England captain Sarah Hunter

Hunter admits her young side have not yet produced England’s trademark performances in this year’s Six Nations. With defeats to Ireland and France, England now cannot defend their championship crown but she is confident England can pull out a performance this weekend.

“There were certainly some positives to take from our defeat against France and it was an improved performance from our loss against Ireland, “ said Hunter, whose side are looking for their second win of this season’s Six Nations. “What we need to do now is focus on those positives, learn from our mistakes and ensure that we bring them to the park on Saturday and put on a big performance.

“The team were extremely disappointed to lose to France. It’s never easy losing at the best of times but to do so knowing that we hadn’t played to the best of our ability hurt even more. And to rub salt into the wound, it was also the first game we have lost at Twickenham.

“We are a good team - we just need to play to our strengths and cut out the errors. We need to play with confidence and have the belief in ourselves as a team and as individuals."

England currently sit fourth in the Six Nations table with Italy third after wins over Scotland and most noticeably France, where they edged them 13-12. They also lost their clash against Wales by just one point, so the Azzurri are clearly enjoying this year’s championship.

Hunter added: “Italy will be a tough test. They have already beaten France so can’t be underestimated at all and we will have to be at the top of our game on Saturday to get a win. We are definitely looking to put on a strong performance and one our supporters can be proud of.”

You can watch England Women take on Italy  live on www.rfu.com/englandwomenlive

England

15        Lauren Cattell (Saracens)

14        Lydia Thompson (Worcester)

13        Abigail            Chamberlain (Richmond)

12        Amber            Reed  (Bristol)

11        Sally Tuson (Bristol)

10        Ceri     Large  (Worcester)

9          Georgina Gulliver (Lichfield) (VC)

1          Roz    Crowley         (Lichfield

2          Victoria           Fleetwood     (Lichfield)

3          Laura  Keates            (Worcester)

4          Joanna McGilchrist (Wasps)

5          Emily Braund (Lichfield)

6          Sarah Hunter (C)     (Lichfield)

7          Hannah         Gallagher      (Saracens)

8          Harriet           Millar-Mills     (Lichfield)

Replacements:                                

16        Emma Croker            (Richmond)

17        Kate Newton (Bristol)

18        Sophie Hemming (Bristol)

19        Rowena Burnfield (Richmond)

20        Rebecca Essex (Richmond)

21        Fiona Davidson (Richmond)

22        La Toya Mason (Wasps)

23        Emily Scott (Thurrock)

England’s Six Nations Fixtures & Results:

February 2, 2013 - England 76  Scotland 0

February 9, 2013 - Ireland 25 England 0

February 23, 2013 – England 20 France 30

March 9, 2013 - England v Italy - KO 1pm, Esher RFC – live on www.rfu.com/englandwomenlive. Tickets available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk