Italy v England: Women’s Six Nations rugby union – live

Women’s Six Nations updates from 2pm BST kick-off
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/08/supremacy-at-the-six-nations-is-englands-dominance-an-issue-for-womens-rugby">Is England’s dominance an issue? | And mail Lee

It is certainly true that since 2024, Italy have improved consistently under Fabio Roselli’s stewardship.

This has been perhaps most obvious this year as the head coach refreshed his squad with some younger personnel then even with a couple of defeats the promising performances continued, plus the bonus of the walloping of Scotland in the last round.

However, Le Azzurre and Roselli must now place this optimism fully in the path of the killdozer that is England.

There were predictions coming into the tournament, not without some logical foundation, that due to injuries, some ageing players and a slight drop-off in form, John Mitchell’s team may not chew up everything in their way with the same cataclysmic gusto.

Those predictions were wrong, and today Italy must contend with the Red Roses taking another opportunity to revel in contradicting this wrongness.

The truth is they remain terrifyingly brilliant enough, as always.