We take a look at some of the big issues and team news as England aim to kick off their Six Nations campaign with Italy’s trip to Twickenham on Saturday …
Will England benefit from a line-by-line change?
Eddie Jones has returned to familiar strategy as England welcome Italy to Twickenham on Saturday, with Owen Farrell moving to center-back and George Ford coming in at midfield.
Leicester Tigers’ Ford were among those who replaced the Calcutta Cup for Scotland when Farrell appeared at 10 and Ollie Lawrence got the chance in a No. 12 shirt.
0:37 Criticism leveled at England captain Owen Farrell after his loss to Scotland in the Six Nations is ‘completely inappropriate’, says head coach Eddie Jones.
However, Lawrence barely got a grip on the ball as England ‘s back line was lost with possession and is left out on day 23 for this week’ s game entirely, although Farrell in particular who came in for criticism from some quarters after their insulting display against the Scots.
The captain, however, is fully supported by his head coach, using the breath of his other love of sport, cricket, to explain why he thinks Farrell is the right man to be Henry’s partner. Slade in England’s midfield in a bid to fire the fans again on Saturday.
“For me it’s a bit like a Test batsman who gets an average of 60 and then gets a duck,” Jones said. Sky Sports. “It’s a little different if you’re an average test bat of 25 and get ducks – people can call for your head.
“But I think it’s completely inappropriate for Owen. He didn’t have a good game on Saturday, but he wasn’t the only one and I don’t understand why desire is so strong. in criticizing it at this stage.
“A lot of the responsibility fell on Owen last week and we want to spread that responsibility. We want the three of us and Sladey to get into the bigger game, and with George and Owen at 10 and 12 I think we’ll be able to do that. “
Varney throws the next generation in Italy
In the 21 years Italy have been part of the Six Nations, England are the only team that has not even recorded a solo win and few give them any chance to do so on Saturday.
However, this is a modern team under Smith’s Italy, with South Africa getting its eyes wide open in the future as it begins to take through some of the players who have helped it. Italy wins over Wales and Scotland in the U20s in recent years.
One of those is Stephen Varney, 19, and Gloucester’s half-scrum will no doubt start to bear fruit.
Stephen Varney believes Italy ‘s emerging talent is going to be a competitive team
“People see Italy as a losing country, but now it is a different generation,” said Varney, who was born in Wales but has Italian ancestry on his mother’s side.
“We are new to him and we were really motivated to win because of the last few days, but he is a completely different squad from 12 or 24 months ago. “
Saturday ‘s Six Nations opener in Rome was a matter of the same old story for Italy although they won 50-10 with France and with another loss at Twickenham they would extend the loss in the Six Nations to 29 games.
One consolation push for the Azzurri was the attacking verb they showed however and Varney insists they have learned from the mistakes they made as a defense against the French.
“We didn’t have a lot of executions at critical times,” Varney said. “In large parts of the game we would pass the ball or make a mistake, we can’t make such mistakes in a test match game.
“But there were a lot of positive things, especially in attack. We attacked well and broke through the French defense quite often, but we have to work on our defense.”
Jones moves his pack
It’s not just on the back where England have made changes, with Jones using a completely changed front row for the class with Italy.
Mako Vunipola and Kyle Sinckler, back from injury and obstruction respectively, have come in as props with Luke Cowan-Dickie replacing Jamie George at the hook, with a Saracens man falling to the bench.
Luke Cowan-Dickie will start at hook for England
Jones thinks Cowan-Dickie’s style will be more suited to what he expects to be a tight opening against the Azzurri, allowing George to succeed in the loose field as play opens up in the second half.
“Luke did well when he came off the bench and Jamie is traditionally better off when the ball is moving around,” Jones said.
“In an Italian game, the ball tends to move around a lot more in the second half than it does in the first half, and it will be at its best there and Luke will give us the power in the first half.”
As one of the favorites alongside France to claim the Six Nations title this year, many eyes will be on to see if the defending champions can report on Les Bleus’ s decisive victory over the Italy.
0:57 England head coach Eddie Jones says their ‘honest’ squad wants to kick back from the disgraceful loss suffered by the Six Nations to Scotland when they host Italy on Saturday.
Jones is not worried about comparisons, but wants to see better performance after England stand to the glory of the Autumn Nations Cup and then lose to Scotland.
“We want to play better – we don’t go out there and try to play badly,” said Jones. “The games in the autumn were tough and we played badly against Scotland, but we’ll turn that around this week. “
Teams
England: 15 Elliot Daly; 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May; 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Jonny Hill, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Billy Vunipola.
Transplants: 16 Jamie George, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Jack Willis, 22 Dan Robson, 23 Max Malins.
Italy: 15 Jacopo Trulla; 14 Luca Sperandio, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Carlo Canna, 11 Monty Ioane; 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney; 1 Andrea Lovotti, 2 Luca Bigi (c), 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 5 David Sisi, 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Johan Meyer, 8 Michele Lamaro.
Transplants: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Giosu Zilocchi, 19 Niccol Cannone, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Federico Mori.