England continue their winning form in the 2023 Women’s Six Nations, with a 68-5 victory over Italy. 12 tries for the Red Roses, included four from Abby Dow, a hat-trick for Jess Breach and a brace for England’s new captain Marlie Packer, racked up a breath-taking victory in at Franklins’ Gardens.
Marlie Packer was delighted to score two tries on the day, yet gave full credit to the forwards pack as a whole. Packer’s first full game in charge after Sarah Hunter’s retirement, the back-rower is stepping up well with exemplary performances in the white shirt.
“At the end of the day everyone wants to score, it’s just one of those things, it’s about the team and what the team are doing. A driving maul, you know, we’ve nailed it from the throw going in, to the lineout caller calling the right call, us punching and doing what we’re doing. You’ve got to do role number one first before scoring, so if everyone’s doing that then it’s a forward’s try in my eyes.”
“It was a great team performance, it’s good to see the backs on the ball every time you look up, when you get up from a breakdown, and their on the ball you know something’s going to happen. We had two new caps out there today (Delaney Burns and Emily Robinson) you couldn’t ask for anything more from them. It was a full squad performance and yes I’m super proud to lead the girls out today.”
England put instant pressure on Italy, leading to an early try after just two minutes. After a powerful scrum, England pinned Italy back on their try-line, and edged closer with short drives. The Red Roses, changed direction, and put winger Jess Breach in to score on the overlap. Holly Aitchinson ensured a seven point lead with a neat conversion.
Yet the Azzurri responded immediatly, with a try of their own after five minutes of play. Opting for touch from a penalty, Italy orchestrated a rolling maul that could not be contained by the Red Roses. Second row Sara Tounesi grounded the ball, but Veronica Madia failed to convert from out wide.
The early action continued, as England were over for their second try within 10 minutes. Sarah Bern’s line-break got the Italian defenders back-peddling, with Aitchinson spotting the space out wide for a cross-field kick. Breach showed good awareness to pop the ball off to full-back Abby Dow, who was unopposed on her way through to score. Aitchinson’s missed conversion kept the score-line at 12-5.
The Red Roses fans continued to celebrate, as the home side was in for their third try try after just 17 minutes. Claudia MacDonald ensured that each of England’s back-three got on the score-sheet, as she scored an impressive solo effort. The left winger cut inside off her flank, and ran onto a hard line. The Exeter Chiefs winger burst away at pace, and fended off an Italian tackle attempt, before running into the corner from 35m out. Another missed conversion by Aitchinson kept Italy within touching distance of the Red Roses.
The crowd at Franklins Gardens thought England had their bonus point after just 26 minutes, as Jess Breach looked to have secured her brace. However, after a TMO review the try was disallowed, with a crossing offence by England hooker Amy Cokayne stopping an Italian tackle attempt.
Two more first half tries followed, with both England wingers securing their braces at the home of Northampton Saints. First off it was MacDonald, with the move’s plaudits going to Harlequins’ centre Lagi Tuima, and Red Roses debutant Delaney Burns. Tuima threw a neat stutter-step to find space in the outside channel, before finding Delaney, who’s try assisting pass lined up MacDonald to score in the left corner.
Jess Breach’s second try followed, with the Saracens star rounding out the first half in style. England continued to throw the ball about, with a neat offload putting number eight Zoe Aldcroft into space. The fast-paced pressure continued, with England once again attacking along the right wing. The ball finds Breach, yet she still had plenty to do. Breach danced round the first tackle attempt, and rides the chop tackle off the last defender to ground the try. Another missed Conversion from Aitchinson took the sides off for half-time at 27-5.
The second half started as firery as the first, with England piling on the pressure from the re-start. Aitchinson once again executed a well-placed cross-field kick, and found Claudia MacDonald out on the half-way line’s left wing. MacDonald exploaded away along the touchline, and put in a chip kick into the back-field. She attempted to ground the ball in the in-goal area, but was a pace too slow with the try ruled out after a lengthy TMO review.
