ITALY 9; ENGLAND 45: How different it was all supposed to be. All those grand slam roads leading to Rome, all those past Six Nations disappointments blown away like so much froth off a celebratory cappuccino. Instead England's championship season ended yesterday much as it had begun in Edinburgh with one of those solid wins not destined to linger long in the collective memory.
Whatever they did, of course, England were on a Roman hiding to nothing. Even a fizzing victory by 80 points would have been rendered irrelevant by France's title-winning stampede in Paris and, on a sultry, increasingly cloudy afternoon, Clive Woodward's side settled instead for a Sunday afternoon chug through the gears.
Woodward, at least, is prepared to give due credit to the French. "We lost fair and square in Paris and that still hurts," he said. "We can't do anything about it until we meet the French next time. You just have to learn a move on. I enjoyed watching France on Saturday and they deserved their title." As for yesterday's game, he insisted he was "very satisfied" with certain aspects of England's performance. "We stopped the Italians from scoring but we're not quite where we were 12 months ago."
No disrespect to the Italians, who fought well up front and never threw in the towel but it says quite a lot when the most memorable moment of a Six Nations game is a mass substitution. The sight of no fewer than four England captains lined up on the touchline was unquestionably one for the scrapbook and Lawrence Dallaglio, who scored one of his side's six tries within four minutes of coming on, relished the experience more than most.
There were also two sharp tries for Will Greenwood and others for Ben Cohen, Jason Robinson and, deep in injury-time, Austin Healey. Greenwood and Robinson, along with Ben Kay, are perhaps the only Englishmen who might squeeze their French opposite numbers out of this season's notional Six Nations all-star team, although Leicester's Lewis Moody impressed as much as any forward.
Woodward expressed concern afterwards that the penalty count was too high but once Neil Back had run out ahead of his team-mates to mark his 50th cap and the magnificent brass band had finally been persuaded to vacate the pitch there was rarely a moment when England looked less than in charge.
The most clinical of their three first-half tries was probably their first when Greenwood sliced smoothly through the midfield to score under the posts. When he caught Matt Dawson's clever pre-planned overhead free-kick to score his second, it was his 19th try in 30 Tests, putting him equal third in England's all-time list. Only Rory Underwood and Jeremy Guscott have scored more.
Cohen has an even better strike rate in his rather shorter international career and, when the Northampton winger burst through Diego Dominguez's attempted tackle, it was his 15th touchdown in just 18 England appearances. Not everything went England's way, though, with the lively Kyran Bracken collecting a boot to the back of the head courtesy of Dominguez and Danny Grewcock forced off temporarily with a bleeding nose.
Grewcock's absence in the blood-bin at least allowed the familiar figure of Martin Johnson to rumble on for four minutes, the erstwhile England captain doing his best not to look too disappointed when he was hauled off.
It was Johnson's charge-down of Dominguez's kick which gave England the field position for Dallaglio's try and Greenwood's nice pass was received by the scampering Healey, one of a relentless torrent of late replacements on both sides. Italy, whose points came from three penalties from Dominguez, are still without a championship win since their debut victory over Scotland but only England have kept their try-line intact against them this season.
ITALY: Peens (Pez, 74); Mazzucato, Stoica (Mazzantini, 80), Raineri (Zanoletti, 49), D Dallan; Dominguez, Troncon; De Carli, Moscardi (capt, Moretti 74), Pucciariello (Nieto, 59), Bortolami, Giacheri (Dellape, 59), Persico , Bergamasco , Phillips (De Rossi 49). Scorers: Dominguez three penalties.
ENGLAND: Robinson (Sale); Luger (Harlequins), Tindall (Bath; Hodgson, Sale, 77), Greenwood (Harlequins), Cohen (Northampton; Healey (Leicester 69); Wilkinson (Newcastle), Bracken (Saracens; Dawson, Northampton, 56); Rowntree (Leicester; Leonard, Harlequins, 56), Thompson (Northampton; West ,Leicester, 73), White (Bristol), Grewcock (Bath; Johnson, Leicester, 56), Kay (Leicester), Moody (Leicester), Back (Leicester, capt; Dallaglio, Wasps, 56), Hill (Saracens). Scorers: Greenwood 2 tries, Cohen, Robinson, Dallaglio, Healey try each; Wilkinson 5 conversions, penalty; Dawson conversion
Referee: M Lawrence (South Africa).
