Italy 33–61 England: Women’s Six Nations rugby union – as it happened
That’s all from me.Thanks for your company.England march on to the Grand Slam match with France next week as expected, but take nothing away from Italy’s effort in securing a try bonus point in the face of a clearly superior team.They never stopped fighting to the end and asked plenty of questions on the Red Roses defence.That’s the final act of a game that ended up far more reasonably balanced than anticipated.
80 mins,A textbook lineout maul has Sgorbini muscling over to confirm a record points total for Italy vs England,Conversion is added,79 mins,From the scrim Italy launch a few waves of attack with England regularly infringing in defence and the wildly scramble.
The ball is sent to touch for a late Italian lineout.77 mins.Italy certainly won’t be dying with the music in them here as they run it from their own 22, all hands and offloads after Mannini runs free from a weak tackle.They are into the England half before some imprecision loses the ball, but the Red Roses then take a turn to spill it.Scrum to Italy on the England 22.
74 mins.The balls is pinging around a bit as both sides lose some of their composure as the tiredness bites.England send it wide through hands to Moloney-McDonald but her attempt to offload to Kildunne is lost into touch.71 mins.The late spring heat is taking its toll on the players and so Harrison decides it’s best to let the ball do the work and cannons a kick towards the Italian 22.
From the lineout, the home side win possession and Stevanin sensibly finds touch in the England half.69 mins.Robinson looks like she’s been scragged at the back of the ruck but she manages to twist herself free and race up to the Italy 22.The scrambling defence inevitably moves offside as they attempt to halt the momentum of the attack.A tap and go is taken, but Italy have regathered their composure enough to prevent the England drives and eventually they legally get hands on the ball to win a clearing penalty.
65 mins.England spread the ball in their 22 to Kildunne who sets off for 20 metres before booting forward to chase.Italy cover it but then have a collective attack of chucking it about with little plan and plenty poor execution that leads to a horrible forward pass and the end of a succession of other terrible passes.Mindless stuff from the home side.63 mins.
A solid lineout from Italy allows them to set up a maul in the England 22, but the momentum is drained out of it by the Red Roses getting amongst it, gripping the ball and preventing it coming out.Great degensive work.Balogun is on for England, along with Head the other debutant as they demonstrate the depth of their resources.59 mins.The England back rower decides she’s had enough of waiting for other people to provide stuff and simply puts the hammer down to rumble over from 12 or so metres, blasting about four defender out the way or carrying them over the line with her.
That’s four tries and that one is the best of the lot.57 mins.Emma Sing puts her foot though the ball to clear it and kicks it so long it nearly ends up in Florence, meaning Ostuni Minuzzi has to retreat miles to within inches of her own line to retrieve it.What an exit weapon the right foot of Sing is.55 mins.
Short punches the ball forward while attempting to disrupt and Italian lineout on the England 22.The Italians hold up the scrum enough to get the ball away and two phases later Sgorbini picks and goes from the base of the ruck, running in behind the breakdown and over the line.52 mins.Sarah Bern is on, and one of her trademark booming runs sets up England in broken play to put the ball through hands with support runners and offloads plentiful.They move it to the right of the field and the final pass finds the veteran Packer for her hat-trick.
Harrison kicks a great conversion from out wide.50 mins.Italy have some phases around the halfway line, the ball zipped quickly away from the breakdown by Stefan, but the Red Roses defence knocks the rhythm out of it and the box kick is taken as the momentum runs out.48 mins.England are away quickly from the scrum and up into the Italian 22.
They win another scrum and drive it hard from 5 metres over the line for Burton to dab it down,Italy’s pack were splintered into a thousands pieces under the pressure,46 mins,A clean heel from Vecchini gives solid possession to Stefan who sends the ball into midfield for a couple of carries that move Italy forward 10 metres,It looks on the verge of becoming a good exit, but Stefan and Madia spurn the chance to boot the ball behind the white defence and eventually Le Azzure knock on.
44 mins.Kildunne tries to tickle a kick down the touchline and it forces the ball to ricochet off Ostuni Minuzzi and into touch.England take the lineout off the top and into the backs but the ball is spilled by Jones, giving Italy a tricky defensive scrum in their own 22.42 mins.Italy win the ball back and force Engalnd to defend early and on their own 22.
