Robert Kitson’s match report has landed. With that, it’s time to wrap up the blog. Thanks for reading – and feel free to switch over to Luke’s Wales v Scotland coverage.
Jamie George, the England skipper, gives a measured assessment of the game, admitting he and his teammates need to find “defensive fixes” and make significant improvements. “We pushed it today, it wasn’t perfect,” he says. “We know we need to be better going into Wales but it’s a pretty good start.”
Michele Lamaro, the Italy captain, is next on the post-match interview rota. “It’s always hard when you’re that close and you can’t get to the win,” he says. “We played a good first half, I think the second half we conceded a bit too much. I’m proud of the boys, though. We always fight for each other and that’s the most important thing.
“Obviously it’s really tough when you have to defend that much. We have to build pressure during the game on England … it was that 20 minutes after the start of the second half where we struggled to get out of our half, so we have to improve, but we look forward to Ireland next week.”
We’ve got an email from David Williams, and he’s less than delighted with England’s showing. “No cutting edge in the opposition 22, silly cynical penalties and somehow we still think Danny Care should be playing … and we’re barely beating Italy – look forward to another 5th-place finish I guess.”
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Having earned the player of the match award, Ethan Roots speaks to ITV on the sidelines. “It’s pretty surreal, words can’t really describe it, it’s special,” he says, when asked how it feels to get the accolade on his England debut. “There are lots of new caps in the team at the moment, Steve [Borthwick] just said: ‘Bring your point of difference.’
“I think it was good we stayed in the fight, that was another thing we talked about wanting to do. Credit to Italy, though, it was a great game.”
I’m heading off to do Wales v Scotland – my colleague Will Magee is stepping in to bring you reaction from Rome. Ciao for now.
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Full time! Italy 24-27 England
Excitement, right at the end, as Italy nab a bonus point which they fully deserve. Garbisi slots the conversion, and overall that’s an excellent display by Italy on Gonzalo Quesada’s first crack at the Six Nations as their head coach.
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Try! 80 min + 4: Italy 22-27 England (Ioane)
Daly and Lamaro, both in the sin-bin, are pictured having a natter on the sidelines. Italy have one last go at snatching a losing bonus point by trying to attack from inside their own half … they keep the move going for a few phases, including sending a cross-kick from right to left … and suddenly Ioane is over on the right wing! Sensational finish, but a disappointing way to end for Steve Borthwick’s men. Garbisi converts, and Italy narrow the gap to three!
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80 min +1: Yellow card for Italy! (Lamaro)
The Italian captain goes to the sin-bin with the home defence under massive pressure. England opt for the scrum …
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79 min: Into the final minute. England are knocking on the door near the Italy line. They win a penalty: Cunningham-South making impressive strides again. Care makes a dart.
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78 min: Ethan Roots is named player of the match. A fantastic day for the Exeter Chiefs man.
77 min: Cunningham-South pounces on an Italian fumble and is forced into touch out on the left as he tries to sprint into space. Freeman goes off after a superb display – Immanuel Feyi-Waboso comes on for his debut.
England have closed this game out well enough, but it’s been short on excitement in the second half.
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75 min: Yellow card for England! (Daly)
The England wing’s day is over after a cynical trip on Menoncello. Can Italy capitalise in the final five minutes or so?
74 min: England’s new-look rush defence is in evidence again when Steward puts in a shuddering hit out on Italy’s right wing. Meanwhile, Daly looks to have tripped up Menoncello deliberately in another phase of play.
71 min: Spagnolo and Izekor came on for Italy a couple of minutes ago. The Azzurri make another bright break down the left wing, but a fine hit by Cunningham-South helps to arrest their momentum, and then an England penalty arrives. It’s all very stop-start.
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71 min: Itoje is a major irritant for Italy nearly every time they try and build a few phases. He’s been exceptional in defence and has used his reach to good effect.
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70 min: Italy win a scrum penalty on halfway, Cole dropping the bind. Is this a platform for Italy to get back into this? They kick for the corner …
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68 min: Lamaro and then Ioane embark on strong carries for the Azzurri in midfield. Lamaro, of course, will not fancy another post-match interview about heroic failure … but his team are being overpowered at present. I must say I was hoping for a couple more scintillating Italian tries to liven up this February afternoon. But England are strangling the life out of them.
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Penalty! 66 min: Italy 17-27 England (Ford)
Now it’s a double-digits lead for the visitors. Underhill and Ford off, Cunningham-South and Fin Smith come on for their debuts.
