England eventually ran away with the game in Rome 46-15, scoring seven tries despite a competitive and spirited performance from Italy. Here is how the England players rated.
1 Mako Vunipola
Eddie Jones said this was one of the best scrummaging performances during his tenure and that was particularly good to see from Mako, given it is the area he is usually criticised for. Also contributed well in the loose and showed his soft hands at first receiver a couple of times. 7
2 Dylan Hartley
Again, as part of the front row, takes credit for a solid scrum. Threw in the lineouts flawlessly, 11 from 11 (as Jacob and Deaks pointed out in the comments, the overthrow was George’s, not Hartley’s as I originally thought). Six tackles and little carrying work was underwhelming, however. 6.5
3 Dan Cole
A rock at the scrum, but like Hartley did not add much in open play. Didn’t give away any penalties at the breakdown though, which was good to see. 6
4 Joe Launchbury
Typically industrious and does a lot of the hard-graft for his colleagues but not Launchbury’s most eye-catching game. Always a willing ball carrier and very effective clearing out at the breakdown. 7
5 Maro Itoje
One of Itoje’s quieter games for England. He did a lot of the carrying in the tight (10 carries, the most by a forward apart from Simmonds), which is often thankless work, but didn’t really set the world alight as we know he can. Gave away three penalties, the most by an England player. 6.5
6 Courtney Lawes
I still think he is a better lock than flanker, but Lawes is growing into the blindside role with each game. Had a better return on his eight carries (21 metres) than the other second rows and went well in the lineout. 7.5
7 Chris Robshaw
Like Launchbury, Robshaw did a lot of the unseen work for the pack, which allows others to make the standout hits or carries. Good link work with the backs but not as effective as when he plays blindside. 7
8 Sam Simmonds
Tougher assignments than Italy will await, but Simmonds was imperious on Sunday. Stats don’t always tell the full story but he made 80 metres from 14 carries, three clean breaks, beat six defenders and completed 23 tackles. He was the top England player in every one of those categories. Oh and he scored two tries and gave a great no-look-pass to send his Exeter colleague Jack Nowell in for his score. It is still less than a year since he made his Premiership debut – Simmonds has pace, footwork and balance more akin to an outside centre than a back row. All that is left to ask is can he do it against the best sides? 9
9 Ben Youngs
Only lasted 10 minutes before departing with a nasty looking knee injury so unable to give him a rating. N/a
10 George Ford
The perfect example that club form does not always dictate test form. Ford was miles better for England than he has been recently with Leicester. There he looked to force the wide pass too early, while on Sunday he demonstrated patience and picked his moments perfectly. Looks so much more comfortable with Farrell outside him and some of their link play was excellent – his wrap-around in the run up to Watson’s first try was Sexton-esque. 8
11 Jonny May
Although he didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet himself, May had a hand in two of the tries. His pace worried the Italian defensive line and was often used as a dummy strike-runner to good effect. Beat three defenders with a couple of clean breaks but outshone by Watson on the other wing. 7
12 Owen Farrell
Not his best day from the tee as he missed a couple of tricky conversions, but otherwise a great game for Farrell. One of his best attacking performances at centre – he picked a couple of lovely lines, including one to burst through and score his try. 8
13 Ben Te’o
Chosen to add some ballast to a backline often lacking a big ball carrier, Te’o had a solid, if unspectacular game. However, when watching the game again his value became more apparent – a lot of his dummy runs fixed the defenders and similarly his carrying didn’t necessarily break the line but sucked in players and allowing his teammates to exploit the space created. Should keep his place for the next game. 7
14 Anthony Watson
The official man of the match showed his fantastic pace and finishing skills as he terrorised his the Italians to score two tries. The most dangerous running threat in the English backline with 78 metres from his six runs, and five defenders beaten, he also looked good at fullback when Jack Nowell came on for Mike Brown. Jones may be tempted to try him there in a big match sooner rather than later. 8.5
15 Mike Brown
Only just passed match fit and it showed a couple of times, looking a little shaky under the high ball and not as dangerous a running threat as usual. That said, otherwise it was a typical spiky performance from the Quins fullback. 6.5
Replacements
A really strong area as always for England. Danny Care was the first to enter the fray for an injured Ben Youngs and continued his strong form and importantly showed good game management as well as his attacking ability. Elsewhere Jack Nowell was probably the pick of the rest and scored a late try – he will be pushing hard for a starting slot against Wales. 7
How would you rate the players?
