Pez is still a non-tackling No 10, but he has toughened up considerably, not just since his days at Welford Road but since last season’s Six Nations. Although he started shakily, spilling an early pass in his 22, he came back strongly, including kicking the two drop goals either side of half-time.
His former coach, John Kirwan, told me that if Pez had made an early error last season his game would have crumbled. Instead, he dug in and used his left foot to keep Italy in the territorial race. As he showed against Ireland, he can cut a defence open if he is given the sniff of a gap, and his distribution, particularly with miss-one passes, is very good.
Italy have a well-organised look under their new coach, Pierre Berbizier, and this was evident in the way they plugged the hole in Pez’s tackling game by putting openside flanker Mauro Bergamasco in that channel.
One of England’s biggest mistakes was that they didn’t attack Pez’s channel anywhere near enough. When they did, they got a reward through Mark Cueto’s try, even if Jamie Noon’s dummy run obstructed Pez, allowing Ben Cohen to race through the gap. It was pleasing that Italy did not come away empty-handed on the try front, and Mirco Bergamasco’s score was a lovely effort. Gonzalo Canale is a handful in anyone’s language, and when he made the burst, the younger Bergamasco brother made the most of it.
The presence of so many French-based players has helped Italy to raise their game, and if they had a few more they would be really hard to handle. At the moment they are not quite able to sustain the intensity, and they also need to find their true playing identity. I see them as a mix between France and Argentina, because their pack punches well above its weight, and they have an inclination to break out like the French in terms of inter-linking between backs and forwards.
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Italy may have started with two defeats, but they are a side on an upward curve, and can walk away from the Stadio Flaminio with their heads high.
Jeremy Guscott won 65 caps for England between 1989 and 1999