England find their rhythm to see off innovative Italians and move top of Six Nations standings
England 36 Italy 15: The Azzurri's unconventional approach left the home side scratching their heads throughout the first half but Eddie Jones' men were quick to react after the break
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Your support makes all the difference.Three tries in the last 14 minutes, including two for the Exeter wing Jack Nowell, broke Italy’s brave and clever resistance as England moved to the top of the Six Nations table, three points ahead of Ireland.
England will remain narrow favourites to retain their Championship title, with Scotland to come here on Saturday week, and a trip to Ireland a week later, but the team who extended their winning run under head coach Eddie Jones to 16 matches, and 17 overall, had to think as much as fight their way through against an Italy side who trailed by only two points going into the final quarter.
England had won all 22 previous meetings and scored 139 points in the three most recent if them, but for a long time this struggle was more reminiscent of the terrible trouble Italy gave their Twickenham hosts on the last visit but one, an 18-11 English win in 2013.
The 63-10 thumping Italy took from Ireland in the previous round of this Six Nations in Rome looked a rotten form guide as they completely unsettled England with a canny, highly unusual use of the laws that was a tribute to the planning of the visitors’ coaches Conor O’Shea, Brendan Venter and Mike Catt.
Two penalties missed by fly-half Tommy Allan meant Italy had no reward on the scoreboard for a good first quarter but in that period they had disrupted England’s flow by keeping their players out of the immediate post-tackle situation and positioning one instead on the white-jerseyed side of three tackles with their arms spread wide – on the legal basis that with no ruck having been formed, there was no line of offside.
England supporters who had come here expecting their main mental activity to be counting up the tries their team were scoring were sent scrabbling to inspect the ruck law 16.1 in the rule-book.
As a tactic it was much more effective in discombobulating England than when Italy came here with the flanker Mauro Bergamasco as a scrum-half a few years ago.
England’s captain Dylan Hartley and returning flanker James Haskell, a former club skipper at Wasps, were still trying to work the law out by speaking to referee Romain Poite near the end of the first half.
Those in the Twickenham stands who weren’t wrongly booing the Italian tactic could listen in to the referee’s microphone as Hartley and Haskell sought instructions on how to combat it, and what constitutes a legally-formed ruck, only to be told by Poite: “I am a referee, I’m not a coach.”
Sensibly, if very belatedly and ahead of his flustered forwards, England’s scrum-half Danny Care pinpointed the lack of Italian numbers over the ball after the tackle as an opportunity to pierce the opposition. Care chipped-and-chased towards the posts with 36 minutes gone, but Italy’s full-back Edoardo Padovani did well to cover and call a mark.
At that stage England were a skinny 5-3 ahead, after a line-out catch-and-drive try for their tighthead prop Dan Cole in the 24th minute, replied to by Allan’s 30-metre dropped goal 10 minutes later.
It then got worse for the reigning Six Nations Grand Slam champions just before the interval as Allan’s wobbly place-kicking led to an Italian try. The No.10 hit the right-hand post with a penalty – England’s ninth conceded of the half – and as the home players stood and watched, Italy’s left wing Giovanbattista Venditti snatched the bouncing ball and brushed off Joe Launchbury and Mike Brown to score, with Allan’s conversion putting Italy ahead, 10-5.
The Italian ploy had an obviously limited shelf life, once England had woken up to it, and began driving, hard and early, after contact.
Launchbury set the tone at the start of the second half and within six minutes England had their second and third tries, and Twickenham was in full voice.
Care’s sharp tap and go took the pacy No.9 over at the left corner on 43 minutes, and he was followed there by Elliot Daly after a battering set-up by the forwards Maro Itoje, James Haskell and Haskell, and a nice loop by Care around fly-half George Ford.
Farrell converted the Daly try and England felt much happier with life at 17-10 up.
So much so that they turned the Italians’ tactics on them by having Nathan Hughes standing on the “wrong” side of a tackle, arms wide in the earlier manner of his opposite number Sergio Parisse.
Another fillip for England came when Allan was flattened by a chasing Itoje, who was also reprising his second-row scrummaging role from the 21-16 win in Wales two weeks ago.
But even while Italy had Allan down with a shoulder injury, they managed to cut England apart for a shock second try on the short side of a ruck. Michele Campagnaro, who plays for Exeter Chiefs, barged Ford out of his path and sped on past Jamie George, Daly and Brown.
Padovani was tasked with the conversion, as Carlo Cana replaced the stricken Allan, and dragged the kick wide to England’s relief.
Farrell, winning his 50th cap at the age of 25, found the increasingly wet and squally conditions affected his normally impressive strike rate, and the inside centre pulled a good penalty chance wide in, with 15 minutes remaining.
But all remaining doubt over the result disappeared with England’s bonus-point try, plus a fifth and sixth for good measure.
A spectacular mix-up by the television match official George Ayoub was rescued just in time for an England scrum to become a line-out, after Canna had thwarted Daly with a brilliant recovery to the kick the ball out.
Courtney Lawes caught the line-out and eventually the ball went along the line for replacement – or “finisher” as Jones likes to call them – Jack Nowell to dot down at the right corner.
A galloping run by Cole’s replacement Kyle Sinckler made the next try for Te’o, with 72 minutes gone, and Italy’s exhausted defence were easily splintered by Nowell for the Exeter wing’s second score, after a charge-down by the tireless Itoje.
Scorers:
England: tries: Cole, Care, Daly, Nowell 2, Te’o; conversions: Farrell 3.
Italy: tries: Venditti, Campagnaro; conversion: Allan; drop: Allan.
England: M Brown; J May (rep J Nowell 56 th min), B Te’o (H Slade 75), O Farrell, E Daly; G Ford, D Care (B Youngs 52); J Marler (M Vunipola 56), D Hartley (capt; J George 56), D Cole (K Sinckler 72), J Launchbury, C Lawes, M Itoje, J Haskell (J Clifford 72), N Hughes (T Wood 72).
Italy: E Padovani; G Bisegni (T Benvenuti 52), M Campagnaro, L McLean, G Venditti; T Allan (C Canna 62), E Gori (G Bronzini 36); A Lovotti (M Rizzo 58), O Gega (T D’Apice 74), L Cittadini (P Ceccarelli 52), M Fuser (G Biagi 72), A van Schalkwyk, A Steyn, S Favaro (M Mbanda 58), S Parisse (capt).
Referee: R Poite (France).
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