Abby Dow’s four tries help England thrash Italy in Six Nations mismatch

Claudia MacDonald compounded England’s injury worries after she hobbled off in the Red Roses’ destruction of Italy in the Women’s Six Nations on Sunday. If the left-wing is ruled out, she will become the 20th player unavailable to head coach Simon Middleton.MacDonald scored two tries before being forced off but she was not the only star in the bonus-point victory which put the defending champions top of the table on point difference. Full-back Abby Dow scored four tries, right-wing Jess Breach had a hat-trick and Player of the Match prop Sarah Bern was impactful across the pitch.Bern almost scored England’s first try as she looked to be in on the wing but the Italian defence held strong. There was an overlap on the left and after a few phases it was whipped to Breach who scored.

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Italy hit back quickly and used England’s strongest asset against them. They formed a maul which marched over with Sara Tounesi reaping the rewards.The Red Roses kept coming and clocked more points, the latest try coming from a territorial kick by Dow. Italy’s Vittoria Vecchini’s throw was long and Bern stole it at the back of the line-out. England adapted their attack as phases faltered and Aitchison popped a cross-field kick to Breach who slickly offloaded to Dow to score.Penalties went back and forth between the teams, each coughing up possession through errors, but a hugely dominant scrum pushed Italy back five metres and gave England a great platform. Slick passes saw MacDonald in space. She beat two defenders and ran a quarter of the pitch to crash over.The visitors suffered a blow at 26 minutes as inside-centre