Key takeaways from England’s Women’s Six Nations opener

There might have been a familiar feel to the lop-sided scoreline but England’s 48-0 victory over Italy in the opening round of the Women’s Six Nations was a character-building exercise more than anything else.

Sarah Beckett’s 11th-minute red card, followed by Helena Rowland’s late sin-binning, gave us a fascinating insight into England’s ability to react under pressure.

Their 10-0 advantage at the break – the Red Roses’ lowest half-time lead since their scratchy pool win against France at the 2022 Rugby World Cup – told of a team that lacked accuracy and looked disjointed. There will have been many lessons learnt ahead of their second-round meeting with Wales at Ashton Gate on Saturday.

Italy, notwithstanding their player advantage for most of the match, should be heartened by their first-half effort. They did not, however, have the physicality or the wherewithal to strike when England were at their most vulnerable. France may not have been so forgiving.

So what did we learn from England’s Six Nations opener?

Scarratt-Rowland midfield fails to wow

Since returning from a serious neck injury, Emily Scarratt had played just three hours of club rugby before being thrown back into Test rugby in the new position of inside centre. While she has not looked out of place in the Loughborough Lightning side, international rugby exposed her lack of match fitness.

The 34-year-old hoovered up a loose England line-out in the opening exchanges but after that, she struggled to assert herself. In a passage that typified England’s underwhelming first half, she threw a panicked pass to Zoe Harrison that the fly-half received statically before Beatrice Rigoni ploughed into her. She also later shanked a kick straight into touch.

England missed Tatyana Heard’s strike running and go-forward, although Holly Aitchison impressed off the bench with her razor-sharp offloading – she slipped Rowland the crucial pass for her try – and injected a verve into England’s attack, staking a huge claim to start against Wales.

Sloppy England need to tighten up

England’s all-conquering set-piece was a proud feature of the Simon Middleton era and allowed them to blow other teams away. The maul was their safety net and trusty try-scoring method. Now we are seeing a Red Roses outfit eager to play more in the outside channels and embrace a diverse attack rather than a cut-and-thrust approach through the middle.

But in Parma it was far from slick. England coughed up more handling errors (27) than Italy (22). They conceded five of their six penalties in the first half, while Italy disrupted their tempo game and slowed their breakdown; a quarter of England’s rucks lasted four to six seconds. For comparison, the Red Roses’ average ruck speed across last year’s championship was 2.5 seconds, the fastest of any team in the tournament.

Place-kicking execution

The ever-increasing competitiveness of the women’s game has brought place-kicking into sharper focus. As Wales fly-half Lleucu George’s wayward pressure kick demonstrated against Scotland, unsuccessful attempts at goal can be the difference between a win and a defeat.

This, of course, became irrelevant in the one-sided rout, but the Red Roses managed to successfully kick only half of their conversions. Zoe Harrison, who returned to England duty for the first time since the World Cup final after a lengthy spell out with a knee injury, is another who has been short on match minutes this season and struggled, uncharacteristically dragging what were kickable conversions wide. 

The Saracen is a world-class player with a rangy boot but, like Scarratt, endured an uncomfortable afternoon.

Big decision at No 8

With Sarah Beckett likely to be banned following her red card, John Mitchell will have to reshuffle his back row for Wales – but this is an area where England are ladened with talent.

Zoe Aldcroft, another who has been light on minutes since WXV because of a knee injury, produced a compelling performance in the second row and is one who could get the nod. Alex Matthews was reliably consistent in the position last year. Poppy Cleall, who was ineligible for the Italy game because of a ban, is another who could come back into the equation.

Problem-solving England do enough to impress

The Red Roses were not tested enough in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup. They arrived in New Zealand on a giddy 25-match winning streak with a target on their back and were found out in the final against the Black Ferns when Lydia Thompson was sent off in the 18th minute.

Red Roses head coach Mitchell has spoken of his desire to see England “walk towards pressure”. In the first official match of his tenure, his side practically ran towards it. The manner in which they countered and dealt with the edges when they were two players down following Helena Rowland’s 69th-minute yellow card was impressive.

“It was hard work with 13 people on the pitch, but now we’ve done it – we’ve faced it at the start of the tournament. It will be something we’ll use in our armoury going forward,” said Ellie Kildunne, who starred in the Red Roses’ back-line and scored two well-taken tries.

That mini reality check may only strengthen the reigning Six Nations champions.