Chargey Hodgson: Does it again for England
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It was a case of close but no cigar for Italy as England claimed another unconvincing 19-15 Six Nations victory in Rome on Saturday.
Italy outscored their hosts two tries to one, however it was once again the boot of Owen Farrell that saved the day for England as the young centre contributed 14 points in horrendous conditions.
The Azzurri will be kicking themselves after leading 12-6 at half-time thanks to two quickfire tries before the break, but weren't able to keep up the pressure in the second half as England were forced to dig deep against their stubborn hosts to claim back-to-back away wins.
After a scrappy opening littered with poor kicking out of hand, England were unfortunate not to bag the game's opening try on the half-hour when David Strettle's kick-through was eventually touched down by Phil Dowson.
Referee Jerome Garces had already blown for obstruction on Strettle - and Farrell converted the resulting penalty before adding another soon afterwards.
But two minutes before the break, a pair of grubber kicks caused confusion and wing Giovanbattista Venditti was on-hand to punish Ben Foden's fumble by falling over the line in the corner.
England seemed set to enter the dressing room one point to the good but from the restart, Foden's attempted off-load was intercepted for centre Tommaso Benvenuti to race under the posts from the halfway line and ignite the stadium.
Italy pivot Kris Burton capitalised with a penalty that made it 15-6 early in the second period, but England immediately clawed their way back into it when opposite number Charlie Hodgson charged down Andrea Masi's attempted clearance for a try out of nowhere.
It was the England fly-half's second charge-down try in as many games - and once again proved to be the turning point in the match.
The introductions of Lee Dickson and Ben Morgan cemented the visitors' momentum - providing the opportunity for the flawless Farrell to drive over a 54th minute penalty and secure the narrowest of leads.
With Martin Castrogiovanni injured in the first period, England had more than held their own up front and Farrell stretched the advantage to 19-15 in the 65th minute from a penalty awarded at a scrum.
Tobias Botes replaced Burton for the final half-hour and was handed two shots at goal that would have won the game - but the South African-born scrum-half was woefully off-target with both as England crept home.
Man of the match: A committed display by a number of Italians ultimately went unrewarded, with skipper Sergio Parisse once again leading from the front. However, a nerveless and flawless display of kicking from Owen Farrell amid freezing conditions in Rome helped the visitors claim their come-from-behind win.
Moment of the match: The dramatic double strike from Giovanbattista Venditti and Tommaso Benvenuti had given the Azzurri a clear lead at the half-time interval before England managed to turn the tables through that second-half try from Charlie Hodgson that sparked England into life.
Villain of the match: The weather! In freezing conditions, scores were always going to be hard to come by and it was no surprise that both sides struggled to create much.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Venditti, Benvenuti
Con: Burton
Pen: Burton
For England:
Try: Hodgson
Con: Farrell
Pens: Farrell 4
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Marco Bortolami, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Mauro Bergamasco, 20 Fabio Semenzato, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Luca Morisi.
England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Phil Dowson, 7 Chris Robshaw (c) 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Geoff Parling, 19 Ben Morgan, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Jordan Turner-Hall, 22 Mike Brown.
Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)
Comments
APV1 says...
@ heart_of_oak - Bananaman is a favourite of mine, mainly due to my Blue, Black and White bias. Even so, I don't see him ahead of Ashton or Strettle. Or Sharples or Wade, for that matter. He's a great player for Bath and has proved an excellent player for the Saxons, but hasn't seemed to be able to make the next step up.
Defensively he's solid, although he can be a little on the high side (I suspect getting down to tackle to shorter players might be a factor). He is a bit like Tuilagi in that respect - goes in hard and committed, but that can lead to the odd penalty.
I also don't think he would add a new dimension to the team. I think we've got the bulk, defence and crash-ball runners in Barritt and Tuilagi. We need the fleet-of-foot and sparkle from our back three. If one isn't performing, we bring on Brown to shore up any gaps (moving Foden to the wing, if necessary).
