Yahoo Finance England reach Women’s Six Nations Final after nine-try rout against Italy in Parma
Dominant England ran in nine tries during a 67-3 thrashing of Italy to reach the Women’s Six Nations final.
Simon Middleton’s defending champions followed up their 52-10 rout of Scotland on opening weekend with a devastating second-half display in Parma.
Wasps wing Abby Dow notched a brace on Saturday, while Emily Scarratt, Vicky Fleetwood, Harriet Millar-Mills, Helena Rowland, Bryony Cleall, Claudia MacDonald and Lark Davies also touched down in another formidable victory.
Their opponents from Pool B will be known next week after Ireland take on France, but England's place is assured after a largely commanding display at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, where both sides paid tribute to Prince Philip.
There was a two-minute silence before kick-off in honour of the late Duke of Edinburgh, who died on Friday at the age of 99, while England's players wore black armbands.
After Scarratt had opened the scoring, Fleetwood registered England's second try in the 28th minute, going over after collecting Megan Jones' offload as Italy were once again made to pay for coughing up possession.
Michela Sillari split the posts with a penalty, but Rowland's three-pointer gave England a 17-3 lead at the interval before the visitors ran roughshod over their opponents in a one-sided second half.
Dow bagged two tries either side of Millar-Mills and Rowland touching down, while Cleall crossed the whitewash to bring up England's half-century.
MacDonald and Davies added further gloss to the scoreline in a match where Scarratt finished with a 24-point haul as she added to her deadlock-breaking try with eight conversions and a penalty.
Additional reporting by the Press Association.
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