England began their 2024 Six Nations campaign with a win, through a dramatic comeback victory against an impressive Italy side. The Italians took England to their limit, with Steve Borthwick’s men narrowly avoiding an upset defeat in Rome.
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England head coach Steve Borthwick and his newly appointed captain Jamie George spoke after the match, and shared their thoughts on the victory in the Stadio Olimpico.
1. CLOSEST EVER RESULT BETWEEN ENGLAND AND ITALY
JAMIE GEORGE – “I was very impressed with the way that Italy approached the game today. Obviously, (with) the new coaching staff, we weren’t too sure exactly how they were going to play. I thought they executed their game-plan very well. Think they’re on a run, they’re going to give some sides some problems throughout the tournament, and I won’t be suprised if they got a couple of victories along the way.”
STEVE BORTHWICK – “We certainly created situations in training over the last nine days, that have asked the players questions on how the opponent are playing. Because once we came into this game, we weren’t exactly sure. We studied (Benetton) Treviso, such a huge contingent of players in the squad. We’ve studied Italy, we’ve studied the coaching team’s previous experience at other clubs. It was a whole mix of things.
“You’ve got to remember, this Italian side, in this opening fixture last year they almost beat France. It was only a few points, but they almost beat France. I think many people after that game thought they probably should have beaten France. This was an Italian side last year who played in Scotland, in last year’s Six Nations, and very nearly beat Scotland.
“This team has beaten Australia, this is a good side that’s got a lot of talent in it. You see Treviso, they are sitting second in the URC. Was it nine Treviso players, 10 Treviso players in the starting team? So, immediately they have cohesion coming in, that’s a great thing to have.
We’re a little bit different. Really pleased the players were ultimately 27-17 (up) at 80 minutes and sat on the opposition goal line. We’re disappointed to have conceded that last try.”
2. JAMIE GEORGE FIRST GAME AS ENGLAND CAPTAIN
JAMIE GEORGE:
“A massive honour for me. Really grateful for the opportunity, I’m also really grateful for the environment that the other guys created, to make it very easy to lead”
“What pleases me the most was was how we found a solution, got after it together, it was really pleasing. And I’m really, really grateful and pleased with the result.”
“When Steve and I met a couple of weeks ago, we were talking around that (fear of making mistakes) I don’t necessarily think it’s risk. I think having the courage to execute the game plan as best as you can, I think that’s probably more what we’re talking about. We’re very lucky to have (it) as a coaching staff, I’m very clear about how I want to go after things.”