Italy have been beaten by an average of 45 points a game on their past four visits to Twickenham, but no longer is this fixture surrounded by the same crushing sense of inevitability. England have won one of their past five home Tests while the Azzurri’s fizzing attacking rugby against France in Rome last Sunday further underlined their rising ambitions.
It is necessary, even so, to go all the way back to Huddersfield in November 1998 to find the last time England were at risk of losing to Italy on home soil, a late try by Will Greenwood ensuring a scrappy 23-15 win in a Rugby World Cup qualifier. Almost a quarter of a century on, an Italy victory would still be a memorable Six Nations moment.
