Five takeaways from England v Italy

David Skippers
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Following a 41-18 victory for England over Italy in their Six Nations game, here’s our five takeaways from Saturday’s match at Twickenham.

The top line

Eddie Jones has taken great pains to point out to anyone prepared to listen that he won’t reveal England’s full attacking strategy until 2023 and, yet again, he was absolutely true to his promise.

With England winning a scrappy affair at Twickenham 41-18 and scoring six tries to two, this was, admittedly, a step forward. Quite how large a stride or how stable that step was is a moot point but there were some signs of improvement, and, as skipper Owen Farrell pointed out, there was a big lift in energy and intensity compared to the previous weekend’s showing versus Scotland.

Best of all, England looked a lot more balanced in selection, with Luke Cowan-Dickie and Kyle Sinckler very direct in attack, making some valuable metres and Courtney Lawes putting in a massive shift in gainline carry and first phase defence. There was a degree of willingness to handle and to throw the ball around, but remarkably, the forwards looked a lot more comfortable with ball in hand than some of the back did.

For Italy, they showed phase commitment, a willingness to try and get around the edges of the England defence and, in Monty Ioane and Paolo Garbisi, have finally found a couple of youngsters to steer their attack.

It might not have been the Mona Lisa quite yet for England, but it was certainly an artistic move forward from the weekend before.

George Ford/Owen Farrell axis

Rather like John Lennon and Paul McCartney or David Gilmour and Roger Waters, the creative ability of Owen Farrell and George Ford in partnership is greater than the sum of their parts.

With Ford prepared to play a lot flatter on the gainline than his partner, he opens up the short midfield and offers options for England’s juggernaut forwards to power on to. Freed of the constraint of playing at 10, this allows Farrell a lot more freedom to fire passes off the second wave or to take the ball up into contact, the two hallmarks of his game.

For three seasons now, Eddie Jones has vacillated wildly over his primary option at 10, with Ford tending to be his second choice when Farrell has failed. Against the Azzurri, it was clear to all that Ford’s scanning and optioneering in the crucial role of a pivot is far superior and has the added benefit of releasing Farrell into his most effective international position.

There can be no more dithering by Jones – he must finally pin his colours to the mast of George Ford and give him the job security his performances demand.

Jumping Jack

At the 59-minute mark, Ben Earl and Jack Willis replaced the excellent Courtney Lawes and again a well below par Billy Vunipola, joining Tom Curry to provide a loose forward trio that may just prove to be the future of English rugby.

However, Mother Fortune is a fickle mistress, and Willis lasted precisely five minutes on the pitch, until a clear out at a ruck forced his knee sideways and backwards, with the young Wasp letting out a scream of pain that could be heard around every part of Twickenham. The injury was so brutal that the TV directors chose not to replay it, and Willis cruelly left the pitch on a motorised buggy.

However, his five minutes were memorable as he scrapped like a street fighter at the breakdown, nipped over for a try from close range and sprang up everywhere on the pitch.

For a talent so compelling, to watch his big day fall apart in the most unfortunate circumstances was nothing short of tragic. The concern is this is the same knee that he’s already had a full ACL reconstruction on and everyone within the sport hopes and prays that we witness his shining ability in the white of England before very much longer.

Defensive blunders

The biggest task on Jones’ to-do list will be to sort out the width of England’s defence. Currently operating a 12-1-2 pendulum defence, this relies upon England having absolute alignment in role to cover the openside wing and the sweep of the broken defence.

To watch Elliott Daly and Anthony Watson’s comedic effort in the second minute of the match, when both came in to defend the inside pass without using the 16th man (touchline) to force Ioane into touch made one wonder if the English pair had actually met each other before kick off today.

Daly’s lamentable day continued as Ioane skinned him on the short side early on in the second half in a simple one-on-one tackle that any world class wing or full-back should make 99 times out of 100.

Whilst Daly came away with a simple run in at the death, his flakiness in the air and in the last line of defence has long since eroded the value he brings in attacking continuity. Playing him at 15 is now absolutely untenable and it may be, with Anthony Watson finally showing some semblance of the form he displayed pre-injury (including a baptism of slapstick positional play at number eight), that it’s time to change the guard in the last line of defence.

Learnings

What do both sides take out of the game? For Italy, they can take quite a lot, knowing that this time the tries they created were ‘real tries’ forged from sharp handling, intensity at the breakdown and some excellent vision from Garbisi at 10. Their pack held up in the set-piece and at times, were both committed and wily at the breakdown.

If you were marking their golf scorecard, they achieved a solid par playing with a 10 handicap. They were good value, well structured and their handling was a notch up from their previous Six Nations efforts of late.

England, a scratch player playing against a tough opponent, probably just achieved par by the skin of their teeth. However, they’ll learn a lot about team balance from this game, with Dan Robson, Lawes and Cowan-Dickie putting down markers for selection for their Round Three clash against Wales in Cardiff.

The equation in midfield is clear and Jones will be delighted with the energy shown by Ford and Farrell, but concerned about the back three in defence and was eulogising post-match about Watson’s display both on the wing and at eight.

The next round provides England with a stern test as they visit Wales. This is a must win for Jones and his charges and, for that to happen, it’s absolutely key that he takes the learnings from the Italy game.

by James While

England