England head coach Eddie Jones is set to announce his team to face Italy in the Six Nations on Sunday, with a response needed following their opening defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend. Marcus Smith’s 17 points had put England in a winning position before the match turned on Luke Cowan-Dickie’s yellow card and resulting penalty try, and it means Jones and his team are already playing catch-up as they look to bounce back with a victory in Rome.
Jones is set to keep faith with a number of the young and inexperienced players who started against Scotland, including fly-half Smith and full-back Freddie Steward, but the fixture against Italy offers the head coach a chance to make changes. The Italians opened their Six campaign with a defeat to France last weekend in Paris to extend their losing run in the competition to 33 matches and anything other than a bonus-point England victory would be a seismic shock on Sunday.
