A frankly bizarre, and at times farcical, match between England and Italy – one which Eddie Jones deemed not fit to even be called ‘rugby’ and likened to Trevor Chappell bowling underarm in cricket. Was the first half England’s worst under Jones? Yes. Were Conor O’Shea and Brendan Venter’s tactics inspired? Definitely. Perhaps England should have worked them out quicker, but they did eventually and came away with a six-try, bonus point victory. Here are how the players rated.
1 Joe Marler – 5.5
England’s scrum struggled on Sunday, although more blame seemed to be on Cole rather than Marler. Made some big tackles and generally performed ok. Has he done enough to keep Mako Vunipola out the side? Probably not.
2 Dylan Hartley – 5
Yet another quiet game from Hartley. He made a couple of good tackles but little else. Part of the front row which was taught a lesson by the Italians. The debate over his place in the side will continue.
3 Dan Cole – 5
Cole was given a rough time at the scrum and conceded multiple penalties. Did finish of a good team try and tackled robustly but suffers more for comparison to Kyle Sinckler when he came on – Sinckler’s bullocking run through the centre of the Italian team was a joy to behold.
4 Joe Launchbury – 8
His second consecutive man-of-the-match award and it was well earned. Launchbury seemed to adapt quicker than his compatriots to Italy’s tactics as he led the fightback with some direct running. One galloping break in particular caught the eye. Ended up with 60 metres made – an excellent return for a lock.
5 Courtney Lawes – 7
Again not quite as good as his second row partner, but still a good performance from Lawes. Made some crunching hits, carried with more venom and ran the lineout well. Really improved under Jones.
6 Maro Itoje – 8
Probably just shades Launchbury as my man-of-the match, this was Itoje’s best game on the blindside. Made a proper nuisance of himself, making turnovers, nicking line-outs and a number of big tackles. His charge down started off the move which ended in the final try by Nowell.
7 James Haskell – 7
England have really missed Haskell’s extra ball carrying and added physicality in defence. Created the comedy moment of the match when his baffled querying led to Romain Poite telling him ‘I am a referee not your coach’.
8 Nathan Hughes – 5.5
Another so-so game from Hughes. Made a couple of bruising carries which sucked in several Italians each time, but dropped a ball and conceded four penalties. Again out-played by his opposite number and looks a shadow of Billy Vunipola. Jury is still out.
9 Danny Care – 6
A real mixed bag from Danny Care who got a rare start ahead of Ben Youngs. He was completely lost with how to deal with Italy’s tactics and resorted to just waving his hands in the air with frustration. Some poor kicking and passing early on. But then sparked England to life – he made a great break before the end of the first half and then in the second he took a quick tapped penalty and ghosted past three Italians into the corner. He also helped create Daly’s try.
10 George Ford – 6
Ford was heavily targeted by the big Italian runners, usually to great success. He also made a few mistakes and kicked a ball out on the full, but grew into the second half and threw some lovely passes.
11 Elliot Daly – 7.5
Another accomplished performance from Daly. Always went looking for work, made some crucial tackles and chased kicks well. Scored a great try and was inches away from a second when he nearly latched onto a Ben Youngs grubber.
12 Owen Farrell – 4
Probably Farrell’s worst game in an England shirt on the occasion of his 50th cap: he only made three out of seven kicks at goal, missed touch twice from penalties, conceded a turn over when he got isolated in contact and could be cited for a late hit on Eduardo Gori which forced the Italian nine from the pitch.
13 Ben Te’o – 7.5
The Te’o experiment was a quiet success. Made a physical impact with a series of strong carries and some of his offloads were excellent – his break and flick out the back to Daly was rugby league convert at its finest. Scored a great try on his debut start.
14 Johnny May – 5
A very quiet game from May – especially when compared to his industrious replacement Nowell. Rarely showed his pace and didn’t back himself often enough. Made a hash of his support line on Te’o and should have taken the offload.
15 Mike Brown – 6
Ok from Brown, one bad kick and a poor missed tackle aside. His direct running had much more success against Italy and also popped up with some good support lines. He was a solid at the back when things were falling apart in the first half. Still wish he would pass more.
Replacements – 8
Another England match, another day when the replacements outshone the starters. We have already mentioned Kyle Sinckler’s wonderful bulldozing run, but Ben Youngs also starred. He tightened up some of England’s looser play and also made a couple of great breaks. Jamie George was excellent yet again (when will he get a chance to start?) and Henry Slade showed some deft passing as he closed out the match.
Head and shoulders above them all, however, was Jack Nowell. He looked like he had a point to prove after being relegated to the bench, and duly responded with two tries and as much work in 25 minutes as some of his teammates managed in 80. His squirming finish for his second was great to watch.
Who do you think played well?
By Henry Ker
I cannot correct you much on this but if Farrell gets 4 so does May and in my opinion Mr One Dimension himself Mike Brown, boring, predictable play, gets the ball and you know whats going to happen.
The comments about the front row also are fair but every time the overhead camera on the scrum showed the Italian props driving inward, one distinctly where the prop was going sideways.
The definite changes for Scotland Watson in for May with Nowell starting and Mako in for Marler, the jury is still debating Hartley and Te’o.
I only say Te’o as would you bring JJ back into the side and have him finish?
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Agree with most of these ratings.
Do not understand EJ’s commitment to Mike Brown, surely the back three for the World Cup will be Watson, Nowell and Daly?
Not sure how the centres will line up against Scotland, I like Teo but think JJ will slot back in.
