Italy vs England - RBS Six Nations 11/2/06 - Match Review 

by Saint Phil

England 31 (7) - (6) 16 Italy
Referee: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand) 

Photo copyright of Paolo

England went into this game on the back of a huge win at Twickenham last week against an injury influenced welsh side, whilst Italy suffered an undeserved 26-16 defeat at the hands of Ireland.   Both England and Italy play a very powerful game with the forwards doing a lot of the work, although last week we sure that the England backs can play some nice ball too.  Today was the first time that Leicester Players Lewis Moody, Martin Corry , Harry Ellis and Andy Goode got to play with there new boy Martin Castrogiavanni who signed for Leicester in mid-week.    After a strong performance last week Andy Robinson only made one change ahead of today’s game and that was bringing in Tom Voyce to cover injured London Wasp team mate, Josh Lewsey.   With both teams buzzing after strong performances last week the game was bound to be a fiery affair with huge upfront battles.

England where firm favorites before kick off having won all 12 encounters with Italy previously, but after there strong performance against Ireland last week, they where not to be taken lightly. Italy takes an unchanged side to the field from that which was robbed at Lansdowne road.

Northampton Saints winger Ben Cohen lead the team out onto a sunlit pitch in Rome and was given a rapturous applaud for reaching the 50 cap milestone. Captain Corry and the rest of the squad came out after allowing Ben to get the fans appreciation for his achievements which include 30 tries in those 50 games. Martin Corry calls his players into a huddle for some final instructions. He looks fully focused and pumped up, as do the rest of the team. After the Italians took to the field it was time for the Anthems with England's 22 linking arms, Matt Stevens and Steve Thompson take the praise for the sheer volume of singing. Italy's wonderful stirring national anthem, Inno di Mameli, rings out in the stands. There are plenty of hands on hearts from both players and fans alike.

Its show time. Charlie Hodgson bounces the ball awaiting the kick off and then changes direction and puts the ball high into the air for centre pairing Jamie Noon and Mike Tindall to run onto and the first ruck of the game is formed.    Italian fly half Pez (with a union jack gum shield) knocks on giving England the upper hand from the opening.   Hodgson and Pez exchange kicks and the home side look firm and determined not to be beaten. As England try to push forward thundering tackles from the Italians knock them back and the crowd reacted in shock to three crunching tackles on Tom Voyce, Mike Tindall and Baths Matthew Stevens in the early encounters.   Pez cleared the pressure with a huge kick down field which Tom Voyce allowed to bounce (big mistake) and they had a lineout near our 5m line, 70 metres gained and England under pressure.  After 8 minutes we see the best attack of the game, Marco Bergamasco breaks and Pez chips ahead. The Italian crowd cheer as a penalty is awarded and Italy have a chance to put the opening points on the board. But Pez hit the upright to the delete of the traveling fans.   Italy continue strongly as they pile on the pressure to Voyce as England's new full-back experiences his first high ball of the game but he holds on to it and Mike Tindall gets the ball clear.  It's been a scrappy affair so far, dominated in the last few minutes by an array of misplaced kicks and directionless running by both sides.   England needs to pick up momentum and quicker ball coming from the ruck’s.   On the quarter of an hour mark both hookers Fabio Ongaro and Steve Thompson square up to each other, but all is kept calm and nothing comes of this.

England finally gets some good ball going in the Italy half and they had enough of an overlap but simply could not make it count. They win a penalty for their efforts and Charlie Hodgson goes for touch rather than the spot kick, a daring move at 0 – 0 as 3 points on the board would have settled them. Italy's defense stand firm despite immense pressure from England's forwards. They concede a penalty again. England goes for the line-out once more and another catch-and-drive attempt. England get another lineout and go for another catch and drive this time, Leicester Scrum Half Harry Ellis is stopped just short of the line as we approach the 20 minute mark.

For the first time in the match, England's forwards make their way over the line with the ball in the hands of Corry. Referee Kelvin Deaker admits he has no idea whether the try's been scored. "Sorry I didn't get there in time," is his response….. Which is ridiculous,    In the replays on TV it did look as though Corry had scored but the TV Official ,ordered a 5m scrum declaring that Martin Corry had been held up.   A huge roar comes from the Italian forwards as they finally win a penalty having just survived more than five minutes of pressure on their try line.   A good period of Italian defending.   After 26 Minutes the deadlock is over as Gloucester Centre Mike Tindall crosses the line to silence his critics, he darts through the gap, edging past Pablo Canavosio, attempts a slight hand off, and then sets his sights on the line.   A well-worked try by Tindall and his fellow team mates.    Hodgson adds the additional 2 for the conversion.   England leads 7-0. The try comes after Tindall runs a good line and poor defending from fly half Pez , who defending has looked weak all game, he doesn’t look confident in defense.