With regards to your team - slip aside - the only other change I would make is at 8. I'm not sure that Morgan's ready for the first 60 minutes (or more) yet. Dowson played well against Italy and we have to bear in mind who his opposite number was too. Morgan came on and made a massive impact. But was that all down to him, or were his fresh legs vs a tiring opposition a factor too? I still think he's an impact sub. But now I think about it, he plays in Wales, so may have an edge there... Hmmm.
That's my thoughts anyway, for what they're worth.
Posted 10:51 15th February 2012
Kawasakifreak says...
Youngs showed England the way from the start - he was half-asleep.
England will struggle to win another game in this years' 6N.
Posted 22:31 14th February 2012
heart_of_oak says...
bit of a cockup or maybe a freudian slip ? I meant Robshaw, not Wood.
Posted 14:55 14th February 2012
heart_of_oak says...
Based on the players available, this would be my team to start against Wales
Corbisiero
Hartley
Cole
Lawes
Botha
Croft
Morgan
Wood
Dickson
Flood
Strettle
Barritt
Tuilagi
Ashton
Foden
Youngs is badly out of form while Dickson is in good form. We now pick players based on form, not reputation so this move is logical, captain.
Flood would take on the kicking duties but if he's missing kicks then we have to be able to bring Farrell on.
We need strong defence in midfield because if the ball gets to the welsh wings, they'll score. I can't see Ashton and Strettle being able to stop them. Ashton and Strettle are in my team not for their defence but for what they can do if they get quick ball.
Foden is on notice. Brown would be on the bench and a poor performance from Foden would see Brown brought on.
APV1 - what's the Jersey Giant like defensively ? If Ashton and / or Strettle are not coping with their opposite number, who would come on to replace them ? Normally, I would have gone for Armitage but he's out of favour.
If we cannot defend on the wings, we have to stop the ball getting to the welsh wings. Easier said than done.
This is why I expect a heavy defeat against the welsh. And though I'm English and proud of it, I have to say I'm full of admiration for the way the Welsh have developed the talent available to them. I can see Welshmen making the bulk of the next Lions team and Gatland being the tour manager.
Posted 14:54 14th February 2012
APV1 says...
I meant "bring on Farrell", not Flood.
Posted 13:53 14th February 2012
APV1 says...
Here's my tuppence-worth:
We won. In a snowy Rome against a tough opposition. With a green team, with very little experience. And the obligatory injuries, which all teams have to endure.
We didn't win pretty, but we were more expansive in the 2nd half and played ourselves out of trouble and into the lead.
So to The Cabbage Patch to take on Wales...
Lawes will be back in the 2nd row and I think he'll start with Botha. Personally I'd prefer Attwood and Lawes to start, but I'm not picking the team.
I see Flood at 10, Barritt at 12 and Tuilagi at 13, with Farrell on the bench. I'd prefer Farrell to start, but we're going to need the bulk and defense of Barritt and Tuilagi in the mid-field and the experience of Flood steering the ship. If Flood's off his game, or we need to play a bit more fast and loose, bring on Flood.
Youngs isn't performing and shouldn't start and Foden better have a better game, otherwise he's going to be looking over his shoulder...
Posted 11:54 14th February 2012
heart_of_oak says...
Pogmahon, unusual to read more than a single line from you and constructive points - with which I agree - at that. Is Morgan the number 8 we've needed since LD retired and if so, where does that leave James Haskell, the forgotten man of English Rugby (unless you include Danny Cipriani in that which I suspect, most of us don't).
I think most of us English fans can accept we have been poor and lucky in these first 2 matches against the weakest teams in the tournament. We all the know the reasons (aka excuses) for the poor performances so I'm not going to witter on about those.
I'll just say I expect us to get hammered by the Welsh who have a good scrum and a very powerful back line. If we have Lawes in our scrum and Tuilagi in our back line, it may make some difference, but not much.
I think we can do ok against the Irish but that we'll be beaten by the French. The Irish are no mean team, even without O'Driscoll who has been fantastic for Ireland over the years. What a fine example he is to any young man starting the game as a professional. So I think the England Ireland game could go either way.