66 min: Changes afoot for England: Fin Smith and Cunningham-South are coming on.
64 min: England rumble a maul into the Italy half. Then Care puts up a box kick. It’s all looking a bit “Back to basics” …
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Oh boy.
New Italian coaching team making an impact already in #ITAvENG. Is this Italy's time finally? pic.twitter.com/GOUhBXJ0xs
— James Stafford 🇺🇦 (@jpstafford) February 3, 2024
62 min: Seven points in it. If Italy can get the next score, we’re in for a grandstand finish. Allan will be kicking himself for missing that shot at goal and failing to narrow the gap …
61 min: Italy look to move the ball through the hands again. But a handling error relieves the pressure for England. Dallaglio, meanwhile, talks of the influence of Felix Jones on England’s defence, how they are rushing up in defence and looking to cut Italy off at source.
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60 min: “Italy’s lineout jumpers are really struggling with what to call, and how to take Itoje out of the mix,” Ben Kay observes on ITV of England’s current set-piece dominance. I’ll take his expert word for it.
58 min: Roots is penalised for a high shot after another meaningful attack by Italy, down the left wing and into the England 22. He’s possibly fortunate not to attract the attention of the TMO. Allan, uncharacteristically, misses the kick. That feels like it could be big. That’s the first kick off the tee that Allan has missed since before the World Cup … meanwhile, Danny Care is on at scrum-half, for Mitchell.
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56 min: Italy changes: Varney on for Garbisi. Nicotera on for Lucchesi. Dan Cole is on for England, in place of Stuart.
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Penalty! 54 min: Italy 17-24 England (Ford)
Ford, of Sale Sharks, stretches the lead for Borthwick’s men. Italy have gone quiet, but they still have time to make this even more uncomfortable for England than it already has been. The game has settled, though, which is playing into England’s hands as they focus on set-piece strength.
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52 min: Ceccarelli and Cannone are both off for Italy. Zilocchi and Zuliani are on.
50 min: We’re getting regular shots on TV of Felix Jones, the former member of South Africa’s coaching team – and former Ireland international – who has won two World Cups with the Boks. He’s looking as intense as ever.
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49 min: Another attacking lineout for England and they get this one right. Freeman, who has been all-action, gets hands on the ball again and keeps the Italian defenders honest with a powerful carry. There’s a hectic little spell of play with the ball changing hands a couple of times before Steward needs some treatment after taking an accidental knee to the face from a teammate.
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48 min: Itoje snaffles a superb turnover. Slade belts a fantastic kick long for the corner. But Ruzza spoils England’s lineout.
It’s an impressive solo score by Mitchell of Northampton, who twists and turns his way towards the tryline: he’s half-tackled by gets back on his feet and manages to force his way over. He gets a kiss of sorts from Dingwall as they lie on the floor. England lead for the first time and that’s Mitchell’s first Six Nations try.
Try! 44 min: Italy 17-21 England (Mitchell)
A typically sniping score from the England scrum-half. Ford converts.
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41 min: A knock-on by Itoje gives Italy a defensive scrum. On England’s next possession Slade puts up a high kick. Allan calls a mark. Slade tries again, gets the kick right, and hammers Allan back in a tackle as the Italy full-back collects the ball. Freeman soon gets hands on the ball on the England right wing after an Italy kick, switches on the accelerator, and nearly collects his own grubber kick down the line. But it bounces out.
Second half kick-off!
Forza.
Did you see the small matter of France v Ireland? It was a helluva test match:
Half time! Italy 17-14 England
Before kick-off, it was suggested in some quarters that the result was a foregone conclusion: that has not proved to be the case. It’s proving to be an excellent contest, and while the bookies would back England to prevail in the second half, Italy have every chance of a famous victory if they keep chucking the ball around.
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37 min: Considering England have the likes of Ben Earl and Sam Underhill looking to chop down Italy’s runners, the home side will be pleased with the penetration they’ve shown in attack. There’s a bit more of that now, Italy making progress with some decent phase play but failing to get too far over the halfway line. Daly snaffles a loose pass and smoothly boots it down the left wing in one movement.
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35 min: Italy kick possession away, which is questionable given the potency they’ve shown with ball in hand … England make use of their resulting possession including a big carry from Joe Marler. Mitchell is also starting to fizz a few passes around in some style, beginning to dictate the tempo of England’s attack.
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Penalty! 33 min: Italy 17-11 England (Ford)
A three-point return for England’s latest visit to the Azzurri’s 22.
