Sing returns as Red Roses rejig back three v Italy
· BBC SportBy
Mike Henson
BBC Sport rugby union news reporter
Published
England have brought Emma Sing in at full-back and shifted Ellie Kildunne out to the wing as coach John Mitchell rejigs his back three for the fourth Women's Six Nations game in row.
Sing's Gloucester-Hartpury team-mate Mia Venner wins her third cap on the wing to complete a new-look combination to face Italy in Parma on Saturday.
Kildunne scored two tries against Scotland in her first Women's Six Nations start on the wing last month.
There are enforced changes in the pack with Sadia Kabeya still nursing shoulder and chest muscle injuries sustained in the win over Wales, and number eight Alex Matthews ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with a shoulder injury.
Their absences mean that six of the pack that started September's Rugby World Cup final win over Canada are sidelined either by injury or pregnancy.
Kabeya's absence gives Bristol teenager Demelza Short, who made her Test debut in the second row against Scotland, a start at blindside flanker.
Haidee Head, Trailfinders' 22-year-old Australian-raised back row, is in line for a Red Roses debut off the bench.
Short's club team-mate Delaney Burns continues in the second row, with Mitchell rotating his props as Kelsey Clifford and Maud Muir start in the front row.
The alternation between fly-halves continues with Zoe Harrison coming back in to start in place of Holly Aitchison.
Italy v England
Women's Six Nations
Saturday 9 May, kick-off 14:00 BST
Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma
Live on BBC Two, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app
England forwards coach Louis Deacon said that a shortage of second rows, with Zoe Stratford, Abbie Ward and Rosie Galligan pregnant and Morwenna Talling and Lili Ives Campion injured, has tested the squad depth and his own coaching philosophy.
"It has been stressful and challenging at times, but in a strange way quite rewarding and enjoyable," he told BBC Sport.
"I have never had to do anything like this before in my coaching career and I don't think I will ever have to do anything like it again.
"I am not willing to compromise our training level. Certainly in the forwards, we train very hard - it is difficult and the line-out is quite complex.
"I am not willing to compromise by training at a lower standard or reducing the complexity of our line-out. We have stuck at it and the players [who have come in] have to take a lot of credit."
Italy lost their opening two matches of the tournament to France and Ireland, but were impressive in an emphatic 41-14 win against Scotland in their final match before the mid-tournament rest week.
Le Azzurre have got progressively closer to England over their most recent Women's Six Nations encounters, losing by a margin of 74, 63, 48 and 33 points respectively in their matches between 2022 and 2025.
"Thay can go under the radar, we played them last year up in York and it was a sticky game, they caused us problems," said Deacon.
However, it would be a mammoth shock if, even with home advantage and England lacking a raft of first-choice stars, Italy managed to derail an all-conquering Red Roses side on a run of 36 victories and zeroing in on a final-round showdown with France.
England: Sing; Venner, Jones (c), Rowland, Kildunne; Harrison, L Packer; Clifford, Cokayne, Muir, Burton, Burns, Short, M Packer, Feaunati
Replacements: Powell, Carson, Bern, Lutui, Head, Robinson, Aitchison, Moloney-MacDonald