It must be said that it wasn’t a surprise that England got that win against Italy as they haven’t lost to Italy in any game since the Six Nations was formed 25 years ago. That said, Italy have shown a steady improvement over the years by beating Wales in the last couple of Six Nations competitions and did actually expose England in a few areas of the game.
The areas that Italy took control and scored from would have given coach Steve Borthwick and his minions something to think about this week while preparing the team for the crunch game against Wales.
The ability of the Italians to open England’s defence on a number of occasions and score three tries would have been a huge focus for the team to put right, so as not to give the opposition the potential chance of winning the game no matter how small. The four-point lead at half-time seemed to provide England with a better focus in attack and more importantly in defence than Italy in the second half, enabling England to pull clear and win comfortably.
Dit verhaal komt uit de March 16, 2025 editie van The Rugby Paper.
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Dit verhaal komt uit de March 16, 2025 editie van The Rugby Paper.
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