England 41 18 Italy
by David Nicholson
at Twickenham

THE SIX NATIONS champions duly extended their unbeaten streak against Italy at Twickenham, as England tried to recover from their bruising loss against Scotland in the opening game.

The scars of that loss were as much to do with the poor way that England had played as to how well Scotland had performed.

Italy were the cannon fodder to help Eddie Jones’s men put their season back on track, but nobody had told the Azzurri.

Franco Smith’s side opened the scoring with a well-taken try after the home side had again conceded an unnecessary penalty in the first minute of play.

Courtney Lawes deliberate knock-on was penalised by referee Mike Adamson and Italy duly kicked to touch for an attacking line out. After the forwards had driven against the English defence Monty Ioane was given a clear run to the line.

Jones claimed after the match that conceding the try had helped his side. “We were a bit slow into the game, but the early score sharpened us up,” he said.

But despite the six tries that England scored to gain a further bonus point, the men in white continued to pile up the mistakes and penalties.

Surprisingly for a team operating at the elite level of sport England’s passing frequently causes problems with the ball going head high, causing the receiver to check momentum to gather the ball.

Eliot Daly threw one pass forward and into touch when an accurate pass would have sent Jonny May scurrying away, and scrum-half Ben Youngs also wasted a clear chance with a forward pass.

By the end, the handling error count was England 18 Italy six.

But on the credit side, winger Anthony Watson was involved in the game far more and was looking to beat defenders with ball in hand.

Watson scored two tries and his first demonstrated a fine piece of footwork as he beat two players before heading for the line. His second was a well-judged interception and gallop the length of the pitch to the Italian line.

What will still be of concern to Jones is the poor form of his captain, Owen Farrell.

Unusually, his poor form with the boot continued as he missed a couple of kicks at goal. Farrell almost cost his side a try after Watson’s interception.

Television match official Joy Neville drew attention to potential foul play from the England captain as he clattered into Azzurri scrum-half Stephen Vardy as Watson sped away.

Adamson decided the upright tackle had been to the chest rather than the head, but it was a close thing.

But there was other good news for England to cheer as May scored a try on the stroke of half-time that was a thing of beauty.

The winger soared into the air to evade Luca Sperandio and managed to avoid going into touch before setting the ball down with one hand while still airborne.

May has now moved into second place in the all-time list of England try scorers behind legendary winger Rory Underwood.

Flanker Jack Willis came on in the 59th minute to replace Lawes and scored a try within a minute. Willis was stretchered off after just five minutes. He lay on the pitch with a horrific looking knee injury after he had been cleared out of a ruck.

Italy coach Smith hailed the game as an improvement on their defeat at home in Rome to France the week before.

“We were better than last week and played with more physicality,” the coach said. But he admitted that his side had made too many unforced errors and gave away too many penalties.

With England travelling to Cardiff in a fortnight to take on the unbeaten Welsh, Farrell declared that his side can still win the championship.

Jones was clear that his team will have to improve further. “We have to get better set piece dominance and we have not been able to exert pressure through our scrum and line out.”

The Six Nations takes a break next week, but a visit to Wales in a fortnight will see whether England have got the chariot back on the road.

The two Welsh victories have come against sides reduced to 14 men, but the men in red will be a tough test for misfiring England.