes her into touch!
36 mins: Fumbled on the line! Feaunati goes over the line for England after Maud Muir had steamrollered her way through Italy’s defences, but Aura Muzzo had reached round to knock the ball out of her grip as she dropped to the turf and the try is disallowed for the knock-on.
TRY! England 26-5 Italy (Sgorbini, 35 mins)
From the lineout, and with a full complement of players, Italy roll over the line! Big smiles all round as they celebrate, though less so when a simple conversion is fluffed.
33 mins: England defend their line, but they give away another penalty, this time for offside. With that Gurioli comes back on and Vecchini goes back off, and the Italy physios are back on to patch up Silvia Turani, who has a cut forehead.
32 mins: Italy win a penalty but given the deficit they kick for touch rather than going for the posts. They need a try, but can they turn the pressure into points?
31 mins: The ball is in England’s 22 for the first time, and Italy have the lineout. Is this the chink of light they’ve been looking for?
TRY! England 26-0 Italy (MacDonald, 29 mins)
Holly Atchison’s high kick finds MacDonald on the wing, and she casually steps inside Ostuni Minuzzi as the Italian runs straight past her and from there there’s no stopping her.
28 mins: England get a penalty when Rigoni attempts to intercept a pass but knocks on, and they kick it into the corner, from where they will push for another try.
24 mins: Italy have taken off Francesca Granzotto and Veronica Madia, bringing on Emma Stevanin and Vittoria Vecchini as replacement at hooker for Gurioli.
PENALTY TRY! England 21-0 Italy
From the lineout England drive forward, and then keep driving forward, and then a bit more, and Rose Galligan eventually touches down on the line. The referee gives the try, but does Galligan have control of the ball or has Gurioli knocked it out of her hand? And should Gurioli have been there to do it? Eventually the try is disallowed for a knock-on, a penalty try is awarded because Gurioli changed bind to execute the tackle, and the Italy No2 is yellow carded to boot!
21 mins: Stefan tries to run this time but she goes straight down a blind alley, ends up desperately trying to offload to Granzotto and the ball bounces into touch.
21 mins: Lucy Packer is penalised for a knock-on after losing her grip on the ball on her way down after being tackled. After a genuinely awesome start England have allowed a few errors to creep into their game.
19 mins: Sofia Stefan, the Italy captain, kicks the ball into England’s half, its first visit there for a while.
18 mins: England win the ball, they move it to the left, they move it back to the right, then Feaunati fumbles a pass that arrived just behind her run and Italy have a scrum.
16 mins: Play restarts, and again England are penalised for holding. Italy have the ball, and kick for touch.
15 mins: The referee gets in the way of an England pass, and that’ll be an England scrum. Before that, though, Italy hooker Laura Gurioli seems to have an issue with her right groin and the physio runs on to give her an ice pack.
13 mins: Italy mess up another lineout, the throw clearing every blue shirt, but this time England can’t capitalise on possession.
11 mins: England get the ball within a couple of yards of the try line again, but Maddie Feaunati is punished for holding onto the ball and Italy can clear the danger.
9 mins: Excellent kick downfield from Lucy Packer earns England about 50 yards, with Italy having the line-out 20 yards from the try line.
TRY! And converted! England 14-0 Italy (Scarratt, 7 mins)
… But Emily Scarratt picks it up and finishes the job! Once again Emma Sing aces the conversion. England hugely dominant here.
6 mins: Italy fumble from a line-out and England have the ball at the scrum … from which they break with Venner again, who gets to within 10 yards of the try-line before she’s finally tackled by Ostuni Minuzzi …
TRY! England 7-0 Italy (Venner, 4 mins)
And England capitalise, with a passage of possession that is not entirely faultless, but ends with Venner running to the verge of the try line on the right and then repositioning herself on the left to eventually convert once the ball is moved back across. And it’s impeccably converted!
2 mins: Italy have the ball for a while, but England keep up the pressure and eventually force an error, and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi keeps the ball but then passes into touch.
1 min: And we’re off!
Right then, all preambles done. Italy to kick off. Everyone poised.
Some very committed anthem singing there from Italy. I think they’re going to go into the game with a morale-boosting win the anthem-commitment battle.
Out come the players! Kick-off is about five minutes away.
