England rout Italy despite early red in lacklustre Women’s Six Nations display

England claimed a commanding scoreline in their Women’s Six Nations opener against Italy but the performance and discipline was far from their usual standards. Sarah Beckett was given her marching orders in the 11th minute after the bunker review, being used for the first time in the tournament, upgraded her yellow card to a red and Helena Rowland was sent to the sin bin in the 68th minute.

The cards, handling errors and failing lineout blighted the 100th cap for the captain, Marlie Packer. When Packer first stepped on a rugby pitch for England in 2008 Gordon Brown was prime minister, Four Minutes by Madonna and Justin Timberlake was in its fourth week at No 1, and Manchester United had just won their 10th Premier League title in 16 years after beating Wigan Athletic 2-0. Packer played only 40 minutes in England’s 80-3 win against Sweden on her debut and did not play again for the team for more than three years. A disappointing first cap but it has worked out for the Red Roses captain.

Packer has gone on to win the Rugby World Cup in 2014, claim seven Women’s Six Nations grand slam titles and was named England captain after Sarah Hunter’s retirement in 2023. The 34-year-old has added to her impressive statistics as she became just the seventh Red Roses player to reach 100 caps. However, her milestone and the new head coach John Mitchell’s first game did not start as they would have planned with an early red card issued to Beckett.

Beckett was initially sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle on Michela Sillari but it was upgraded to a red as it was judged to be a high degree of danger with no mitigation. The majority of people tuning in to the match would have been expecting a demolition job from England but Italy held their own with strong and impressive defence. It took until the 31st minute for the first points to be scored through a Hannah Botterman try.

Abbie Ward was the next to score and it came on her return to the England squad after giving birth last year. Two missed conversions from fly-half Zoe Harrison meant the score stood at 10-0 at the break.

England did not initially come out the blocks firing in the second half with yet another lineout going awry. However, Lark Atkin-Davies corrected her errors at the set piece to create a rolling maul and she scored the try. Italy started to thread some promising attacks together but they weren’t efficient and the visitors made them pay through the individual brilliance of player of the match Ellie Kildunne, she beat multiple defenders to go over for the bonus-point try. Skipper Packer was hooked just before the hour, coming off to a standing ovation.

England scored three more tries through Mackenzie Carson, Connie Powell and Kildunne but the match did not finish without blemish for the Red Roses. Rowland was handed a yellow card because of a dangerous clear out at the ruck, it was referred to the bunker but it remained a yellow. Italy also saw a player in the sin-bin with Emma Stevanin off for cynical play.

Defending champions England are top of the tournament table after round one, level on points with France after their win against Ireland but the Red Roses top the charts because of points difference. Scotland sit in third after their first win against Wales away from home in the competition for 20 years.

The rugby on display in the opening weekend shows the fight for the finishing places will be an enthralling one. The top end of the table is still England’s to lose with Packer’s 100% winning record as captain looking likely to remain intact. But France will be licking their lips at the prospect of hosting England in the final round if their lineout and discipline remains at its current level.