Italy try to get back into the action almost immediately but Canale knocks it on. To the applaud of the traveling support.    England play the ball out wide into space, only to find that Northampton Saints hooker Steve Thompson is out on the wing (probably the worse person to have out there) who goes for a kick and chase but nothing materializes from this.    An opportunity wasted by having the wrong player in the wrong place at the right time. As we approach the 30 minute mark Italy are still very much a match from England and are coming off there line fast in defense and preventing England from playing the game they want to. 

Lewis Moody gives away a penalty for failing to move away (but no card, which can only be a plus). Pez gets the penalty from literally in front of the post. Italy 3 – 7 England.   Pez makes a mess of the restart and has to clear into touch and give England a lineout on 22. England’s line out is looking very strong today, Well Done Wally.   There's an eruption of noise from the Stadio Flaminio as Pez cuts England's lead to just one point.   It's a superb drop goal, not all that far inside England's half. Repeatedly Ellis clears the ball from the back of his forwards but it's not quick enough ball.   A frustrated Hodgson then goes for a drop goal but it goes three yards to the left of the target.    Stoica gathers the ball, it is cleared and the whistle goes for half-time. There's just one point in it.

The first half was a very close game with Italy showing there dominance up front by holding England on there 5 meter line for a good 5 minutes. England like to dominate in the scrum as they did against Wales and Australia but that wasn’t happening, the Italians were matching them inch for inch.   The Italians where coming up off there line fast to stop Tom Voyce, Harry Ellis and Hodgson doing there stuff and getting the backs moving. Harry Ellis is not getting quick ball which is leaving his backs a lot to do and some are getting frustrated especially Charlie, and the time we get quick ball Thompson is out wide and we make about 5 yards.    To get the game going in the second half we need to mix it up a bit and getting some quick ball, with the backs hitting the ball at pace. Hopefully Hodgson will get some fast ball and be able to get the backs going.   The first half was a good half for Ben Cohen and Tom Voyce who did some good defending as well as playing there bit in going forward.  The England lineout is the biggest improvement from previous games.   Now it looks like Italy could be a real 6 nations competitor its game on in the 2^nd half. Going into the 2^nd half Italy will want more of the same, they didn’t have too much ball, but they stopped us making anything of it.   Italy’s problem will come in the final quarter  where they need to hold on as the fitness begins to show, some of the Italians don’t even play first team rugby for there club.   So Italy’s aim for the second half would be to stop England dominating the final quarter and I’d then have to say England’s aim would be to ensure they dominate when Italy tire and try to bring on some fresh legs late and add a couple of late tries.

After nervously bouncing the ball four times, Pez kicks off in between Corry and Ellis, who both watch each other as it lands between them. Corry is accidentally offside and Italy earn a scrum. England needs to settle quickly and get back on track. Italy have started the second half strongest and are pushing the English back when Remarkably Italy take the lead as Pez pings a drop goal straight through the uprights. I can't understand a word of the Italian the stadium announcer is belting out, but I can confirm he's ecstatic about that one.   Italy lead 9 – 7 after 43 minutes.

The scrum has to be reset numerous times which sees more pushing between the two hookers, England free-kick. A minute later or so it’s the Sale double act as Hodgson goes for the cross field kick to Cueto.   The Sale wing leaps high over the try line but, under pressure, knocks it on. But a good effort, as Cueto had been waiting wide for some time, shame we couldn’t get a score out of it. As we approach the 50^th Italy are producing some superb defense as virtually every England player has a stab at the try line. Hodgson comes closest but, for all his wriggling, he can't release it.  The world champions then fluff it with the resulting overlap and Italy clear (anyone see it , the clearance hit a steward on the head, made me chuckle).
           

50 minutes into the game England have a penalty, awarded a tad unfairly against Italy for what the referee deems illegal infringing at a ruck. Hodgson slots it over. To make it 9 -10 to England. Italy where still very resistant. The passes where coming thick and fast from the Italian backs and forwards alike. While there's good pace from it, they can't get past the gain line before England win back possession.

After 55 minutes had passed on the clock Andy Robinson made his first and best substitution with Harry ‘slow ball’ Ellis being replaced London Wasp’s Matt Dawson. As soon as Dawson came on we began getting fast ball from the rucks and he was opening the backs to play a bit more free flowing rugby.   Only 2 minutes after his entrance England finally pull out a bit of a lead through Hodgson.   Joe Worsley is the main creator, pumping his legs en route to evading a flurry of tackles.   It comes out to Hodgson via Dawson - with what is his first touch of the game - and Hodgson does the rest. The Sale playmaker converts his own score.   England begin to take control and now lead 9 – 17. Harry Ellis was slow coming into breakdowns and we’ve sin what Dawson still has to offer, Harry was in defense and attack and not always able to get out quick ball. It looks as though England still need to find a scrum half to replace Matt Dawson as Harry Ellis didn't look up to the standard today.