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Agree with most of the ratings but was a bit puzzled by the decision to bring Care off just when he was beginning to organize the forwards to drive through the Italian non-rucks. Despite no doubt being fully briefed on what to do when he came on, Youngs looked like a deer in the headlights in his first five minutes, including one memorable passage where he tried to pass over the top of an Italian player (and I believe we conceded a turnover from the resultant mess) – this lost the team the momentum they had just started building after half time. He eventually recovered and played decently but I didn’t think it was a convincing performance. I also wonder if he actually knew the law about not being allowed to charge down box kicks when there isn’t a ruck or he just got lucky?
For me, Hartley has to be dropped. I hold my breath whenever he throws in at the lineout, and he was completely anonymous again in the loose this week. Add to that what seemed like a near-disastrous lack of on-pitch leadership when dealing with Italy’s unorthodox tactics and I think it’s time Jones started looking to develop his long term captaincy options. Although he had an absolute ‘mare yesterday, my vote would be for Farrell – usually rock solid and still has time to grow yet further.
I feel a bit for Brown as he clearly is being coached to run straight – that said given his age it’s time to look for a deputy regardless of how well (or not) he is playing now. Daly and Watson are both options but I’d go with Daly given his immense boot. He was one of England’s stand out performers for me yesterday – always seemed composed even under intense pressure, great trait in a full back!
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Oh and Nathan Hughes has still yet to produce a performance to justify the hype. He’s a barnstormer for Wasps but carries too high for England, meaning that even when his power makes some yards, it takes too long for him to get to ground and the ball out. Looking forward to having BV back.
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All fair scores on reflection. Not sure what happened to Farrell, but I guess he just got caught up in the emotion of his 50th cap? Brown played better this week, but I still think a back three of Watson, Nowell and Daly are a better option.
For me Daly has proved that he is absolutely ready to take on the full back role. Great in defence, comes in looking for work and has a serious hoof. Also has bags of pace and a step which keeps opposition guessing. Shame they didn’t test him there for the last 15 minutes of this match once we were back on top.
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Awful performance from England ,outside of last 30 mins. Thought Hughes was once again poor, I would really like to see someone else given a chance at 8. Farrell was terrible and I think it shows how important he is to England as it seemed to affect everyone else. For me George and Nowell have earned a start and actually quite fancy a midfield of Farrell, Slade and Daley with Watson coming in on the wing.
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There was at least one bonus from the Italian tactics. After Youngs’ awful first five minutes, the realisation that he had no time at all after the tackle and before the Italians got in the way of his pass, actually meant that he started to pass the ball immediately rather than with his usual hesitancy and 2 or 3 steps.
Hopefully he can learn from that.
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Some abject performances from the usual suspects. Hartley and Cole need replacing Hughes has done his best but not up to it Brown is not the 3rd best full back in England. Need to improve to beat the Scots well done to them by the way. If we don’t God help us in Dublin on the 18th of March. Cant wait two great games coming up.
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I think this game showed a. how much England need Ford and Farrell to fire, b. how much they miss Billy V and Robshaw and c. that Hartley and Brown cannot claim that their leadership qualities cover inadequacies in their own performance. Would like to see in 2 weeks:
1. Mako
2. Jamie G
3. Cole (although Sinkler needs to come on earlier
4. Launchbury
5. Lawes
6. Itoje
7. Haskell
8. Billy V (or else Morgan as Hughes needs to go back to Wasps
9. Care (just gets it over Youngs)
10. Ford
11. Nowell
12. Farrell (c)
13. JJ (Te’o on bench)
14. Watson
15. Daly
Bench: Marler, Taylor, Sinkler, Clifford, Wood Youngs, T’eo, Slade
Harsh on Hartley, Hughes and Brown? Maybe, but we need a big improvement against Scotland and the same again against Ireland.
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Agree it looks a very good team except for Cole, he was poor and gave away far too many penalties, yes some of them were suspect but you have to play to the ref. I was surprised he was not pulled off after 30 minutes. Put him on the bench as a wake up call. Scotland will be tough to beat.
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very strong team, and keeping the majority of the players who have actually performed well. Launchberry has been incredible, and has surely done enough to guarantee a Lions spot.
Itoje showing that he can be an international 6 if he has someone like Haskell to do the hard hitting.
Not harsh on Hughes really, hes been ok but his performance Sunday was awful; too many penalities and knock ons. No one is at Billys level so its completely fair to assume Billy comes straight back in.
Brown has shown over the past year that whilst he has grit and defensive capabilities, that he doesn’t offer as much in attack as the likes of Daly or Watson. The one thing keeping him in the team for Scotland is the need for experience and leadership, although he didn’t show much of either on Sunday.
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Care can’t box Kick well enough. The Scots and Irish back three will love his too long kicks. Youngs has to start for that reason for me. Care on with tiring legs in front of him.
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agree that care starting would be disastrous given his horrible box kicking. remember against france last year? we have to keep the ball as far away from hogg as possible..if he has care’s box kicks to feed off we’re in for a long day.
thought hughes was dreadful. why not play ben morgan who knows how to catch a ball and doesn’t spend the whole game giving away mindless penalties? if not morgan and no fit billy then play clifford. he may be anonymous at times but he won’t make ludicrous mistakes.
would quite fancy seeing daly at 13, if not him then te’o. joseph was anonymous in attack the last 2 games and kicks away overlaps.
nowell to start every time.
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