England player ratings vs Italy
England finished up their World Cup preparations on Friday evening, beating Italy 37-0 at St James’ Park in Newcastle.
Eddie Jones’ side signed off with a fairly disjointed performance, although that was largely to be expected with the number of changes they made for the fixture. Assuming there are not late injury concerns, the 31-man squad will now prepare to fly out to Japan on Sunday.
RugbyPass runs the rule over England’s performers in an encounter that gave them their third win in their four-match warm-up schedule.
- Anthony Watson – 6.5
Straightened the line and squared up the defence well in attack, as well as supporting both Jamie George breaks. He had one spill on a high ball when he was caught deep, although his positioning and work at the back was reliable at all other times. His incision was rewarded with a try in the final minutes.
- Ruaridh McConnochie – 5.5
Opportunities were few and far between for McConnochie on his debut. He was reliable in the air, taking a tough contested catch, although he will have wished for more chances with ball in hand to showcase his ability.
https://twitter.com/EnglandRugby/status/1170072576783204353?s=20
- Joe Marchant – 7
Marchant flashed his post-World Cup ability with a couple of outside breaks and steps back inside against the grain. He was rewarded with a weaving solo try off the back of a sharp pass from Ben Youngs.
- Piers Francis – 5.5
Some nice catch-and-pass and catch-and-offload moments from Francis, although his opportunities were limited with Italy edging possession and territory in the first half. The centre made way for George Ford early in the second half.
- Jonny May – 8
An excellent outing from the wing, who was a constant thorn in Italy’s side with his kick chase work. He also consistently found space when there was little on offer, thanks to his footwork and acceleration.
https://twitter.com/EnglandRugby/status/1170066276175306752?s=20
- Owen Farrell – 7
A strong showing on the whole, with the fly-half missing just one of his eight kicks and defending his channel resolutely throughout. His gain line play was also effective, although he did kick out on the full once as well as being charged down. Masterful timing to set up Watson’s late score.
- Ben Youngs – 7
One errant kick aside, it was a much-improved performance from Youngs, after struggling against Ireland. His box-kicks were consistently on the money, either able to be competed for or finding space, and he seemed to be in synergy with May. Picked out runners well with his distribution, particularly in the second half.
- Joe Marler – 5.5
The loosehead held his own in the scrum before making way for Ellis Genge after just 32 minutes. Put himself about in defence but wasn’t able to have too much attacking influence in his short appearance.
https://twitter.com/EnglandRugby/status/1170063614192971776?s=20
- Jamie George – 7
He connected on all three of his lineouts and was effective as a carrier in the wide channels, showing good awareness of his support and having soft hands to offload. One handling error aside, George went well in the north-east.
- Dan Cole – 6.5
Like Marler, Cole also made way after 32 minutes. In addition to his solid foundation at the scrum, the tighthead impressed with his counter-rucking, ensuring Italy had to commit plenty of players to secure the ball, as well as forcing a knock-on.
- Joe Launchbury – 5.5
The lock wrecked one Italian maul but was unable to exert too much influence before leaving the pitch after 32 minutes. He was gingerly holding his back prior to departing and Jones will be hoping he hasn’t suffered a significant injury.
https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1170022567425576960?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
- Courtney Lawes – 8.5
An all-action performance from Lawes, who was the standout man in England’s pack. He was an eager carrier, regularly led the line in defence and was able to slow Italian ball at the breakdown. He was influential at the set-piece, too, taking four lineouts, creating a turnover at the maul, snagged three direct lineout steals and disrupted another.
- Tom Curry – 6
The blindside impressed with the physicality of tackling, repeatedly denying Italian carriers any sort of success on the gain line. He wasn’t quite able to have the influence on the attacking side of the ball that he had had in recent fixtures.
- Mark Wilson – 7
An extremely industrious performance from Wilson on his home turf. The flanker was physical on the gain line as both a tackler and a carrier and was seemingly ever-present in the defensive line. Also got through plenty of work clearing at the contact area.
https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1169889932254384129
- Billy Vunipola – 6
A solid outing from Vunipola who grew into the game and was comfortable offloading and keeping phases alive. Italy did a decent job of denying him the physical superiority he usually enjoys.
Replacements
- Luke Cowan-Dickie – 6
The hooker unfortunately departed the game with less than 10 minutes to go, walking gingerly as he did. He was perfect at the lineout in his three throws before he exited.
- Ellis Genge – 6
He did cough up a couple of penalties at the scrum, but he his overall impact from the bench was a positive one. His carrying and work at the breakdown were particularly noticeable.
https://twitter.com/EnglandRugby/status/1170070995136368640?s=20
- Kyle Sinckler – 7.5
An impressive shift from Sinckler, who not only had the edge on his opposite number at the scrum, but also offered power and intelligence as a ball-carrier. Snaffled a turnover on a charged down kick and helped turn set-piece parity into an advantage for England.
- Charlie Ewels – 6
Ewels brought a largely positive impact at the set-piece, grabbing a line steal and proving a reliable target for Cowan-Dickie. He did cough up a penalty for coming in at the side of the maul, though.
- Matt Kvesic – 5.5
Kvesic made some strong tackles after coming on, but couldn’t quite bring the same attacking impact as some of his teammates.
- Willi Heinz – 5.5
Carried on from where Youngs’ left off, although England had comfortably secured the win at that point and had begun to take their foot off the gas.
- George Ford – 6
Looked sharp after arriving and the tandem of he and Farrell certainly looked more fluid than the one consisting of Farrell and Francis in the first half. Admittedly, the latter pairing did not have the front foot ball that Ford was given by the replacements in the tight five.
- Joe Cokanasiga – 6
Continued his trend of late to look for work close to the ruck, whether as a first receiver or on the pick and go. Italian struggled to deal with his power carrying.
WATCH: The RugbyPass stadium guide to Sapporo where England will begin their World Cup campaign against Tonga
Comments on RugbyPass
“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
5 Go to comments