England showed an impressive start to their RBS 6 Nations campaign at the weekend after beating Wales 31-0 as they continue their bid to retain the championship for the fifth consecutive year.

Impressive performances at the weekend means England fans can be confident as they watch their side take on Italy this Saturday at the Noceto.

England coach Gary Street has made seven changes to the successful team bringing back Team Northumbria prop Rochelle Clark after her encouraging performance off the bench against Wales.

Other changes see Darlington Mowden Park Sharks’ Tamara Taylor, Lichfield’s Jane Leornard, Richmond’s Alice Richardson and Wasps Micheala Staniford all included in the starting line up.

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Rugby: Women’s World Cup 2010 launched at Twickenham ^[3]

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Good outings for the England A side has resulted in Fran Matthews and Amber Penrith both making the bench.

Streets side will head to Italy confident they can produce some kind of victory and continue the good spirit and momentum that has been generated by the Wales triumph.

Street said of his team choice, “”I have made several changes after some really good individual performances for both England and England A at the weekend.

“At the same time I want to give as many players in our Elite Squad the chance to show me what they can do ahead of the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup.”

“It was great to welcome back Rochelle last weekend. She had a really good game coming off the bench and scoring a try.

“Jane certainly deserves her chance to start after an impressive performance for the A’s while Amber Penrith also impressed in that same game against the Nomads.”

Talking about the teams overall performance against Wales the coach was full of praise for his side. He said “Having analysed the game against Wales further I am even more pleased with that performance.

“Considering the players hadn’t had much match action since November, our game control was brilliant. We need to tidy up on some of our technical areas but that was certainly a good platform to build on and that is what we intend to do this weekend.”

The game starts with a 1.30pm kick off, Saturday.

England Team

15 Claire Allan Richmond
14 Michaela Staniford Wasps
13 Emily Scarratt Lichfield
12 Rachael Burford Richmond
11 Fiona Pocock Richmond
10 Alice Richardson Richmond
9 La Toya Mason Wasps
1 Rochelle Clark Team Northumbria
2 Amy Garnett Saracens
3 Claire Purdy Wasps
4 Rebecca Essex Richmond
5 Tamara Taylor Darlington Mowden Park Sharks
6 Heather Fisher Worcester
7 Jane Leonard Lichfield/Army
8 Catherine Spencer (C) Bristol
Replacements:
16 Samantha Reeve Worcester
17 Sophie Hemming Bristol
18 Joanna McGilchrist Wasps
19 Margaret Alphonsi Saracens
20 Katy Mclean Darlington Mowden Park Sharks
21 Francesca Matthews Richmond
22 Amber Penrith Bristol

Erin Healey, Sportsister
The Woman´s Sport Magazine