I very much hope O'Driscoll doesn't retire and hope we have not seen the last of him in Irish and maybe Lions colours if that's not too late....
Posted 19:46 13th February 2012
melkdave says...
Alot of posters keep on about Englands player resources .Well just because we may have more players doesnt mean world class players fall off trees for us.France also have alot of players and 2 proffesional leagues yet no one harps on about their player depth or how given that why they arnt doing better.Have England managed our rsources well in the past NO .but given our recent U20s success i hope that problem has been resolved Also atm a lot of clubs seem to be in transition and blooding a lot of young talant.Next year i feel the english clubs and natiobal team will start to show some of their potential .England have done pretty well imo given the playing conditions of the 2 games OK not flashy or exciting but a win is a win and thats what counts in the end
Posted 14:59 13th February 2012
kybone says...
Look the thing is SL has basically had to take a punt on a group of players and see what happens. We have been quite poor in a lot of aspects but i feel that this is just the start and we will only get better from here. There are players to come back and other players who may come in based on form i.e dickson and morgan. The simple fact is that despite all the over the top criticism over the past 4 or 5 months England have only lost 2 competitive matches in the past 12 months! Thats less than Ireland, less than Wales, less than France, Less than South Africa! In fact i think only New Zealand have lost less matches than England since this time last year.
As for the resources debate, it just doesn't hold water. I don't know how many players each club has on their books but i would imagine its possibly around the 50 mark including academy graduates. If you take that number as roughly accurate then thats 600 players in the prem which is about 0.06% of the entire player numbers in England with about 98% of the total number of players in England being people who play for their local pub just for the fun of it. The vast player numbers in England compared with everyone else is just a fantastic nod to the accessibility of the game to people who were never quite good enough to pursue a professional career. You can add to that the fact that prem players aren't nurtured exclusively for the national team as they seem to be in other countries as the clubs have their own agenda's.
Ill agree that England have a lot of improving to do but ill take where we are right now no problem.
Posted 14:10 13th February 2012
TVaddict says...
@makemehappy
I'm apologies that I have come out so negatively from that post, I just get annoyed by idiot's posting unconstructive statements about England (though of course that is to be expected on the internet so I guess I shouldn't complain). I'm glad you are intelligent enough to know that the term 'trolling' is daft and immature, as is the act of doing it. Perhaps that is why I used such a term in inverted commas.
Let's not reference New Zealand, as I feel they are in a class of their own. I do however feel that if most other countries were to field a young inexperienced team against their respective peers then they would lose. An example would be South Africa's performance at the beginning of the Tri-Nations last year.
Now, we do have great resources and they obviously haven't been managed properly. It is hard to say if they are still being managed poorly, but considering our under 20s success one might conclude that these problems have hopefully been solved.
In reference to England's performance I freely admit they weren't good. But I feel the experience level is a valid excuse for the moment. I mean, look where Wales were a few years ago, and look at them now. To say England did not deserve to win is strange as I would not say Italy or Scotland deserved to win either, so who did win? Well, definitely not the the people watching! But seriously, at the end of the day England left the pitch with the most points on the board, so they deserved the victory. They can only improve from here, and I have no doubt that they will.
Posted 23:34 12th February 2012
alextron says...
Pretty entertaining game i enjoyed v.much.An opportunity lost by the Azzurri but nevermind we will get there. Well done England. Both sides were gifted tries but thats the way the match unfolded. what lost if for Italia was when the fly half Burton was replaced.Might have been a different story.
Posted 22:00 12th February 2012
jamesliveinhope says...
I will still take an unconvincing win over a gallant defeat any time. There is an argument that in both games England played the conditions better. Lets not forget that both matches were played in pretty appalling conditions, Scotland's attempts to throw the ball around didn't really work and Italy, despite 2 fairly fortuitous tries never really looked like scoring before or after.
Listening to the Welsh after the Scotland game, sounds like the triple crown T shirts will be available next week, the Twickenham result is a foregone conclusion. :-)
Posted 21:02 12th February 2012
Chubbylugs says...
