I have started the last few Six Nations with excitement, looking at the talent in the England squad and hoping they can express themselves in the tournament, only to be left disappointed.
Although Saturday’s win over Italy in Rome wasn’t perfect – especially in defense in the first half – I think Steve Borthwick will return home relatively happy.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the team make further improvements against Wales on Saturday, before tougher games against Scotland, Ireland and France.
England were certainly given a scare at the Stadio Olimpico, but did just enough. They solved their defensive problems in the second half and there were also promising signs of attacking development.
England had good variety in their attack and numerous running options to scrum-half Alex Mitchell. They hit the middle of George Ford at 10, moved out wide and used some nice little kicks in attack.
England’s victory over Italy in their Six Nations opener was not perfect as they were tested by Italy
Steve Borthwick can take some positives from the game, although there are improvements to be made
Alex Mitchell was one of the players who made a positive impact for England (pictured scoring their second try)
Some forwards even intervened at scrum half when the ball needed to be moved there, speeding up the ruck.
This wasn’t the final product and certainly wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly a platform on which we could build.
Felix Jones is a new signing for England as the man in charge of the defence. He came from South Africa, where he won back-to-back World Cups, so he has built a great reputation.
From conversations with a few English players, I understand that Jones wants tremendous line speed and a strong blitz, with players flying up to force the attack again, scoring dominant hits and creating turnovers. But it takes time to adapt to a new coach.
We saw England struggle in defense initially as there is still some learning to be done.
The English defense continually found itself in the nick of time, as evidenced by Italy’s two tries in the first half. It was a recurring theme.
When Alessandro Garbisi scored, England’s last man stood in the center of the field.
Ollie Chessum flew up in defense and acted on Jones’ desire to bring a South African style defense, but the combination of him not making the tackle and his teammates not following his lead led to the Garbisi try.
England struggled in defense and were consistently caught in the nick of time, evidenced by Italy’s two tries in the first half
England were also narrow again after kicking for Italy’s second try. At the time it was very worrying, but to give Borthwick and Jones credit, the consistent high line speed that everyone in a white jersey needed was established.
The defense being caught too tight continued and will need to be addressed next week.
Italy remained scoreless for almost the entire second half until Monty Ioane’s late breakaway. It was ironic that it was England’s attack that kept them in the match.
For far too long we have seen the team struggle to create scoring opportunities and break through the opposition’s defence. There were signs in Rome that this might soon change.
Like Jones, Andrew Strawbridge has joined as a new face in the England organisation, responsible for skills. Like Jones, he is highly regarded because he has worked with New Zealand.
He hasn’t had much time with the team, but in Rome England looked faster attacking, had options on the line and moved the ball nicely. This was evident from Elliot Daly’s attempt.
Tommy Freeman played a key role and had a very nice line, and Mitchell’s effort to score was typical of the form he showed in the Premier League with Northampton.
At one point in the match, the statistics showed that 62 percent of England’s rucks were between one and three seconds. Again, this is a positive sign and a clear contrast to recent campaigns, when England really struggled to recycle the ball quickly. But at halftime they were still behind.
There is still a lot of work to do for the team to reach the level we saw from Ireland against France on Friday night.
England will be happy with their win, even if they won’t be completely satisfied with their performance
England will be disappointed with the final score and not getting a bonus point from four tries, but it’s a winning start and that’s all that matters. England have never lost to Italy.
I thought the Azzurri put in an impressive performance. They took advantage of England’s poor defense and won the try count by three games to two.
They would have been desperate to win but could still take heart from a narrow defeat, especially as this was their first game under a new coach.
England will not be completely happy, but satisfied nonetheless. Italy will be left wondering what could have happened if they had finished as brave losers again.