PROP Rochelle Clark and centre Ceri Large have retained their places in the starting line-up for England Women’s Six Nations trip to Italy on Saturday (2pm).

The Worcester Ladies pair impressed as England kicked off their programme last weekend with a confident 32-0 victory against Scotland.

Fellow Worcester duo Bianca Blackburn and Lydia Thompson are included on the replacements’ bench for England for the match at Stadio Gino Pistoni, Ivrea.

England Women’s lead coach Scott Bemand, who hails from Herefordshire, has made minimal changes to the squad that started against Scotland.

Bemand, a former Luctonians player, said: “There are a lot of positives to take away from the game against Scotland and it was great to have made a good start in the tournament.

However, there is also plenty to work on; our accuracy let us down at times and this is something we will look to improve this weekend against Italy.

“The Scotland squad put plenty of pressure on us and we had to manage the game.

Conditions weren’t ideal but we were pleased to walk away with that score. The weekend’s results have not made us complacent, the Italians are investing in their programme, we know that they can deliver an upset at home and we’re not expecting it to be easy.”

England match-day 23 to face Italy:

15. Katie Mason (Bristol, 7 caps).

14. Ruth Laybourn (Darlington Mowden Park, 12 caps).

13. Lauren Cattell (Saracens, 14 caps).

12. Ceri Large (Worcester, 43 caps).

11. Lotte Clapp (Saracens, 3 caps).

10. Amber Reed (Bristol, 25 caps).

9. La Toya Mason (Darlington Mowden Park, 50 caps).

1. Rochelle Clark (Worcester, 106 caps).

2. Amy Cokayne (Lichfield, 9 caps).

3. Vickii Cornborough (Richmond, 10 caps).

4. Abbie Scott (Darlington Mowden Park, 11 caps).

5. Emily Braund (Lichfield, 19 caps).

6. Harriet Millar-Mills (Lichfield, 27 caps).

7. Izzy Noel-Smith (Bristol, 13 caps).

8. Sarah Hunter (Bristol, 74 caps).

Replacements:

16. Emma Croker (Richmond, 59 caps).

17. Heather Kerr (Darlington Mowden Park, 3 caps).

18. Bee Dawson (Wasps, 1 caps).

19. Poppy Leitch (Bristol, uncapped).

20. Poppy Cleall (Saracens, 1 caps).

21. Bianca Blackburn (Worcester, 9 caps).

22. Leanne Riley (Richmond, 6 caps).

23. Lydia Thompson (Worcester, 18 caps).