Ashton cool, calm and collected

England coach Brian Ashton insists his troops are ready for their Italian job in Rome on Sunday – and he is confident it will not be a botched mission.

England coach Brian Ashton insists his troops are ready for their Italian job in Rome on Sunday – and he is confident it will not be a botched mission.

The World Cup finalists, quite simply, have endured a week from hell.

Beaten at home by Wales one minute, then deprived of five players – Mike Tindall, David Strettle, Andrew Sheridan, Lewis Moody and Tom Rees – through injury or illness the next, Ashton could have been excused for locking the door and lying down in a darkened room.

The casualty count could yet increase, with captain Phil Vickery battling to overcome a calf muscle injury that threatens his participation at Stadio Flaminio.

If Vickery, who was hurt during training in Bath on Thursday, is ruled out, then Matt Stevens will deputise at tighthead prop with uncapped Bristol forward Jason Hobson joining the replacements.

Either Jonny Wilkinson, who was verbally slaughtered by many pundits following his poor second-half display against Wales, or lock Steve Borthwick can confidently be expected to take hold of the leadership reins in Vickery's absence.

History heavily favours England against Italy in Rome.

On four previous visits, they have registered 185 points in maintaining a 100 per cent record, which is seven points more than during a quartet of Twickenham Six Nations wins at the Azzurri's expense.

And if England are to have any chance of resurrecting their Six Nations campaign – and a possible title bid – there can be no hangover from the pain inflicted by Wales.

“We are going into the game in a very positive frame of mind. We cleared up on Monday what happened last weekend,” said Ashton.

“The players have worked very hard this week. There has been a good level of execution and accuracy in training.

“You can't hide away from what happened last weekend, and when it does happen, you have to address it.

“I wasn't happy at all with the last 20 minutes against Wales. We addressed it on Monday, and I am very confident that God forbid, if we were in that situation again, the outcome would be slightly different.”

And despite the crushing Wales setback, Ashton hopes England can take another step down the evolution route towards playing a more complete brand of rugby.

“The general mood in the camp is one of we've set our stall out, we've all bought into this,” said the England coach.

“What we don't want now is any black sheep, either on the playing side or management side, saying ' hang on a minute, this is far too dangerous and risky.'

“We are probably now in a transition phase with some of the younger players coming into the side, which is something I envisaged happening possibly a little bit further down the line.

“We are actually now in it, and it's pretty exciting.

“I think the players are in the same frame of mind as me. They see the excitement coming into the team, some of the young players and some who are not so young, and it does add to the general excitement about what this team might be capable of.”

Italy, as always, will look to rumble England up front, where Martin Castrogiovanni has, on paper, a clear edge at scrum-time over Sheridan's replacement Tim Payne.

And if England don't establish a solid set-piece platform, then there is little hope of a volcanic eruption in the considerable shape of Lesley Vainikolo happening among the backs.

Vainikolo was woefully neglected during the Wales game, and England must utilise their juggernaut wing to blast through the opposition.

“I suspect that Lesley Vainikolo will be pretty keen to start wandering around the field a little bit and getting himself involved rather more than he did last week,” said Ashton.

“With a guy like that on the field, with two or three opportunities to get the ball to him (last Saturday), we would have made more of it.

“But that was part of the general malaise during the second half of the second-half performance.

“We know Italy are no mugs in the front-five. That's where the contest, conceivably, could be won or lost. We know how strong the Italians are up-front.

“Italy probably think they are favourites going into this game after what happened last weekend.

“They are always a tough nut to crack at Stadio Flaminio.

“A lot of their players play very good Heineken Cup rugby throughout the year, with some playing in the Guinness Premiership and some playing in the French Championship, so they get good experience,” added Ashton.

That said, England – provided they engage their collective brain – should be too strong, despite an alarming injury list.

Anything other than a win though, and the fall-out could prove considerable.