ALTHOUGH England Women racked up an impressive 55-0 victory against Wales in the opening RBS Six Nations championship clash, skipper Catherine Spencer says her team must make further strides to improve their game if they are to achieve an unprecedented third Grand Slam this season.

Worcester number eight Spencer, whose side ran in nine tries against Wales, believes England's away clash against Italy on Saturday (1.30pm) will prove a tough encounter.

"The Wales game provided us with a fantastic start to the 2008 RBS Six Nations," she said. "As a team we showed, in parts, the exact rugby that we want to play with fantastic continuity and support play.

"There were, however, several errors that crept into the game so, although we won convincingly, we are under no illusions that we have plenty to work on.

"Although I am very excited about the trip to Italy I know that it is going to be a very tough game.

"Italy proved strong opposition last year when we played them at Twickenham and they will have everything to play for in front of home support in Rome."

Spencer added: "The turnaround between these two games is short but we are lucky in that we have such great strength in depth. There is a lot of competition for six nations' shirts at the moment which is keeping everyone on their toes.

"We have a couple of changes to the starting line-up for the Italy fixture, which is obviously hard for those who have to step aside, but can only be a good thing for English rugby as a whole."

England: Barras (Saracens); Staniford (Wasps), Allan (Saracens), Burford (Saracens), Waterman (Clifton); Richardson (Richmond), Turner (Richmond); Hemming (Clifton), Garnett (Saracens), Clark (Henley), Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), Beale (Leos), Jones (Richmond), Alphonsi (Saracens), Spencer (Worcester, capt). Replacements: Dale (Worcester), Storie (Blaydon), McGilchrist (Wasps), Leonard (Wasps/Army), McLean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), Merchant (Worcester), Massarella (Saracens).