As we approached the 60 minute mark which we had declared as crucial for Italy as they will begin to tire , Italy bring on three pairs of fresh legs but you get the impression England really have the upper hand now.    The Italian substitution included Leicester Tigers new boy Martin Castrogiavanni who is joined by Leicester's Julian White as England make 2 changes in the pack with Thompson and Sheridan making way for Lee Mears and White.    Andy Robinson watching on from the stands still grim-faced as a strong Italian side prevent England from playing the rugby they would have wanted too. Just after the hour mark, England pick up another penalty - this time on the half-way line. Hodgson hits the posts and a 22 is called. Hodgson continues to work his magic and comes close to pulling a moment of sheer magic.    He straights his line, darts past Ongaro and unleashes a chip and chase. The ball bounces far to heavily and it goes out before he can catch it.

Joe Worsley has taken a blow to head and require stitches and is replaced by Lawrence Dallaglio who gets a great reception as he comes on to the field for Worsley - it may only be a blood replacement however. This is the first time that Martin Corry and Dallaglio have played together and it could be something we see more of in the future.   Although we have a lot of competition for the back line with Corry , Dallaglio , Forrester , Moody , Hill (if he comes back), Worsley , Sanderson and Andy Hazell.

66 minutes in Cueto shows great pace to sprint into the right-hand corner - his 11th try in 13 Tests. In the wake of a line-out, England use two dummy runners well, Ben Cohen changes the angle of his run, breaks two tacklers and then sends Cueto sprinting over.   Hodgson adds the conversion. Despite the fact there's clearly some tired bodies out there, both teams continue to wing out the ball as much as possible on the offensive.

As we enter the final 10 minutes , The referee calls a brief time-out, during which Bortolami calls his players together for a final stirring team work. In the interim, an injured Danny Grewcock is replaced by Simon Shaw. Danny Grewcock had a good clean game and really hurt the Italians when he got going , although he made an awful knock on after miss understanding with Harry Ellis.   The game resumes to England's attempts to break Italy's shackles on this latest occasion falter. Repeatedly the visitors win possession but are contained and eventually have to boot clear through Tindall. Twice in quick succession Pez finds touch and twice England take a quick line-out - first Cueto and latterly Cohen.    They don't come to anything in the end but it brings some exhausted looks onto the faces of the Italians.   Hodgson once more goes for the crossfield kick to Cueto. He miss-times it and Cueto is nearly slammed, but he just dodges his tackler. In the resulting melee, Dawson concedes a penalty.     Tindall is replaced by Gloucester team-mate James Simpson-Daniel for the dying minute.

The biggest cheer of the entire match is saved for Mirco Bergamasco, but much of the credit goes to Canale. He unleashes a delightful run and just manages to get his pass out to Bergamasco, who scores. He salutes the crowd immediately.    Pez converts. Italy try making it 16 – 24 going into the last minute of the game.   England go for one final drive through their forwards but the Italians do their utmost to halt the charge.    The hosts succeed only for England's backs to have a dabble.    And that results in a try for replacement Simpson-Daniel, who scoops up an Italian knock-on. Hodgson converts to make the score line a tad unfair to their opponents. Game Ends Italy 16 – 31 England. 

Final Thoughts

England keep there unbeaten recorded against Italy in a well thought game.

England won by comfortable margin, but it wasn’t a convincing win, as 14 points came in the last 2 minutes when the Italians where tired after 70 good minutes of rugby. The Italian line always came up fast and gave us very little room and put in some huge hits.    England where not great, mainly because the Italians wouldn’t let us play how we wanted but the width of the pitch was not always used.  Mike Tindall silenced his critics with a sound performance, although at times it was easy to forget Jamie Noon was even there as he didn’t do too much in my opinion. England got turned over a fair bit, but with a forward pack like the Italians have not much less is expected.    Needed more of Joe Worsley as he was the best man on the pitch braking tackles and put in some good hits, second would have been his fellow flanker Lewis Moody, whose discipline was much better with only 1 penalty given away.    Another plus point which Andy Robinson can take into next weeks game is the lineout was very strong, sometimes uncontested but we’ve lost those before (Ireland game , remember that) and evening winning the lineout against the head once. Italy are now real 6n competitors after years of whipping boys and they will take a lot of heart from there opening to narrow defeats only 2 years ago we put bout 50 unanswered points past them.   Not fluent, not tactically sound but a solid win by England. 

Saint Phil’s Man Of The Match
Joe Worsley

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