By Henry Ker
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
Very harsh on Hartley, especially as the underthrow that was stolen by Italy was from George. Hartley threw 11 for 11. He also carried better and ran a few clever decoy lines. What does the bloke have to do!? He’s even being blamed for Georges errors in here…
Also can’t agree on Cole. If a TH hammers the scrum, he’s well above average. That’s his main job.
Can’t agree at all on Care either. His game management was poor, particularly compared to his form this season. A couple of box kicks were too long, and one came straight back down on the ruck he kicked out from.
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Agree completely – super harsh on Hartley here. If that were any other English hooker putting in that performance people would be falling over themselves saying how the guy was amazing and should start every test until the end of time. His set piece is always on point for England, and on Sunday he ran a couple of perfect decoy lines (if I recall correctly one of which directly led to a Watson try).
I get that people don’t like him, but to my eye that was one of the best hooker performances you are likely to see this 6N.
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My apologies guys – I had it in my notes from the match that it was Hartley who threw the stolen line out, my mistake. A flawless line out then earns him another half point.
Have to disagree on the scrum – yes its important that its good, but this Italian scrum is not the most dangerous they will face. I think scrumming well should be expected at this level, and offering more in the loose is not unreasonable – especially when you compare the contributions of a tighthead in Dan Cole and Tadhg Furlong (although I concede the France game is not the best evidence for this argument).
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Agree with Jacob and Deaks here, think Hartley been harshly marked, and also think he deserves another half point for his scrummaging. I thought it was noticeable how much cleaner the ball was under Hartley than George. There were a couple of times I thought after George came on where the ball got stuck under the scrum and they had to work extra hard to shove over it and earn the penalty, rather than the clean strike back to the second rows feet that Hartley consistently delivers. I rate both players highly in different ways, but in the basics of the job that a hooker is supposed to perform Hartley was the better on Sunday.
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If that’s you’re belief then I guess we’ll fundamentally disagree on what we think a good prop performance is. Yes Furlong carries a lot, but that is because he is one of the three/four carries in the Irish pack. Cole allows Mako, Launchbury, Lawes to focus on hard carries whilst he bundles over their should to clear out. Doing exactly what is asked of him to brilliant affect. I don’t know what more he would be asked to do.
Also, a perfect line out gets a 6.5? Blimey, when did playing in the front row in rugby become so hard to please? If your set piece dominates in all facets, your front row have had a great game in my mind.
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Good to see the debate around front row performance – totally see your point on this and I will be keeping an extra close eye on the performances against Wales which I think will be a much sterner test of their credentials. My feeling with the front row is that guys like Dane Coles have changed what we can now expect from a hookers performance, just as with the emergence of athletic locks like Launchbury/Lawes/Itoje/Brodie Rettalick means being a big lump enforcer is no longer enough for second row at international level.
Regarding the rating system, it is obviously fairly subjective based on whoever here at the Blog did the rating, but with me a 6 is an average winning performance (did the job required of them). So for front row, that job is set piece – anything above and beyond earns extra points (carried well, good passing, earned a turnover etc etc). Maybe I am setting unrealistically high expectations for England internationals! Equally it is good to see guys like Cole and Hartley being championed on here for a change.
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Completely agree with Jacob about Cole. He not only anchored the scrum outstandingly, his lifting in the line out was a major factor in obtaining good clean ball off the top, and he is an absolute nuisance around the fringes and creating slow opposition ball, which he now does without giving away as many penalties as he used to. One of the first names on my team sheet.
My dislike of Hartley is well known, but I have to concede that he did the basics well this week, though I still don´t think he has much impact ball in hand. Completely disagree with Jacob about Care who, aside from a couple of slightly misplaced kicks drove his pack in a way that Youngs doesn´t and got them supplying quick ball so that Ford and Farrell had space to exploit. A definite 7 and I would like to see him starting for the rest of the season.
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Hartley had his best game around the park I have seen in over a year. He was a nuisance at the breakdown and carried well, not necessarily making yardage, but tying in extra defenders to stop him while still keeping the ball free enough to generate quick ball.
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Mike Brown deserves a 3 dropped his first high ball got turned over twice. failed to make any impression with ball in hand and generally failed to make any positive impact on the game. I’m not an MB hater but that was a seriously under par performance from him
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I would wholeheartedly agree on this. This was the perfect opportunity to rest Brown for a game and have a look at Watson play at least 60 minutes at 15. Whilst I appreciate he is one of the vice-captains, why would you play him if not fully fit and have Nowell (apparently only just passed fit) on the bench. Nowell looked totally ready but Brown looked well off the pace and not ready to play.