31 min: England now turn up the pressure in attack. They bash away by the try-line for a few phases before kicking for the corner … from the resulting possession Freeman is nearly over, and has his shorts pulled down in a half-tackle by Garbisi. In the end, England choose to take the points from another penalty …
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30 min: As Quesada said before kick-off, Italy can’t compete with England in an arm-wrestle … but if they keep flinging the ball around like that we are in for a real treat.
England are caught badly out of shape in defence, but Italy hardly care and the stadium has come to life even more than before. The Azzurri have numbers down the right wing after Slade chooses to come inside but can’t stop the ball being shipped out by Garbisi. Pani makes plenty of metres down the wing before offloading to Allan, who sprints down the wing with Daly hopelessly isolated. Allan goes under the posts, with a few Roman pigeons fluttering away as he canters in, still showing more defensive awareness than England’s back line.
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Try! 26 min: Italy 17-8 England (Allan)
What a score from the full-back! Tremendous!
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24 min: Capuozzo is pictured up in the stands. He spots himself on the big screen and seems to be resisting the urge to wave at the camera. Eddie Jones is also in attendance as evidenced by some TV pictures a bit earlier on.
23 min: Italy look to play out from the back in Pep Guardiola style. Initially they seem to make a mess of it with Ioane fumbling a pass from Garbisi, but then England concede a penalty at the ruck, and Italy can clear their lines.
The debutant Roots sets it up with a crushing carry down the middle … Slade then pops a pass out the back which creates the space for Freeman to swerve diagonally for the corner and offload to Daly, who has a clear run to the line. Brilliant work in particular by Freeman, whose sympathetic offload made it easy for Daly to finish. The conversion from out wide is missed by Ford.
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Try! 20 min: Italy 10-8 England (Daly)
England are back!
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16 min: Italy nail a lineout routine around halfway and only an Azzurri fumble prevents England’s defence being torn asunder again. However, England make good use of getting the ball back in fortunate fashion, attacking with pace and width via Steward, and a sniping run by Mitchell, with Roots also getting hands on the ball out on the left wing. This is a cracking contest right now.
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Penalty! 15 min: Italy 10-3 England (Ford)
Cannone is penalised for going off his feet at a ruck with England on the attack and inside the Italian 22. Ford gets the visitors off the mark with a kick that bounces off a post and in.
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England are torn apart there. Ignacio Brex offloads to Niccolò Cannone, who roars down the middle into plenty of space. It looks like a golden chance may have been butchered when his offload to his left goes to ground, but Alessandro Garbisi snaffles it off the deck and has an easy run-in with zero defensive cover in attendance. Lovely stuff from the Azzurri though. Allan clips over the conversion and it’s double-digits for Italy.
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Try! 11 min: Italy 10-0 England (Alessandro Garbisi)
A fine score for Italy!
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9 min: Very solid scrum from Italy, and then Tommaso Menoncello crunches into contact with a muscular run through the middle. There’s a kick wide looking from Garbisi looking for Ioane on the wing, but he can’t quite gather it. That was dangerous for England though – and Italy are showing plenty in attack.
8 min: Steward claims a high ball well around halfway, but Italy give the England scrum-half Mitchell the hurry-up at the resulting breakdown with some strong counter-rucking. England don’t look particularly joined-up at the moment, but Italy have got a decent grip on the game after the disappointment of that penalty from the kick-off. A scrum to the hosts around halfway, which collapses at the first time of asking and will be reset.
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Penalty! 5 min: Italy 3-0 England (Allan)
He was note-perfect off the tee at the World Cup, and the experienced full-back strokes this simple kick through the middle.
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4 min: Good stuff from Italy, switching the point of attack after isolating Ford in the No 10 channel in England’s defence. England are penalised for offside and Tommaso Allan can kick for goal.
2 min: A poor start for Italy, Gianmarco Lucchesi coughing up a penalty after Maro Itoje claims the kick-off. Quesada is pictured, gently shaking his head up in the stand at such a careless start. England work through a few attacking phases over halfway, and are looking to move the ball quickly, but Ruzza then wins a penalty for Italy at another ruck, and they have a foothold.
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First half kick-off!
Here we go.
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The exciting young wing/full-back Ange Capuozzo, of course, is not starting for Italy. He was a late withdrawal with illness.
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Time for the anthems, starting with a typically plodding blast of always-dreary “God Save the King.” Italy are nailed on to win the battle of the anthems again.
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The teams are walking out on to the pitch in Rome, where it’s a very pleasant 18C and sunny. Federico Ruzza was out first for Italy: It’s his 50th cap today.