Yet England ensured they opened their second half account, just one minute later. Tatayana Heard established her presence on the match, with a line-break that shook the rafters. Bursting through the tackles, Heard’s bruising carry took her under the posts to score, five minutes after the re-start. Lagi Tuima took up the kicking duties, and slotted the straight-forward conversion.
The match then briefly became the Abby Dow show, as the full-back completed her hat-trick with back-to-back tries. Her first effort saw the Harlequin put on the afterburners from 30m out, and pin back her ears to ran straight for the corner, almost setting the left-touchline on fire in the process. Replacement back Emma Sing nailed the following conversion, further building England’s unobtainable lead.
Dow’s hat-trick try was the pick of the bunch, as the full-back ran in from beyond her own half way line as the Italian defence was broken to pieces. Italian winger Aura Muzzo closed in on Dow, yet was unable to stop her run, as the 25-year-old dropped a shoulder to step past the tackle attempt, and close out the score in style, for a 46-5 lead.
The Red Roses soon had a second hat-trick to cheer, as Jess Breach scored her third try of the afternoon. The attacking onslaught was relentless from England, as Italy crumbled under the pressure. Tuima looked to be falling in a tackle, yet was able to pull-off an off-balanced cross-field-kick, finding Breach on the right wing. The Saracen then powered into the last defender, and crashed over the line to wrap a memorable trio of tries.
It was then time for England’s new full captain Marlie Packer to take centre stage, as the recently retired Sarah Hunter watched on, now as a pundit for BBC sport. The back-rower was over to score twice, grounding powerful rolling mauls on either side of Abby Dow’s staggering fourth try.
Lagi Tuima once again was at the hear of the Red Roses’ try-scoring moves, with her assist playing in Dow for her fourth, with Italy looking down and out. England’s tried-and-tested try scoring machine was once again kicked into gear, as Italy could not contain their rolling maul on two occasions.
Packer’s brace rounded up the scoring, as England scored two dozen tries at Franklins Gardens. Simon Middleton’s side go marching on towards the 2023 Women’s Six Nations, with hopes of a Grand Slam still on the horizon. Like Sarah Hunter, Middleton will also be leaving the Red Roses at the end of the campaign and would find a send-off no fitting than the Women’s Six Nations trophy.
Marlie Packer was delighted to score two tries on the day, yet gave full credit to the forwards pack as a whole. Packer’s first full game in charge after Sarah Hunter’s retirement, the back-rower is stepping up well with exemplary performances in the white shirt.
ENGLAND: 68
TRIES: 12 (Breach 2′, 39′, 64′, Dow 9′, 52′, 56′, 71′, MacDonald 18′, 33′, Heard 46′, M. Packer 69′, 77′)
CONVERSIONS: 4 (Aitchison 2′, Tuima 46′, Sing 52′, 69′)
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
15. Dow 14. Breach 13. Tuima 12. Heard. 11. MacDonald 10. Aitchison 9. Packer 1. Carson 2. Cokayne 3. Bern 4. O’Donnell 5. Burns 6. Kabeya 7. Packer (C) 8. Aldcroft
16. Davies 17. Crake 18. Clifford 19. Beckett 20. Robinson 21. Wyrwas 22. McKenna 23. Sing
ITALY: 5
TRIES: 1 (Tounesi 5′)
CONVERSIONS: 0
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
15. Minuzzi 14. Muzzo 13. Sillari 12. Rigoni 11. Stefan 10. Madia 9. Barattin 1. Maris 2. Vecchini 3. Gai 4. Tounesi 5. Duca 6. Sgorbini 7. Franco 8. Giordano (C)
16. Stecca 17. Cassaghi 18. Seye 19. Fedrighi 20. Locatelli 21. Stevanin 22. Busato 23. Capomaggi
RUCK PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Abby Dow
ATTENDENCE – 12,947
REFEREE – Kat Roche (USA)