I would have given one of the others a half and give Brown the week off, still keeping Nowell on the bench.
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Please can you include the ratings guide. I recall the conversation from the AIs, but can’t remember what exactly ratings mean.
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Really harsh on Hartley. Watch his line on England’s first try. He held the inside defense, having just worked massively hard at the furthest edge of the set piece. His carries were more dominant than previously and his nausing at the breakdown exceptional. Feel that the RugbyBlog editorial team are pursuing their own biases this time round
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Lawes at lock and Itoje on the flank for Wales please and keep it that way.
Simmonds was outstanding but don’t underplay the Italian side they were very good, he came into a position replacing one of the best in the world and filled in better than Nathan Hughes, has albeit in a different way.
If he continues like this I would have him as a finisher on the bench over Hughes as he could do a job at 7 too.
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Wholeheartedly disagree with this if you are going to pick a lock at 6 Lawes is far better option than Itoje.
Between the two of them Itoje is the better 5 and Lawes the better 6
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Leon if you allow me to be pedantic what is your issue with the comments about Simmonds and Hughes as if you wholeheartedly disagree with something it is what someone has wrote in totality. :-).
I think Itoje is better on the flank than Lawes as he is more of a pest and can get to the breakdown quicker from the scrum to try and truffle out the ball, one of his best qualities.
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Does it? I think it means that Leon truly and unreservedly disagrees with the statement regarding Lawes and Itoje. If we are talking semantics anyway. 😉
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I whole heatedly agree Jake
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No need to get heated Jakes agreeing with you 😉
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To be grammatically correct, ‘I wholeheartedly disagree with the comment about Lawes and Itoje’, this implies it all, I rest my case M’Laud.
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Agreed
‘I wholeheartedly disagree with the comment about Lawes and Itoje’,
Nothing to do with Hughes or Simmonds
Glad that’s settled, Case dismissed
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Leon fair play to you mate.
All in good humour.
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Of course 🙂
Glad i managed to talk you in circles til you agreed with me even though you “may” actually have been correct and my first post “may” have been ambiguous.
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Interesting how Ford has one of his best games for a while for England and it was without his regular Number 9 partner Youngs!? Maybe it is Youngs form at Leicester that is hindering Ford at the club level….just a thought…..
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Ford was playing well before the Youngs injury. I think it is the England game plan and Eddies man management that suit Ford.
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I’m not saying he was playing badly before Young’s injury, but that his performance was better with Care than I have seen with Youngs over the duration of the game compared to recent England matches.
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I have made this point on here several times Rugger. Ford always looks to have more room with England when Care comes on, and the same applies at Leicester where Harrison imv has a much quicker and more accurate pass than Youngs.
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Hartley was military medium. Thats his default position. He really isnt one of our better players and never truly shines.
Brown was well under par. His form has nosedived for England and his position is surely under review.
The good stuff? All 4 props went very well, Launchbury was good, Ford and Farrell worked very nicely together, Watson showed his class as a finisher and Simmonds was quite outstanding.
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Harsh on Cole, 7.5 at least apart from the Munster game the bloke is in his peak
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Looking ahead to the wales game, i’d like to see ford on the bench as we have two strong kicking scrum halves, move teo to inside centre with JJ outside to nullify two strong hard-running welsh centres and allow Farrell to dictate… ford finishing could be electric in the last 20 mins…
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Ford and Farrell dominated the midfield in the game against Italy, there is no way he is being dropped.
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Personally, I think we need to stop bashing the England team so much. Yes there were a couple of issues, but as Jones has stated they can be worked on.
I thought the attacking threat from England was so much better than I have seen before and long may it continue.
I think we also have to acknowledge that if you are being more offensive then there is a chance to leave holes and getting tries scored against you. This is more the NZ way of thinking, in that they will score more than you. This way of playing is to be applauded
Agree with many about Simmonds, he looked to the manor born and I think he could well either be our No7 going forward or he will an excellent bench option coming on for Billy V.
Really looking forward to match against Wales. It should be an epic test match, especially with how well they played against Scotland.
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Is it any surprise Ford played well on Sunday! He had Care whipping out faster passes. Youngs is glacial with the speed or lack of in the pass. The more speed in delivery against Wales the better.
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