WHILE England's men have fumbled and floundered through successive Six Nations Championships the women's side's seemingly unstoppable domination of their competition continues at a pace. Yesterday's victims were the Italians as Gary Street's team completed a 12-try demolition of a spirited but outgunned host side in Rome. England are now unbeaten in the Six Nations for almost three years and only a trip to France in two weeks is realistically standing between them and an unprecedented hat-trick of Grand Slams. What would Brian Ashton give for form like that? Like the men England's gameplan in this Championship - and their superiority - is built around their pack, in particular the fearsome scrummaging power of Rochelle Clark and the ball-handling skills of Maggie Alphonsi in the back row. Yesterday Henley prop Clark was often England's best ball carrier earning acres of space and England's first try in the eighth minute - from short distance - after Michela Tondinelli had given Italy a shock lead with a drop goal.
In Rachael Burford, England have one of the brightest young talents in the world, directing the backs yesterday from inside-centre. Alongside Burford is the burgeoning talent of Nolli Waterman - the daughter of former Bath full-back Jim. In between causing the Italians a threat every time she got the ball, Waterman scored two tries and was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle.
When Waterman departed in the 36th minute England were already 40-3 ahead, but the disruption caused by her absence meant that they lost momentum and went 20 minutes without scoring a try, either side of half-time.
The game had been settled as a contest inside the first quarter when England added to the opener from Clark with two tries through full-back Charlotte Barras, moving into an unassailable 19-3 lead.
The speed of Kat Merchant then restarted the try spree in the 56th minute when she scored from 50 metres with her first touch of the ball and soon fellow substitutes Jane Leonard, Vicky Massarella and Joanna McGilchrist were over the line. Merchant and Waterman's second tries taking England past the 70-point mark.
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Star player: Rachael Burford(England)
Italy:A Mariana; F Carlet (P Zangirolami 48min), S Pizzati, Veromica Schiavon, G Bratusch (Barattin 48min); M Tondinelli (Pagli 71min), Valentina Schiavon; M Sanfilippo (G Petese 71min), E Cucchiella, F Severin (L Stefan 71min), D Gini (L Fabri 61min), M Barbini, S Pettinelli, S Gaudino (capt), G Campanella.
England:C Barras (V Massarella 52min); M Staniford (K Merchant 52min), C Allan, R Burford, D Waterman; A Richardson (K McLean 52min), A Turner; S Hemming, A Garnett (S Dale 61min), R Clark (K Storie 52min), T Taylor, S Beale, K Jones, C Spencer (capt, J McGilchrist 52min), M Alphonsi (J Leonard 52min).
Scorers: Italy: Pen:Zangirolami DG: Tondinelli England: Tries:Clark 8, Barras 13, Barras 21, Alphonsi 25, Waterman 28, Staniford 31, Merchant 56, Leonard 58, Massarella 59, McGilchrist 66, Merchant 73, Waterman 79 Cons:Richardson (5), McLean (3) Yellow card: England:Waterman 36
Referee:L Hodges (Wales) Attendance:300