Reasons to be cheerful: England won at the Stadio Flaminio yesterday, which is more than they managed at Twickenham on the opening weekend of the RBS Six Nations Championship. They staged a lineout display of epic proportions, which probably made the difference between victory and defeat. Oh, and Jonny Wilkinson passed 1,000 points for his country.
The reverse side of the coin? The gap between Italy and that historic first win over England is closing rapidly. Over the past four meetings the margin of victory has descended from 32 to 15 points, to 13 and now to four, yet, until Danny Cipriani had a kick charged down and Simon Picone scored Italy’s try, there seemed little danger of England losing that unbeaten record.
All is context here: the injuries England have suffered, the loss of their captain on the morning of the match to a stomach ailment, the relative inexperience of the starting XV (which became even more inexperienced with the introduction of half backs, late in the game, who had no more than half a cap between them) and the need to recover from the demoralising defeat by Wales.
Victory does that, however achieved. Had England been able to win ball consistently after the interval, they might have constructed something way beyond the labourings of Italy, but they tried to force the game that Brian Ashton, the head coach, wants them to play. Raising the tempo is one thing, trying to do so with poor ball is another and brought echoes of that horrid phase against Wales, when one error led to another.
Remember, though, that since the World Cup England have lost four vastly experienced players to retirement, four more are unavailable through injury and another five dropped out of contention either during or just after the Wales game. Throw in Phil Vickery’s withdrawal and England’s fitful display here does have an explanation.
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The baton of leadership passed to Steve Borthwick, who had discussed with Ashton that possibility last Thursday when a calf injury made Vickery a doubt. This was Borthwick’s finest hour in 34 appearances; the man who lost the captaincy of Bath when it was announced he would be joining Saracens after this season rose, literally and metaphorically, to the challenge.
He led by example and, when Italy at last established a position close to England’s line, it was Borthwick who twice in succession denied them ball on their own throw. Both he and England will feel better for surviving against an Italy pack that never found the expected edge at the set-piece and the defence dealt with most that Italy’s backs could throw at them.
Given their domination of possession and territory after the break, Italy will be disappointed not to have come closer to winning and it is possible that, for all his faith in Andrea Masi at fly half, Nick Mallett should have a further look at Andrea Marcato in the pivotal position.
If England wanted compensation for Vickery’s loss, they received it as early as the third minute. Michael Lipman caught an overthrown Italy lineout (the first of four that the hosts lost), Wilkinson gathered his own chip and slipped a delightful pass from the side door to Paul Sackey, who covered the 40 metres to the line with no threat from the Italy defence.
David Bortolussi nearly erased the lead with two penalty goals, the first when Borthwick fell offside, the second when Lesley Vainikolo, who remained a peripheral figure for far too long, failed to release the ball in a tackle. But the Italy full back then lingered too long over a clearance and Jamie Noon charged it down and fed Wilkinson, who sent Toby Flood into the corner to finish with a flamboyant dive.
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Wilkinson’s conversion brought his tally of England points to a round 1,000 and his match tally of 13 brings him ever nearer Neil Jenkins’s world record of 1,090 (Wilkinson, including his Lions points, is 34 short). He added two penalties before half-time, yet he will have been as frustrated as anyone that England could not kick on from their interval lead of 20-6, as well as the two balls he kicked away that landed happily in Bortolussi’s arms.
It was no great surprise that England lost the battle on the floor, given the rawness of their back row compared with Mauro Bergamasco and Sergio Parisse, playing his 50th game for Italy. Lipman, James Haskell and Nick Easter all did well with ball in hand but they could not squeeze out those vital turnovers. Mathew Tait, as a temporary replacement while Jamie Noon had a gashed forehead stitched, covered Gonzalo Canale’s rolling kick well, but Bortolussi added two more penalties against one by Wilkinson before Ashton decided the time was ripe to introduce Cipriani and Richard Wigglesworth.
It was, in many ways, an act of faith and Wigglesworth, making his debut, responded well. Cipriani, denied more than the barest touch of the ball, was eager to add value and promptly had a kick charged down by Picone, who scored by the posts. Memories of that moment will be a test of character for the young man, but when danger threatened in the dying minutes, he did the right thing with a long and delightfully executed clearance.
After all that has happened to them in the past fortnight, a win was all that England needed. It may not have been on the grand scale but it does keep them in championship contention and they now have a breathing space before returning, on February 23, to Paris, where the nation they beat in the World Cup semi-final lies in wait.
Scorers: Italy: Try: Picone (76min). Conversion: Bortolussi. Penalty goals: Bortolussi 4 (6, 13, 44, 55). England: Tries: Sackey (3), Flood (15). Conversions: Wilkinson 2. Penalty goals: Wilkinson 3 (32, 38, 60).
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Scoring sequence (Italy first): 0-7, 3-7, 6-7, 6-14, 6-17, 6-20 (half-time), 9-20, 12-20, 12-23, 19-23.
Italy: D Bortolussi (Montpellier); K Robertson (Viadana), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne; rep: A Sgarbi, Treviso, 63), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Français), E Galon (Overmach Parma); A Masi (Biarritz; rep: A Marcato, Treviso, 73), P Travagli (Overmach Parma; rep: S Picone, Treviso, 56); A Lo Cicero (Racing M?tro; rep: S Perugini, Toulouse, 52), L Ghiraldini (Calvisano; rep: C Festuccia, Racing M?tro, 63), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester; rep: C Nieto, Gloucester, 60), S Dellape (Biarritz; rep: A Zanni, Calvisano, 73), C Del Fava (Ulster), J Sole (Viadana), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Français), S Parisse (Stade Français, captain).
England: I Balshaw (Gloucester); P Sackey (London Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle Falcons; rep: M Tait, Newcastle Falcons, 52-63), T Flood (Newcastle Falcons), L Vainikolo (Gloucester); J Wilkinson (Newcastle Falcons; rep: D Cipriani, London Wasps, 67), A Gomarsall (Harlequins; rep: R Wigglesworth, Sale Sharks, 60); T Payne (London Wasps), M Regan (Bristol; rep: L Mears, Bath, 56), M Stevens (Bath), S Shaw (London Wasps; rep: B Kay, Leicester, 77), S Borthwick (Bath, captain), J Haskell (London Wasps), M Lipman (Bath), N Easter (Harlequins; rep: L Narraway, Gloucester, 65).
Referee: A Rolland (Ireland).
Attendance: 32,000.