THE value of England’s win at the Stadio Flaminio here on Saturday depends on your perception of how strong you believe the respective countries to be. To put it another way, it was a decent reality check for Andy Robinson on the long haul towards making England worthy defenders of the World Cup next year.
This is the closest Italy have come to England in the Six Nations Championship, although not so close as they came in 1995 and 1998. They are physically strong, better conditioned, organised in defence and by no means unimaginative. The scoreline flatters England, in that their fourth and final try came after a handling error from the last play of the game, when Italy felt obliged to run out of defence and promptly turned over the ball.
But when Robinson and his coaching staff study the statistics, there should be concern that England could not make more of the possession that their forwards earned. It is a tribute to such players as Mauro Bergamasco and Sergio Parisse that, during the second-half period when England started to switch the ball around in multiphase movements, they came away with only one try thanks to stout defence. Italy had to make 134 tackles to England’s 46 in the course of the match.
But teams develop through victories. This, remember, was England’s first outside Twickenham for nearly two years, it is their fourth win from five outings this season and they will be feeling confident in each other’s company, even if the outside world may be impatient. The try by Mark Cueto, too, a set-piece move behind a lineout, was brought off so well that it would have beaten better defences than Italy’s.
As Sir Clive Woodward, in his days as England head coach, was fond of saying, sport does not offer a smooth upward gradient. You tick off the little improvements here and there — England are playing two props young in international years and every game is a lesson for Andrew Sheridan and Matt Stevens. They are not world beaters and looked anything but against the four classy operators Italy possess, but they will be better for the run.
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Nor was Stevens so tired by the scrummaging that he could not offer support in the loose to his flankers, Joe Worsley and Lewis Moody, who enjoyed their most effective game in tandem. “When you see us play with quick ball, you see how dangerous we are,” Robinson said, which slightly ignored the fact that two tries came direct from lineouts and a third was a gift for James Simpson-Daniel.
England are talking a lot about wearing teams down, about attrition, which is how England sides have played a lot in the past, but it will not be sufficient in France in 18 months’ time — and may not be sufficient in France in three weeks’ time. If they are building their repertoire of strike moves under the direction of Joe Lydon, then these should come into play sooner rather than later.
“People will be disapppointed by our first half, but it was two teams finding out about each other,” Robinson said. He knows, of course, that New Zealand do not stand on such ceremony, nor would they have allowed Mike Tindall to break the defensive line to score his the first try, powerful though the Gloucester centre is.
But Italy bounced back, two dropped goals and a penalty goal by Ramiro Pez giving them the lead two minutes into the second half. “We need to understand that the details make the difference,” Pierre Berbizier, the Italy coach, said. “England know that, they played very well. My team played with great courage, great pride, but we need to work on the last 1 per cent of our game.”
England’s error count was such that they conceded penalties and scrums to their opponents, but they utterly dominated the lineout and were the stronger in loose play. It may be that Harry Ellis needs to boss his forwards more than he does, even though his captain — for club and country — Martin Corry is immediately in front of him. It is something Matt Dawson has always done and, coincidence or not, England’s second try came within a minute of Dawson taking the field.
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Charlie Hodgson, whose kicking out of hand was mixed, had just restored England’s lead with a penalty when the scrum halves were changed. Immediately, Worsley was able to take up position in midfield and he established the ruck from which Hodgson slipped past Pablo Canavosio to tilt the balance England’s way.
Robinson tends to strike a defensive note when talking about his midfield — he described Tindall as enjoying his best attacking game for England, a view that even the player is unlikely to subscribe to. “Mike’s a very hard worker and a very honest guy,” Robinson said, but England need more elusive qualities than that.
Tom Voyce was caught in two minds too often for comfort at full back but has a voracious appetite for work. However, it was Ben Cohen, off the left wing, who took Tindall’s inside pass behind a lineout to carve open the defence and send Cueto to the line for England’s third try. Not until deep into time added on did Gonzalo Canale brush Hodgson aside and send Mirco Bergamasco speeding away for a deserved score. Even then, there was time for Ludovico Nitoglia to lose possession in his own 22, Simpson-Daniel picking up the offering.
SCORERS: Italy: Try: Mirco Bergamasco (80+4min). Conversion: Pez. Penalty goal: Pez (37). Dropped goals: Pez 2 (40+1, 42). England: Tries: Tindall (30), Hodgson (57), Cueto (70), Simpson-Daniel (80+8). Conversions: Hodgson 4. Penalty goal: Hodgson (51).
SCORING SEQUENCE (Italy first): 0-7, 3-7, 6-7 (half-time), 9-7, 9-10, 9-17, 9-24, 16-24, 16-31.
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ITALY: C Stoica (Montpellier); P Canavosio (Calvisano; rep: S Picone, Treviso, 62), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Français), L Nitoglia (Calvisano); R Pez (Perpignan), P Griffen (Calvisano); S Perugini (Calvisano; rep: A Lo Cicero, L’Aquila, 72), F Ongaro (Treviso; rep: C Festuccia, Gran Parma, 68), C Nieto (Viadana; rep: M Castrogiovanni, Calvisano, 68), S Dellapé (Agen; rep: C Del Fava, Bourgoin, 58), M Bortolami (Narbonne, captain), J Sole (Viadana; rep: A Persico, Agen, 58), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Français), S Parisse (Stade Français).
ENGLAND: T Voyce (London Wasps); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), J Noon (Newcastle Falcons), M Tindall (Gloucester; rep: J Simpson-Daniel, Gloucester, 80+3), B Cohen (Northampton); C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), H Ellis (Leicester; rep: M Dawson, London Wasps, 56); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks; rep: J White, Leicester, 64), S Thompson (Northampton; rep: L Mears, Bath, 64), M Stevens (Bath), S Borthwick (Bath), D Grewcock (Bath; rep: S Shaw, London Wasps, 75), J Worsley (London Wasps; rep: L Dallaglio, London Wasps, 70), L Moody (Leicester), M Corry (Leicester, captain).
Referee: K Deaker (New Zealand).
Attendance: 24,973.