Italy 15 England 19:THIS YEAR'S Six Nations Championship already has a curious feel to it. Few would have foreseen snow and ice in Rome, a Parisian postponement or a callow England team under caretaker management helping set the early pace, having secured successive away victories in the tournament for the first time since 2008.
The Italian slush will swiftly melt away but what about Stuart Lancaster’s team? Judgment will have to be adjourned until Wales visit Twickenham on Saturday week and pose trickier questions than England have so far encountered.
Even Lancaster will be aware England’s early monopoly has involved several get-out-of-jail-free cards. One match-winning charge down is handy but two in successive weeks? What were the odds on encountering two outhalves as ordinary as Dan Parks and Kristopher Burton proved to be? Not until England come up against a team which a) scores tries more reliably than the Scots and b) boasts a better kicker than the hapless Italian replacement Tobias Botes can proper assessments be made.
Yet if Lancaster is anxious about what the future holds, he is hiding it well. At 15-6 down on a pitch strewn with wet snow, this was a game England could have lost had his players panicked or been unwilling to stick together. Their fightback, underpinned by Owen Farrell’s nerveless goalkicking and Charlie Hodgson’s familiar outstretched arms, reflected well on the replacements Ben Morgan and Lee Dickson, both of whom could now start against the Welsh. With Toby Flood, Manu Tuilagi and Courtney Lawes all due to train with the squad this week, there are further options available. Almost half the 31-man squad will be released to play for their clubs at the weekend but, for now, Lancaster has no fresh injury worries. This Wednesday happens to be the deadline for applicants wishing to become England’s next permanent head coach. Lancaster has already put his name forward but his prospects effectively hinge on the events of the next fortnight. If his inexperienced team were to beat Wales, now widely seen as pre-game favourites, and show signs of rejuvenating their attacking game, it will be hard to accuse Lancaster of tactical naivety. If, conversely, they go down by 20 points, the demands for a more heavyweight name will multiply.
Lancaster’s challenge, in short, is to make the kingmakers think twice. Among the onlookers in Rome was Ian Ritchie, the English Rugby Football Union’s incoming chief executive. Ritchie, who is moving from the All England Lawn Tennis Club, does not officially start at Twickenham until February 27th but flew back to London along with senior RFU staff and is keen to hit the Twickenham ground running. In Wimbledon terms he will recognise that Lancaster has battled through the first couple of rounds but has yet to face one of the top seeds. If his England squad want to knock out the big boys, valiant baseline scuffling alone will be insufficient.
The promotion of Morgan would certainly improve the back-row balance, while Dickson’s organisational skills were immediately apparent when he came on for a frustrated Ben Youngs. No one doubts the Leicester scrum-half’s instinctive talents but self-doubt appears to have taken a grip; a spell out of the limelight could benefit all concerned. England’s midfield are also creating precious little in attack but sticking Tuilagi straight back in would not fit Lancaster’s ethos of ensuring Test jerseys are earned the hard way. Brad Barritt remains an excellent defender and the big Welsh midfield will take some knocking over.
It is the first time the England team bus has arrived at the ground behind a snow-plough and even the coach’s calm demeanour was in danger of cracking when he first saw the snow-covered surface. “I did ask why we couldn’t have more people with shovels on the pitch. They seemed to resort to blowers who just blew the snow to a different place. Then the [overhead] TV camera wire got wrapped round the top of one of the posts. They were saying to me: ‘You’ve got to stop your warm-up, the posts are going to fall over’.” In the event it was Italy’s nerve which collapsed. England are hardly an irresistible force but outstanding Test teams, as the Romans can testify, are not built in a day.
ITALY: Masi; Venditti (both Aironi), Benvenuti (Treviso), Canale (Clermont Auvergne; Morisi, Parma, 63), McLean (Treviso); Burton (Treviso; Botes, Treviso, 47), Gori (Treviso; Semenzato, Treviso, 57); Lo Cicero (Racing Metro), Ghiraldini (Treviso; D'Apice, Aironi, 58), Castrogiovanni (Leicester; Cittadini, Treviso, 33), Geldenhuys (Aironi; Pavanello, Treviso, 57), Bortolami (Aironi), Zanni (Treviso), Barbieri (Treviso; Mauro Bergamasco, Aironi, 76), Parisse (Stade Francais, capt).
ENGLAND:Foden; Ashton (both Northampton), Barritt, Farrell, Strettle; Hodgson (all Saracens; Turner-Hall, Harlequins, 77), Youngs (Leicester; Dickson, Northampton, 51); Corbisiero (London Irish), Hartley (Northampton; Webber, London Wasps, 75), Cole (Leicester; Stevens, Saracens, 75), Botha (Saracens), Palmer (Stade Francais; Parling, Leicester, 58), Croft (Leicester), Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), Dowson (Northampton; Morgan, Scarlets, 51).
Referee:J Garces (France).
Guardian Service
