52 2GM Monday April 4 2022 | the times
SportRugby union
5
Harrison converted from the touchline.
Italy opted to compete hard at the
breakdown in a bid to slow down
England’s ball but they lacked the
physical strength to achieve this aim.
England were determined to score at a
point a minute in the half and next on
the score sheet was Lydia Thompson,
who scored her 39th try after Vickii
Cornborough had charged down a kick
and won back the ball.
With the England scrum starting to
cause real problems, Italy gave away aseries of penalties. An attacking
lineout drive was too good to stop and
the hooker Lark Davies had the simple
job of dotting the ball down. Shaunagh
Brown, a firefighter who threw the
hammer for England at the 2014 Com-
monwealth Games, used her strength
to finish off another powerful attack to
bring up the bonus-point try which
Harrison converted. She added
another after Alex Matthews received
reward for her hard work during the
first 40 minutes, which featured just
one attack of note from the Italians.
Thompson raced over for her second
after the restart and then the replace-
ments started to make their mark, with
Vicky Fleetwood finishing off a forward
drive. A minute after coming on, the
prop Sarah Bern sprinted 45 metres to
score for Rowland to convert.
England had made over 1,000 metres
in attack by the start of the final quarter
and that pressure brought a first try for
Emma Sing as Italy were reduced to 14
players with an inevitable yellow card.
Emily Scarratt then made an immedi-
ate impact with her 50th try for her
country and was followed over the line
by McKenna and Thompson for that
hat-trick.back line was ridiculous. I just let them
do their thing.”
Middleton made 11 changes from the
57-5 win over Scotland and his side still
managed to surpass 50 points for the
sixth time in their past seven meetings
with Italy.
England set out their stall as early as
the fourth minute as they exposed the
Italian defence after a lineout drive,
with the wing Sarah McKenna having a
clear run to the line from Hunt’s
decision to switch to the blind side, andScorers: England: Tries McKenna 2 (4min, 74),
Thompson 3 (15, 42, 79), Davies (21), Brown (28),
Matthews (34), Fleetwood (48), Bern (52),
Sing (63), Scarratt (67).
Conversions Harrison 3, Rowland 4.
Italy O Minuzzi; A Muzzo, M Sillari, B Rigoni (sin-
bin 71), M Magatti; V Madia, S Stefan (V Fedrighi,
55); G Maris, M Bettoni, (V Vecchini 36) L Gai,
S Tuonesi, G Duca, F Sberna, I Locatelli,
E Giordano (capt).
England E Kildunne (E Sing 61); L Thompson,
H Aitchison (E Scarratt 67), H Rowland,
S McKenna; Z Harrison, N Hunt (M Packer 55);
V Cornborough, (M Muir 52), L Davies,
(C Powell 52), S Brown (S Bern 52),
R Galligan, A Ward, A Matthews, S Kabeya
(V Fleetwood 40), P Cleall (capt, S Hunter 67).
Referee H Davidson (Scot).Eventually Exeter Chiefs battered
Bath. It was a performance that
should cause a few sleepless nights for
those other clubs that would be
Premiership champions. They started
off playing with a beguiling balance of
width and patience, held in check by a
jaw-dropping display of defence from
Sam Underhill in the tackle and at the
turnover. For all the talk of Tom
Curry, the Bath open-side is the best
No 7 in England. He’s one of the best
in the world.
If fit, the duo should be reunited in
England’s back row for the summer
series against Australia, for whom
Michael Hooper is up there among
the great sevens. Eddie Jones knows
his team won’t have a chance unless
Cokanasiga gives Jones a reminder of his finishing ability
they come out on top at the
breakdown.
And even if they manage to
dominate the contact, they could still
find themselves on the losing end of
the series if they fail to fire a few
more shots behind the scrum. The
three-quarter line managed two tries
between them in the five Six Nations
games. There are myriad reasons for
such a rotten return. One of them is
as obvious as it seems. The side were
woefully short of finishing power. No
Jonny May, no Anthony Watson...
and no Joe Cokanasiga.
The Bath 24-year-old is a rookie in
comparison with the more illustrious
and injured duo but he is potentially
one of the most important players in
England’s immediate future. He is a
tryscorer. Whether playing left or
right wing (where he was switched to
from the left against Exeter on
Saturday) he has that habit.
The weekend was his first start in
blue, black and white since the last
game of last season. A knee injury
pre-season in Cardiff — similar to theone suffered in Japan during the
World Cup — took him out of the
rugby public’s eye. He’s back in it now.
In his three appearances off the
bench prior to the Exeter game, he
scored three tries; the first two were
the difference between winning and
losing in Newcastle. Another striking
pair on Saturday leaves him with five
tries from four games.
