Millie David at the double as England down Italy

By Phil Campbell

Millie David’s dazzling double helped England produce a stunning fightback to down a spirited Italy 36-20 and claim their second win of the 2025 Six Nations Women’s Summer Series.

The winger’s brace, alongside scores from Zara Green, Carmela Morrall, Sophie Hopkins and Lilly Plowman, saw England over the line in the scorching heat in Caerphilly.

Italy held a 15-0 half-time lead thanks to tries from skipper Elena Errichiello, Chiara Cheli and Mihaela Pirpiliu but had no answer to England’s ruthless performance during the second 40 minutes.

Italy, who made six changes from their defeat to France in their opening fixture, put England under pressure from the outset and made it count when captain Errichiello peeled off the back of a scrum to power over after just three minutes.

Two yellow cards made England’s job of getting back into proceedings even harder, Morrall the first to go to the bin for contacting an opposition player’s head at the breakdown before Keevy Fitzpatrick followed suit on 28 minutes for illegally bringing down a maul.

And with England briefly down to 13 players, Cheli touched down after a rolling maul to give Italy a 10-0 lead.

Despite David’s superb last-ditch tackle on Kristin Kone, England couldn’t stop Italy scoring a third try just before half time, Pirpiliu finishing off a glorious move which saw the ball moved quickly through the hands out to the left.

Trailing by 15 points, England produced a flying start to the second half, reducing their deficit to just a solitary point within four minutes of the restart.

Green was first to cross the whitewash, scoring close to the posts after a period of English pressure, before David raced down the left wing to give England their second try.

David’s second completed the comeback just shy of the hour mark, stepping inside astutely to dot down on the left after being set up by Ella Cromack.

Morrall’s try stretched England’s lead with 10 minutes to go when she burst through from close range, but Moioli’s opportunistic score once again made the encounter a one-score game.

The result was put beyond doubt late on as Hopkins collected Lia Green’s grubber kick to score England’s fifth try before Plowman benefitted from a rolling maul to add the icing to the cake.

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