Here’s Luke McLaughlin’s report on Scotland’s narrow win over Wales on the opening day of Six Nations action, aka yesterday:
The two teams, and match officials, in full:
England: Sing; Venner, Scarratt, Aitchison, MacDonald; Rowland, L Packer; Clifford, Cokayne, Muir, Galligan, Ives Campion, Aldcroft, M Packer, Feaunati. Replacements: Campbell, Botterman, Bern, Ward, Kabeya, Robinson, Shekells, Kildunne.
Italy: Ostuni Minuzzi; Muzzo, D’Inca, Rigoni, Granzotto; Madia, Stefan; Turani, Gurioli, Seye, Fedrighi, Duca, Veronese, Locatelli, Sgorbini. Replacements: Vecchini, Stecca, Maris, Tounesi, Franco, Bitonci, Stevanin, Capomaggi.
Referee: Precious Pazani (Zim).
Assistants: Jess Ling (Aus) & Zoe Naude (SA)
TMO: Aaron Paterson (NZ)
FPRO: Leo Colgan (Ire)
Pre-match reading: Here’s Sarah Rendell again with a Six Nations preview:
The England captain, Zoe Aldcroft, lifting the Women’s Six Nations trophy after defeating France to claim the Red Roses’ seventh successive title is the image everyone is expecting to see when the tournament concludes. England’s domination in the tournament stems from the introduction of professional contracts in 2019, since then they have not lost a game in the Six Nations and victory over Italy in their tournament opener on Sunday would bring a 30th consecutive win in the competition.
England are favourites for another clean sweep, but would a loss actually benefit the Red Roses in the long run, particularly with a home Rugby World Cup happening later this year? In their past 51 games, their only defeat came in the World Cup final against New Zealand in 2022. Some believe losing could offer invaluable lessons should they come under pressure again.
Much more here:
Hello world!
Will England win the Six Nations for the seventh time in a row, for the eighth time in nine, and for the 21st time in 30 editions in various incarnations? The journey to an answer starts at York Community Stadium today and ends (at the latest) at Twickenham on 26 April when they host France, runners-up in the last five years and the last other team to win it, in 2018. But the English have won 50 of their last 51 games, and that’s a hell of a hot streak.
Italy finished fifth in each of the last three years and it is fair to say they have not pushed the English particularly hard in recent years: England beat them 48-0 last year, 68-5 in 2023, 74-0 in 2022, 67-3 in 2021. But they have a new coach in Fabio Roselli, and will be hoping to demonstrate improvement, even if victory seems a stretch.
Anyway, welcome. I present for you the profiles of today’s teams from Sarah Rendell’s handy pre-tournament guide:
England
Coach John Mitchell Captain Zoe Aldcroft
England may have a new captain but they are expected to have the same result in this tournament with five wins from five to seal a seventh consecutive Women’s Six Nations trophy. This competition will be important for the Red Roses to find their winning combinations and potentially a bolter or two for the Rugby World Cup squad later this year. Gloucester’s Emma Sing, the top Premiership Women’s Rugby point scorer for the 2024-25 season, is one such star who could break back into the team. England’s head coach, John Mitchell, said it would be “stupid” not to try different things in his match-day squads. “A lot of the combinations that you see in the Six Nations will be as a result of the end [the World Cup] in mind,” he said. “Will players get opportunities? Yes. It’s exciting because there is always room for a new player to create enthusiasm.”
Key player Alex Matthews. The headlines gravitate towards Ellie Kildunne and Abby Dow but Matthews is a player who consistently has 9/10 performances and does all the hard graft in the back row.
Prospects Fans who aren’t English will be pleading with any nation to take the Red Roses’ crown but inevitably they will win it again.
Italy
Coach Fabio Roselli. Captain Elisa Giordano
Since the heights of their second-place finish in 2019, Italy have slowly regressed in the Six Nations. They are able to stay in the fight for the majority of matches but tend to let the result escape them in the closing minutes. The man charged with producing 80-minute performances is their new head coach, Fabio Roselli, who is coaching in women’s rugby for the first time. He said: “Italian rugby has grown so much and we have a lot of potential to improve. We are focused on the process, on the hard work, on the play and our style. First up we have the best team in the world [England], it will be a big challenge for us but we are so excited.”
Key player Beatrice Rigoni. An unpredictable player, who is one of the best centres in the world, and has been honing her skills in the PWR this season.
Prospects Fifth place will be where they end up but they’ll cause headaches.
You can read the guide in full here: