England stutter to Rome win

Familiar second half failings overshadow narrow victory

By Graeme Mair   Last updated: 11th February 2008

Jonny Wilkinson England v Italy Six Nations Feb 08

Wilkinson: 1,000 points for England in Test rugby

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

Jonny Wilkinson scored 13 points to guide England to a 23-19 success against Italy, their first win of the RBS Six Nations.

Paul Sackey and Toby Flood each bagged a try as the visitors dominated the first half to build a 20-6 lead.

But David Bortolussi kicked two penalties shortly after the interval to bring Italy within eight points and evoke memories of England's collapse from a similar position against Wales last Saturday.

And - like at Twickenham last week - England appeared determined to aimlessly kick away as much possession as possible. This time, however, they just managed to hold on for an unconvincing win, despite Simon Picone's late try for the Azzurri.

No matter how it was achieved, the result provided a welcome boost for Brian Ashton's depleted team, who were without without Lewis Moody, Tom Rees, Andrew Sheridan, David Strettle and Mike Tindall due to injuries picked up against Wales.

Skipper Phil Vickery joined the list shortly before kick-off with an upset stomach. Steve Borthwick led the side in his absence.

Wilkinson landmark

Wilkinson created the opening try in the third minute after James Haskell had stolen the ball from an overthrown Italian lineout.

The fly-half, whose directionless performance during the capitulation against Wales led to calls for him to be dropped, collected his own chip over the top and then offloaded from the back of his hand for Sackey to race to the line.

The conversion was added for a 7-0 lead before Italy hit back with a couple of Bortolussi penalties to reduce the deficit to just one point after 13 minutes.

But, two minutes later, a mistake from the Italy full-back led directly to England's second try when his attempted clearance was charged down by Jamie Noon.

Noon was hauled down just short of the line, the ball being quickly recycled for Wilkinson to exploit a gaping overlap and put Flood into the right corner.

Wilkinson threaded the touchline conversion to pass 1,000 points in international rugby for England, and then added two further penalties to extend England's advantage to 20-6 by half-time.

Nerves

Bortolussi gave Italy hope with penalties in the 44th and 56th minutes as the hosts enjoyed a spell of sustained possession at the start of the second half, no doubt causing anxiety in the England ranks with last week's debacle still fresh in their minds.

However, Wilkinson settled those nerves by landing his fourth penalty in the 59th minute shortly before making way for his young apprentice Danny Cipriani to win his second cap.

Cipriani's introduction made little difference to England's disjointed play - only a desperate ankle tap from Noon stopped Kane Robertson's searing break down the right flank as Italy searched for the try that their forwards' sterling effort deserved.

It finally arrived in the 76th minute, as Cipriani's attempt to chip over the onrushing defence from inside his own half was charged down by Picone, giving the replacement scrum-half an unopposed run to the line.

Bortolussi took his personal haul to 14 points with the conversion to bring his side within a try at 23-19 and set up a tense conclusion.

But England held on for the win without further alarm, although the nature of the second half performance ensures Ashton is left with more questions than answers ahead of their next assignment, a trip to Paris on February 23.

Comments

Will Thompson says...

England look clueless under Ashton. Why do we seem to be Looking to Rugby League players for inspiration! How many clubs do England, have up & down the country? You mean to tell me we have no home grown talent! Let's get back to basics & play simple rugby! Ashton does not fill me with any confidence, it's time he moved on!

Posted 18:48 11th February 2008

Mark Bishop says...

Ashton has been a problem since before the World Cup. It was only because of the old heads like Lawrence and Regan who gave the team fight. Letting Shaun Edward's go was one of the biggest mistakes England made clear out all the coaches get Jake White and Martin Johnson in get some pride and power back into English Rugby

Posted 11:57 11th February 2008

Stu Smith says...

As with Enland's footballers, there seems to be a policy of 'if in doubt, hoof it' rather than retaining possession. Maybe there is a football mentality to our play and that too many youngsters these days are brought up playing the round-ball game? Either way, kicking in open play should only really be used to go for touch when in trouble or as an OCCASIONAL surprise tactic (e.g. as Wilkinson did for Sackey's try) or to take advantage of space left behind an out-of-position winger. Even a good kick to touch generally means loss of possession - lineouts don't go against the head as much these days. Worse still, if players get the kick wrong and the ball stays in, you'll soon have a pacy winger running the ball back at you!

Posted 11:19 11th February 2008

Richard Carnell says...

There is no a great motivator in then English management team...a half time team talk by Ashton, Wells, Callard clearly is having a soporific affect upon the players.... Stand fast Rowntree. Andrew needs to take responsiblity for some of this; he has missed a great opportunity by not getting Gatland and Edwards as the Team. He needs to forget any previous club nonense, bite the bullet, replace Ashton et al ...Standfast Rowntree and get some coaches and leaders and magangers of men who know what they are doing.

Posted 09:59 11th February 2008

John Elnaugh says...

Ever heard the story about the Emperors new clothes? Its the same as Ashtons new style of expansive play,,,has anybody noticed any radical difference. The Old Guard wont get rid of Ashton as it deflects the blame from themselves, as for Rob Andrews what is his brief exactly apart from hold his head in his hands... Time for some backbone in all areas.

Posted 08:48 11th February 2008

Tony Glover says...

To think England were world cup finalists 2 games ago is unbelievable! Is it a new tactic (this week like last), to hand out sedatives at half time? Even I, a long time England supporter, began to want Italy to snatch the win.

Posted 07:59 11th February 2008

Ken Sale says...

the English team seems to have lost its unified drive at both the scrum,maul and loose.with too many individual drives without sufficient support. Loose play with passes and kicks for touch when isolated led to some crucial moments which only narrowly did they retrieve. Second half of the last two matches have been far too ill disciplined in touch kicking as well as thinking they can match the opposition. Cannot really fault Wilkinson but he had little protection from the back row. The referee needs to look at the game again with colleagues in attendance and note the number of offsides committed by the italian team who were magnificent as well as holding on to the ball in the tight maul conditions .Feeding the ball into the scrum by the Italian scrum half was not penalised nor were the forward passes. Score for the French referee 4 /10 rather poor. But lucky England . Will struggle against the Irish ,lose to the French and perhaps draw with the Scots. England looked a tired bunch !

Posted 22:50 10th February 2008

Michael Allard says...

Brainless aston should resign as he has no idea of how to motivate his players when things go wrong.

Posted 21:35 10th February 2008

Michael Whelan says...

I think that England did well to win for two reasons - 1) They were without 4 or 5 experienced decision makers through injury and poor selection by Asthon, When Wilkinson left the field in the back line there were 3 or 4 players in the back line that have under 10 caps and there was a fullback who is only 2 caps back into a stop start international carear. You cannot blame a side with no on field leaders for failing to make correct choiches etc and maybe just holding on deserves rewarding. 2) The Italians are quickly becoming a quailty international side and probably deserve more recoqnination than teams like Scotland, Fiji and Samoa. They will be a serious threat once they gain experiecne and a reasonable out of hand kicker who has the ability to control the game from 10. If england had beaten Scotland by 4 points and scored some quailty tries, but then been shut out in the 2nd half, everyone would have raived about Scottish Defence.

Posted 18:57 10th February 2008

Page 1 of 1

Add Comment*

All fields are required

Are you a Sky Sports subscriber?

Character Count : 0/1950

Please tick here if you wish to receive emails relating to Sky Sports.com or any other companies, services or products related to Sky Sports.com

Please send me the weekly Sky Sportszine - exclusive content, features and competitions to my inbox every Friday.

*All fields required, your email address will be kept private