There are many ways to skin a cat. If England played an over expansive game they would lose. They are playing within themselves perhaps, but have also ground out 2 away wins with a new side. The foundations of a good side are solid defence, set piece and a good kicking game. The flair will only come from gaining dominance over sides + we are just a bit green for that.
If I have to pick one area for improvement, it would be ball retention. We have a habit of either kicking away possession or silly errors. We then struggle to gain turnovers, in spite of mostly fairly solid defence.
I can't understand why players such as barritt and dowson are getting such a hard time. You spend half a game without the ball (probably more for England) so any side needs good defenders. Let's see these guys with some possession before we are too quick to judge
Posted 19:57 12th February 2012
giomamo says...
I don't care about the referee, the weather or whatelse...we just have had a great opportunity and we simply spoilt all the work we've done! How to gift a match: Masi's kick! And all the Azzurri kicking game was very poor...
Posted 18:30 12th February 2012
makemehappy says...
@TVaddict - there is nothing wrong from criticising a team that has such resources to draw from. If NZ put out a second XV against most England teams they would win, so it has much more to do with ability than lack of experience. I would expect England not to have looked clueless and to have defended poorly. These guys have been playing rugby for 20 odd years, so I think most aren't 'trolling' (such a daft immature phrase) - they are actually just commenting on what has been a couple of lamentable performances!
Having 2 wins was what I'd have expected too. I would have hoped if I'd been an English supporter, for them to be deserved! They weren't!
Posted 14:57 12th February 2012
TVaddict says...
Well, we've achieved the minimum amount of wins I wanted from this 6 nations. Excellent result for such a new team under a new coach. Anyone getting annoyed by people criticise England about how they played try not to listen to them. They're just try to 'troll' you. Anyone with any intelligence or rugby knowledge knew these were going to be hard games to win for such a new team.
It was a win, but everything to say about it was said last week. Their tries were very lucky, but so was ours. Good defensive work, but need more thrust in attack. Owen Farrell is just nerveless with the boot, but that was seen in the last premiership final when he out kicked flood. I thought Strettle was brilliant again, and Dan Cole really impressed me with his work around the park.
I said it last time and I'll say it again but I think Morgan and Dickson should start. I'd actually be very happy for Farrell to start at 10, with Barritt at 12 and Tuilagi at 13 (if he's back to full fitness), with Flood on the bench. Mainly because I don't feel 'charge down charlie' has been playing very well, and our game doesn't suffer when he leaves the pitch. If Tuilagi is fit I want him in the team as he gets over the gain line almost every time. Both Farrell and Barritt have done enough to stay in the first XV.
Posted 13:24 12th February 2012
makemehappy says...
@jehosophat - I think in all fairness, England were awful in attack and defense against two poor teams, so I'm not surprised there's been some bashing. Given their depth of resources, their displays have been patheitc. I also think they were very lucky not to lose both, and were simply outplayed by Scotland!
Posted 13:05 12th February 2012
lawynd says...
The posts here amuse me greatly - England get slagged off for being conservative and sticking with the wrong players who have bad attitudes for years, yet when a new coach comes in and tries something different, with what's a pretty radically different team (front row and two-thirds of the back three notwithstanding) and a lot of uncapped players, we're slagged off for not already being world beaters...yet we English are the ones supposedly with unrealistic expectations! ;)
Posted 12:45 12th February 2012
Jediboy says...
Or you could just blame the referee...................
Again....
Posted 12:22 12th February 2012
Jediboy says...
@Jehosophat - well said.
Its going to time for this England team to gel. It won't happen overnight.
We may well lose the next three games and I don't see that as a huge problem - so long as we are trying things, gaining experience and learning. That's what this period is about. We were realistically never going to win the 6N so I won't be upset when we lose.
That said, you will never get away from the people who just want to stick the knife into English rugby at every opportunity. They have always been there and always will. They are best ignored.
Posted 12:19 12th February 2012