England v Italy: Everything you need to know
England will start as strong favourites to continue their winning run and a charge towards a second successive Six Nations grand slam when they host Italy on Sunday.
Eddie Jones’ side come into the clash at Twickenham on a run of 16 consecutive wins – although the first of those was earned under predecessor Stuart Lancaster.
And their head-to-head record with the Azzurri points towards a home victory – England have triumphed in all 22 of their meetings with Italy.
Jones makes four changes from the narrow win over Wales in Cardiff a fortnight ago, including Ben Te’o gaining his first start at centre in place of Jonathan Joseph – who scored a hat-trick the last time these two sides met.
Italy have lost heavily at home to Wales and Ireland in their opening two fixtures, leading some to question the wisdom of their continued participation in the competition.
Like opposite number Jones, head coach Conor O’Shea has also made four changes as the Azzurri look to upset the odds and avoid a 10th straight Six Nations defeat.
PLAYER DIARY | From @JonnyWilkinson to Antonio Conte via Eddie Jones’ dog, @mikebrown_15 talks you through the week in camp pic.twitter.com/dztLrTjItx
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 24, 2017
HEAD TO HEAD
England: 22
Italy: 0
Draw: 0
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2016?
England overcame a sluggish first-half showing to prevail 40-9 in Rome. The visitors only led 11-9 at the break, but Joseph’s hat-trick and Owen Farrell’s try added to George Ford’s score in the opening period.
KEY PLAYERS
Ben Te’o (England)
Te’o came off the bench to score a late match-winning try against France in England’s opener. The Worcester Warriors centre is given the chance to impress from the start this time, and his partnership with Farrell in the midfield, where Joseph has been a shining light, could be pivotal to create the space England may need if they are targeting their first winning bonus point of the campaign.
Tommaso Allan (Italy)
One of the four Italy changes, replacing Carlo Canno at fly-half. It will be Allan’s first start at 10 for the Azzurri since a clash with Canada in June and if Italy are to have any chance of causing an upset, he will have to be accurate from the tee to punish any English ill-discipline.
THE LINE-UPS
England: Mike Brown, Jonny May, Ben Te’o, Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly, George Ford, Danny Care; Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley (captain), Dan Cole, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Maro Itoje, James Haskell, Nathan Hughes.
Italy: Edoardo Padovani, Giulio Bisegni, Michele Campagnaro, Luke McLean, Giovanbattista Venditti, Tommaso Allan, Edoardo Gori; Andrea Lovotti, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Lorenzo Cittadini, Marco Fuser, Dries Van Schalkwyk, Abraham Steyn, Simone Favaro, Sergio Parisse (captain).
COACH COMMENTS
Eddie Jones (England): “There was never any doubt Dylan [Hartley] was going to be captain and never any doubt he was going to start. Obviously Jamie [George] is disappointed, because he wants the spot. And at some stage he will get it. Dylan can’t play until he’s 50.”
Conor O’Shea (Italy): “We’re going into our Colosseum this weekend. Everybody is having a pop. People look for cheap and easy headlines. I would question whether some actually believe it but the world in which we live has no grey areas, only black and white. We know that.”
OPTA STATS
– England have conceded an average of just three first half points across their last seven home games against Italy.
– England are looking for a 10th consecutive Six Nations win, which would equal the tournament record set by them twice before (1882 to 1886 and 1922 to 1925).
– Italy have lost 40 of their 43 previous away games in the Six Nations (W2, D1), with those two wins both coming at Murrayfield (draw v Wales in 2006).
– England are only two shy of becoming the first team to score 250 Six Nations tries, while their five tries per game against Italy are their most against any Six Nations opponent.
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments