England continued their charge towards a record fifth successive RBS Women's Six Nations crown with another convincing victory, this time 41-0 over Italy at the Stadio Nando Capra in Noceto, near Parma, on Saturday.
The defending champions have not conceded a point in their two matches to date, having avenged a first ever loss to Wales in the 2009 Championship with a 31-0 triumph on the opening weekend.
Gary Street had rung the changes for the Italian match, but England picked up where they had left off against Wales with Michaela Staniford and Fiona Pocock touching down for tries inside the opening 10 minutes.
Prop Rochelle Clark then crossed for her second try in as many matches before captain Catherine Spencer picked up from the base of a scrum to charge over and give England a 22-0 advantage at half-time.
England made a raft of changes at the break, but there was no let up with Heather Fisher, Maggie Alphonsi and Spencer crossing for tries to seal victory and preserve the only 100 percent record left in the Championship.
"The effort the players put in today was as ever excellent," said assistant coach Graham Smith. "Italy really made us work hard for this win, and for us this is certainly the most difficult year for us to try and win the Six Nations so we are really pleased with the result.
"At times our execution wasn't always there and we needed to pay more attention to detail. We were certainly not as fluid as we were against Wales but overall our scrummaging worked really well and all four of our wings made a massive contribution to the victory."
Wales bounce back with win
Italy, the only one of the Six Nations sides who will not be playing at Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 in England, had caused Ireland plenty of problems in the opening round but found the defending champions too hot to handle and are the only side without a victory in this year's Six Nations.
Wales and France had been in the same predicament as Italy after opening day defeats by England and Scotland, but they both bounced back well with victories on home soil over Scotland and Ireland respectively.
Scotland had caused the first upset with a last minute Lucy Millard try snatching a 10-8 victory over France last weekend and arrived at the Brewery Field in Bridgend on Sunday full of confidence and with an unchanged line up.
However, three tries in the first half from wing Caryl James - her second brace in three matches - and full back Non Evans set Wales on the road to a victory that kick-starts their campaign towards Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 in England.
James scored her first when she ran out to a Non Evans cross-field chip and although Tanya Griffith's try levelled the scores, Wales still went in leading 21-7 at half time with captain Mellissa Berry a constant threat despite playing in the centres not in her accustomed back row spot.
Mared Evans scored Wales' fourth try after coming off the bench, slicing through the Scottish defence with relative ease before Scotland claimed a last minute consolation try through captain Lynne Reid.
"This was a very pleasing win which has got us back on track," said Wales coach Jason Lewis. "Scotland came here full of confidence having beaten France. They were up for it but to be fair the girls went out and worked to the game plan. They stuck to it and it paid dividends.
Horta brace sees France home
His Scotland counterpart Gary Parker was also able to draw positives from the defeat, but knew that the chance to record back to back morale-boosting victories had slipped through their fingers.
"We put ourselves in a good position to bring the game to 21-14 just before half time, but while we created many opportunities we didn't take them. All in all we're disappointed that we gave away two soft scores, but overall we performed quite well, particularly in the forwards."
France recovered from their own loss with a 19-9 victory over Ireland in freezing conditions at the Stade des Allées in Blois, wing Fanny Horta crossing for two tries against a side they had suffered a first ever loss to a year before.
Ireland had brought in a number of experienced players for the trip to France, but after a nip and tuck first quarter with both sides making errors in the conditions it was the hosts who opened the scoring with Horta's first try in the 15th minute.
Popping up in midfield, Horta blasted through one tackle and then rounded Niamh Briggs to touch down. The wing's second try came from Sandrine Agricole's chip over the top, which bounced up nicely for Horta to race away to score in the right corner.
Ireland did manage to cut the half time deficit to 12-6 with two Briggs penalties, but that was as close as they got with Horta again causing trouble before a prolonged period of French pressure resulted in a try for prop Stéphanie Loyer from short range.
The visitors did keep their hopes alive with another Briggs penalty just past the hour mark, but France were not about to let another victory slip from their grasps at the death with their resolute defence keeping Ireland at bay until the final whistle.
The action resumes at the end of February when France travel to Wales, Italy host Scotland and England and Ireland, two sides who will meet again in the pool stages of WRWC 2010, come face to face at Esher.