Harrison decides it’s time to play the percentages and clears to touch,It’s Madia’s turn to the get the game underway, which she duly does by toe-poking the ball just over 10 metres,At one point that looked like it would a massacre for Italy, so credit must be given to them for fighting back to give the scoreline a level of respectability,But, the game is there for England as it’s clear they can score almost at will if they put a few phases together,40 mins.
PEEEEEEP! Nothing comes of the scrum other than a loud blast on the whistle as the ball is knocked on.39 mins.The attacking Red Roses lineout comes to nowt and then Marlie Packer is penalised for a high tackle.Mannini sends the penalty to touch but the resulting lineout is spilled by the home side.England will have a scrum in Italian territory as the final attacking platform of the half37 mins.
England waste no time getting back at it, and the powerful carries in the Italian half lead to a not rolling away penalty against the defence.Harrison sprays the ball wide on the advantage but it comes to nothing as a pass goes forward from Short.34 mins.A couple of England mistakes, Venner spilling the restart then the pack engaging early at the scrum, hands possession to Italy.Stefan takes a quick tap and soon after Ranuccini takes a pass on the inside to run under the posts.
Conversion added.32 mins.England were playing on an advantage, so they come back for a tap and go that soon results in Packer crashing over.Harrison converts.31 mins.
This situation is made worse for Italy when they are penalised on the next England attack.Harrison takes an age to kick it to touch, cleverly eating up the sin-bin clock, and the resulting maul is sent left for Jones to chase a gubber kick, but it runs dead before she can get there.29 mins.Stefan opts for a cute blindside move from the scrum, switching it towards the left touchline, however there is very little space and entirely too many defenders for it to work.In the end the scrum half forces a pass forward to D’Inca under pressure and the possession is wasted.
27 mins.An England maul just inside the Italy half concludes with the ref awarding a scrum to the home side.The ball was held in a bit too long and then fumbled by Lucy Packer.26 mins.And the inevitable sin bin follows for Kildunne.
25 mins.Giordano opts for the tap and go from five metres, with a few phases of carries from the forwards not enough to breach the white defensive line.The ball is sprayed towards the right touchline where the ball hits the deck after Kildunne slaps it forward.The ref decides that the England winger prevented a clear scoring opportunity as the ball was about to go to Muzzo with a clear five metre run to the line.23 mins.
Italy get a nudge on at the scrum for the first time to get the ball away cleanly and moving into the backs.They work into the 22 and an increasingly desperate defence from England infringes at the breakdown.21 mins.Madia whams another restart out on the full due to misjudging the length while attempting a contestable restart.England spread it from the scrum, but the Italian defence finally get their drills right and blitz to force a dropped ball from Venner.
19 mins.Conceding a try appears to have angered England as they swarm all over the Italian defence after the restart is spilled.Soon after they are rumbling over the line for another Cockayne try.17 mins.But hang on a minute, Italy have a lineout 5 metres from the England line! A good catch and drive drill sets up a blue maul, which takes a few seconds to set before grinding forward for Vecchini to fall over the line at the tail.
Conversion missed,15 mins,The most worrying thing for Italy is that they are hesitant in the tackle, like they simply don’t fancy it at all, and given England are going at well beyond a point a minute this could be an insurance job by half time for the home side,14 mins,The Red Roses are moving the ball at will and Italy are all at sea as Venner just glides through a gap in the 13 channel to gallop to the line.
Harrison misses the conversion.12 mins.A grubber is angled towards Kildunne’s wing who jabs the ball back infield with quick thrust of the outside of her right boot.This has Italy retreating to cover but they are all second best to Rowland who dabs it down.Harrison adds two more.
10 mins,The home side keep the ball on the park at the restart and this bonus is built on with a decent steal of the ball from an England ruck,The possession is untidy, including when England snatch it back and knock it on,Italy can’t hold up their own scrum after this, unfortunately8 mins,The blue scrum creaks and folds under pressure, which the ref decides warrants an England penalty, but the all is out and away
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