Michael Aylwin’s team-by-team guide to the Six Nations is right here:
And here are tournament predictions from our writers:
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Is Quesada, the Italy coach, nervous or excited? “More nerves. Until the game starts, you have a feeling of how the team prepared. I think our preparation was short, but quite good … there’s a bit of excitement, but I also hope we have a good start, so we can show what we worked for.
“The main thing was to leave behind the last two performances, the big defeats in the World Cup. It’s focusing on the basics again that will allow us to compete for 80 minutes … the exits with the hands and with kicks … we have changed a bit our attacking patterns … but our approach will always be attacking. We cannot compete in terms of power or weight.”
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For every Six Nations warrior the advice of the great Roman statesman Cicero still rings true. “Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.” Resilience and character will eventually win more titles than fleeting brilliance, as England’s Ben Earl has had to remind himself at various times. World-class gladiators are not built overnight.
The England head coach, Steve Borthwick, has a chat with ITV: “Preparation has been excellent. It’s an exciting squad. We want to start out on the next step of this team … we’ve got guys who’ve been playing [for England] for a number of years, and guys who are just starting out … I’m looking forward to it.
“The way we’ve started this tournament in recent years hasn’t been what we hoped for, so there’s a need for a different mindset … we need to hit the ground running.”
On the new captain, Jamie George: “Jamie’s been superb. He’s been a leader in this team for a number of years … bringing a new group together, the first day in camp was a bit quiet, but he’s gradually allowed them to bring all their character to the group.”
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On ITV, Maggie Alphonsi cites Ben Stokes’ leadership with England’s cricketers, saying that Jamie George wants to bring a smattering of that to the rugby team. Has Maggie seen the score?
It will be fascinating to see how England approach the game. Henry Slade is back at No 13, having forced his way back in with some excellent form for Exeter, alongside the debutant Fraser Dingwall at inside-centre. George Ford at fly-half, Alex Mitchell at scrum-half, and a back three of Freddie Steward, Tommy Freeman and Elliot Daly. They should be able to cause plenty of havoc given the opportunity.
One day Italy will beat England at rugby union. Admittedly it has been more than a decade since the Azzurri finished within a score of their opponents but, as Steve Borthwick knows from experience, the possibility can never be entirely discounted. When he captained England at the old Stadio Flaminio in 2008 and 2010, the margins were a stuttering four and five points respectively.
Team news
Breaking team news is that England’s prop Ellis Genge, who was due to start on the bench, has been ruled out with a foot injury. Beno Obano of Bath comes into the squad to replace him.
Italy: Tommaso Allan; Lorenzo Pani, Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Alessandro Garbisi; Lorenzo Cannone, Michele Lamaro (capt.), Sebastian Negri, Federico Ruzza, Niccolò Cannone, Pietro Ceccarelli, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Danilo Fischetti. Replacements: Giacomo Nicotera, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosue Zilocchi, Andrea Zambonin, Edoardo Iachizzi, Manuel Zuliani, Stephen Varney, Lorenzo Pani.
England: Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Fraser Dingwall, Elliot Daly; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Joe Marler, Jamie George (capt.), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum, Ethan Roots, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl. Replacements: Theo Dan, Beno Obano, Dan Cole, Alex Coles, Chandler Cunningham-South, Danny Care, Fin Smith, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
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Preamble
Remember “New England”? Well, they’re back. But New England 2.0 really are quite different, rather than being just an empty soundbite. The long-standing captain Owen Farrell is off to France in the summer having already stepped back from international duty, joining the thrusting young wing Henry Arundell at Racing 92. Red Rose stalwarts such as Courtney Lawes, Ben Youngs and Jonny May are gone for good, retiring from England duty following a third-placed finish at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with the hooker Jamie George taking the captain’s armband.
Northampton’s Fraser Dingwall and Ethan Roots of Exeter both make their debuts in Rome today, with another Saint, Tommy Freeman, lining up on the wing to claim his fourth cap. There are set to be three debutants off the bench, too, with Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Fin Smith (Northampton), and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter) all among the replacements. Unlike last year the head coach, Steve Borthwick, has had more than month to get his ducks in a row, so this is a big tournament for him after that creditable recent effort over in France.
New Italy, meanwhile, means a first crack at the Six Nations for the Azzurri’s new coach, Gonzalo Quesada. The playing staff has a familiar look to it, but can the former Argentina fly-half inject the cohesion and competitiveness that’s often been so sorely lacking for the traditional wooden-spoon champions?
Kick-off in Rome: 2.15 GMT.
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