Italy vs England - as it happened: Eddie Jones' men see out seven-try victory in Rome
Re-live all the action from Sunday's Six Nations encounter
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.England begin their Six Nations championship defence against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, with Eddie Jones' side looking to become the first nation to win the title outright three times consecutively in its 135-year history.
Jones rolls the dice by naming Ben Te'o at outside centre ahead of Jonathan Joseph, despite the Worcester Warriors midfielder not playing since October and having just seven appearances to his name this season, Te'o is brought in to try and give England some power out wide, with Joseph among the replacements should the game open up late on.
Italy meanwhile will be led by talismanic No 8 Sergio Parisse, who wins his 130th cap today, while fellow veteran Alessandro Zanni starts at lock to win his 100th cap 23 months after his last international appearance. The gauntlet has already been laid down by Wales, who thrashed Scotland 34-7 in the Six Nations' opening game yesterday, while Ireland needed a late Johnny Sexton drop-goal from 42m out to beat France 15-13.
Follow the latest here...
Please allow a moment for the blog to load...
3 mins: The lineout is taken by Itoje and England go wide straight away. Ford loops around Farrell, feeds Simmonds out in the line, and the No 8 sends Anthony Watson over for his 14th career try. Farrell's conversion from the right touchline hits the right upright and falls clear, but England lead 0-5 and look in the mood.
9 mins: England are making good ground with strong carries from Vunipola and Launchbury, but they're not keeping possession at the moment and are happy to kick it away and let Italy make a mistake.
10 mins: There's a stoppage here and it looks a bad one. Ben Youngs is down and writhing around in agony, and the scrum-half looks to have suffered a bad injury to his knee as he whipped the ball away from a ruck. The medical team are on straight away, and Danny Care is already warming up.
10 mins: Care is on and Youngs is still being treated with the injury cart out on the pitch. You've got to say the signs look bad, and the England players have now moved back towards their 22 to go through drills in a bid to keep warm.
10 mins: A warm round of applause goes up as Youngs is carted off with his left leg wrapped in a brace.
We're ready to get back underway.
11 mins: The try is given and Anthony Watson bags his second! In a carbon copy of the first try, England go from the scrum and Ford loops around Farrell, feeds May outside him, and the left wing does brilliant to sucker in Bellini before offloading to right ring Watson.
The Bath flier still has a lot to do, but he beats last man Minozzi for pace and gases down the wing to score one-handed in the same corner. Farrell overcompensates with the conversion and hooks it left this time, so the lead is only 0-10.
15 mins: Watson gives away a penalty - hero to villain eh? - for not rolling away, and Allan kicks to touch just outside the 22.
16 mins: Italy's handling lets them down and the promptly lose 20 metres to fall back towards halfway. They're yet to get anything going, and the England rush defence is doing a good job of keeping them at bay.
Allan drops back and kicks back over the ruck with a good touch-finder in the England 22, but they ran out of ideas there.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments