England are by no means the finished article. We are not suggesting England will win the World Cup, not yet anyway, but England did, in fact, show the positive signs of progress that Borthwick will have wanted.
By Charlie Morgan
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In recent years, this conversation would have started with “it’s only Italy…” but Italy showed they can be dangerous on the counter-attack and they have what it takes to front up physically. Italy look destined to be in for a thrashing following a half time score of 19-0 to the hosts, but Italy soon turned it round to be win the second half 12-14, despite a yellow card for Ferrari.
In this article, we think about what England did well.
Fly Half Debate is Officially Over
Owen Farrell reverted back to his homely 10 shirt and he did impress. He was defensively solid, making 12 tackles (https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/report/five-star-england-beat-italy-for-first-win-of-borthwick-era#match-stats) and controlled the game well. England’s tactics were to turn the Italians, with delicate kicks in behind and, despite whether or not you think this tactic was good, Farrell did this well.
His 10-12 partnership with Ollie Lawrence blossomed well and left the fans licking their lips ahead of England’s test with Wales on 25th January. Dan Biggar is a traditionally weak tackler, often going too high (quite like Farrell), so Lawrence will be living rent free inside his head for the next fortnight.
Marcus Smith had an 8minutes cameo and seemed to try too hard upon arrival to the pitch. Smith missed 2 tackles (https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/report/five-star-england-beat-italy-for-first-win-of-borthwick-era#match-stats) and his grubber kicks in behind were not executed well. It was a shame Smith replaced Slade, as it would have been exciting to watch Smith-Lawrence- Slade, but this combination will have its time, I’m sure.