England started their Women’s Six Nations campaign with an up-and-down 38-5 bonus-point victory over Italy in York.
Red Roses head coach John Mitchell selected an experimental line-up and watched full debutant Mia Venner respond with a try after three minutes.
Emily Scarratt, Claudia MacDonald and Amy Cokayne also crossed over in a largely one-sided opening 40 minutes, but England had to wait until two minutes from time to open their account for the second half when Emma Sing added a try to her three conversions and they will be frustrated not to have been more clinical after their strong start.
Gloucester-Hartpury wing Venner made the most of her first international appearance in five years with a third-minute score before her fine run helped Scarratt bundle over to make it 14-0 soon after.
An England penalty try was followed by Italy’s Laura Gurioli being sent to the sin-bin and the hosts secured a bonus point ahead of the interval when MacDonald caught Holly Aitchison’s kick to dot down in the corner.
Italy did get off the mark through Francesca Sgorbini, but Cokayne ensured England ended a dominant first 40 with a fifth score when she pounced on a loose ball from a line-out to cross over.
Sgorbini had a second try ruled out straight after the interval before Sadia Kabeya suffered the same fate for England, but Sing had the final say on proceedings.
Mitchell’s side eventually made their territory pay as Sing belted over the line in the 78th minute before she failed to add the extras.
