First and foremost, England will be pleased to have got their Six Nations campaign back on track and nilling Italy is a good starting point.
Eddie Jones wanted his side to light up Rome, and they did that in bits, but across the 80 minutes England were probably a bit too inconsistent and had a few too many errors.
The combinations aren’t quite clicking yet, but off the back of this I hope Eddie sticks with the axis of Alex Dombrandt, Harry Randall and Marcus Smith.
If England are going to play with more tempo, if they really are going to push the boat out to attack with speed and move the ball into space, then those three players showed in snippets against Italy they can operate at that level. They read each other well and instinctively link up.
To build the team this combination needs to be challenged and there is no better time than when they play Wales in two weeks’ time. They are coming in off the back of a confidence-boosting win and they’ll want to come and storm Twickenham.
It’s a great chance to give the Dombrandt, Randall and Smith axis another opportunity to say: ‘We can do it, we can take England to the next level’.
There is debate around Ben Youngs, but I’d love for him to be given that freedom and perhaps it would work better with Randall starting. Then Ben can come off the bench and lift the tempo even higher.
The three games coming up for England now are huge. They are huge for the Six Nations, but also in the context of the World Cup coming up next year. You need to give guys experience and opportunities to be really tested.
The talk pre-tournament was about Marcus Smith being tested. He had that in the autumn and now he’s getting even more of it, and we are seeing the benefits.
You’ve got three big games coming up and, no doubt about it, you want to win the Six Nations. But you have to build that depth in reserve too, because you are going to have to rely on these guys one day soon and they need to be exposed to the highest level to see how they perform under the most pressure.
Wales, Ireland and France present a great opportunity to do that.
England will be keen to get Tuilagi back in for Wales Test
Having Manu Tuilagi back will just add an extra dimension to England’s attack. It will allow them, if they want, to play a bit more of a power game. Manu can carry, pass, offload, or be used as an option to create space elsewhere, and having those multiple threats in the midfield will help the attack function better.
Manu started for Sale this weekend and can play for them again next week, and having him back can take England’s attack to the next level. If you add him into a Dombrandt, Randall and Smith axis it just gives England more options. I and, I suspect a lot of fans, would like to see that.
Six Nations play-off for Italy could benefit them and the championship
You look at Italy’s record and it’s not pleasing on the eye. I think the idea of a play-off, with someone like Georgia, could work. Italy are starting to make strides, especially if you look at Benetton’s victory in the Rainbow Cup and their Under-20s team beating England on Friday night.
So there’s a pathway there and I don’t think the Six Nations should be chucking them out, because there’s an responsibility to help improve them. But I do agree that Italy now need to earn their place and actually gain some confidence from beating the teams that want to take their spot.