No one should be surprised. In his
11 England appearances to date he has
averaged a try a game. Many of them
were against weaker opposition. He
eased in for two tries against both the
US and Canada in the June 2021
series at Twickenham before the
injury curse struck once more. Yet the
power of his performance against the
Wallabies in 2018 and the manner in
which he levelled the tough
Australian, Dane Haylet-Petty, on his
direct route to the tryline, was proof
that here is something much more
than a giant-sized Fijian bully.
The scoring knack is priceless but it
is only part of what he brings. Bath’s
Orlando Bailey played with amaestro’s touch for half an hour and
the prime reason was the capacity of
Cokanasiga to explode over the
gainline with well-timed runs.
He did for Bath what Nemani
Nadolo does for Leicester Tigers: he
took the focus of the defenders
elsewhere. The threat no one poses
for England in the absence of Manu
Tuilagi. The Sale Sharks centre made
a welcome return to action on Friday
night but his career track record of
injuries means England cannot build
their power game around him.
Cokanasiga has endured an early
share of knocks but is nowhere near
as plagued as the centre. England can
forge an attacking game, utilising the
Bath man’s bulk. But bulk doesn’t
begin to describe his game. When
Eddie Jones first selected him he said:
“He’s got power, he’s got pace, there’s
something a little bit special about
him.” There is.
On Saturday, as he speared through
one of the best defences in England,
ball in one hand, he conjured the most
delicate of offloads. That somethingspecial was there for all to see.
Throughout the Six Nations,
Marcus Smith had neither a winger
nor a centre to make similar runs off
the fly half’s shoulder. Defenders
could keep both eyes on the England
genie. Smith, George Ford, Owen
Farrell, Bailey, they all appear more
creative with a blast of bulky brilliance
popping up on their shoulder.
The midfield balance was all wrong
throughout the competition. There
was not one centre or winger capable
of fixing the opposing defence to
make space wide, or charging beyond
the gainline to accelerate the speed of
the next phase possession.
Henry Slade is at his best a little
wider in the outside centre channel
but with Cokanasiga creating chaos
nearer the fly half, he would be free to
fade further out and bring his blend
of touch to the proceedings.
Tuliagi is one option but he isn’t the
force of old. Jones may like both in
Australia. I’d suggest, for all the
hyperbole, if he can only take one, the
Bath winger is the better option.Stuart Barnes
The wing Lydia Thompson scored a
hat-trick as England stayed on track for
a fourth Women’s Six Nations title in a
row with a 12-try victory over Italy at
the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma.
The last time England’s Red Roses
lost was in July 2019, and they have now
racked up 20 wins in a row with a com-
bination of forward power and pace out
wide. Simon Middleton, the head
coach, is rotating his 40-player squad
through the first three games but no
matter who starts, the points keep
coming. Wales, also unbeaten, are next
on the schedule at Gloucester on
Saturday.
England’s game against
France in Bayonne on April 30
looks certain to decide the
Women’s Six Nations title,
with the sides also
facing each other in
the World Cup pool
stage in New Zea-
land later this year.
For England the
ultimate target is
the World Cup final
on November 12 at
Eden Park in Auck-
land and the chance
to reclaim the title
from the tourna-
ment hosts. This win
confirmed how tough
it will be for Middle-
ton to select his final
squad for the World
Cup although the
limited challenge offered
by Italy meant England
were never put under pres-
sure in any area of the game.
Despite the lopsided score,
the captain, Poppy Cleal, believes
it was a good workout for her squad
and said: “We worked our socks off
and what we can control is putting
our foot down and keeping it there
and our strength in depth is some-
thing we have worked on. We have
had two away games and now we have
a six-day turnaround.”
Natasha Hunt, the scrum half, will be
pleased with her first Test since
November 2020, having taken a year
away from the international arena.
She kept the tempo high, and
after being named player of the
match, she said: “I love play-
ing with quick ball and thatPowerful England keep foot on gas
How they stand
P W D L F A B Pts
England 2 2 0 0 131 5 2 10
France 2 2 0 0 79 11 2 10
Wales 2 2 0 0 51 38 2 10
Scotland 200 22481 1 1
Ireland 2 0 0 2 24 67 0 0
Italy 2 0 0 2 6 113 0 0
Next fixtures: Saturday England v
Wales (4.45). Sunday Scotland v
France (1.0); Ireland v Italy (5.0).0
2Women’s Six Nations
Chris Jones
1
Italy
England
0
74
CHRIS RICCO/RFU/GETTY IMAGESSarah Bern of England breaks away from Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi of Italy to score the pick of the tries for the Red RosesThompson led the
way in Parma with
three of England’s 12
tries against Italy