6N: England going back to basics in bid to rebound vs Italy

By STEVE DOUGLAS 12 February 2021, 12:00AM

Faced with a beleaguered opponent on a 28-match losing streak in the Six Nations, England could easily use the visit of Italy as an opportunity to try out some new combinations and give some young talent a run-out at Twickenham on Saturday.

Eddie Jones has other ideas.

A chastening 11-6 defeat to Scotland in Round 1 has put the English on the back foot, too, at the start of their title defense and their coach sees only one way to rebound.

In short, Jones is going back to basics.

“We want to play English rugby. Good, English rugby,” the Australian said after naming a forward-orientated team to take on the Azzurri.

“That involves having a good set-piece, good defense, and being able to take those opportunities that come in attack and turn those opportunities into points.”

Jones makes no apologies for retreating to a fairly limited approach, which includes selecting a hulking lock — Courtney Lawes — at No. 6 and going with a Springboks-style 6-2 split on the bench in favor of the forwards.

It’s a physical, often-brutal game plan that Jones has favored since the 2019 Rugby World Cup as he looks to mimic the South African template and build on England’s trademark strength in the pack. It has delivered the delayed 2020 Six Nations title in October, and the Autumn Nations Cup title in December.

But against Italy? At home?

“When we’re at our best, we’re the most damaging team in the world,” Jones said, “and that’s what we want to get back to.”

His team couldn’t have been further from that against the Scots, when England was restricted to 35% possession, even less territory, and didn’t make a single clean break.

It has led to some soul-searching among the staff and players this week, with Jones repeatedly saying he gave the wrong instructions — without going into specifics.

And there have been some fall guys ahead of the Italy game, chief among them being Ollie Lawrence.

The 21-year-old center was handed his fourth cap in the Scotland game but had only one touch, the ball rarely getting outside Owen Farrell at No. 10. Lawrence has been jettisoned by Jones, not even making the matchday 23, with Farrell switching to inside center and George Ford recalled at flyhalf.

“Very miffed that Ollie Lawrence left out of the Eng(land) team to face Italy this weekend,” England great Jeremy Guscott tweeted. “Seemed like the perfect game to pass the ball to him more than once.”

There was a complete overhaul of the front row, with props Mako Vunipola and Kyle Sinckler returning to the lineup after injury and suspension, respectively, and Luke Cowan-Dickie starting in place of Jamie George at hooker.

Lawes replaced Mark Wilson to give extra grunt in the back row.

After a tournament-opening 50-10 loss to France, Italy remains without a Six Nations win since February 2015 at Murrayfield. The defeat in Rome reignited the debate about whether the Azzurri deserve their guaranteed spot in the competition, or whether promotion and relegation should be introduced to give the likes of Georgia and Romania hope of inclusion.

The Rugby Football Union’s director of performance rugby, Conor O’Shea, comes down on the side of Italy, which he coached from 2016-19.

“The worst thing you can do now is contract,” he told the Daily Mail, “and some decisions now could make that happen, which you shouldn’t do. We should all want teams like Georgia and Romania to grow, but let’s not kill off any other nation while we’re at it.”

Arriving at Twickenham having lost all 27 matches against England from their first meeting in 1991, Italy's team will include 43-test loosehead prop Andrea Lovotti for his first appearance in almost a year.

Coach Franco Smith also brought in the canny Carlo Canna to replace the injured Marco Zanon at center.

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Lineups:

England: Elliot Daly, Anthony Watson, Henry Slade, Owen Farrell (captain), Jonny May, George Ford, Ben Youngs; Billy Vunipola, Tom Curry, Courtney Lawes, Jonny Hill, Maro Itoje, Kyle Sinckler, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Mako Vunipola. Reserves: Jamie George, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, Charlie Ewels, Ben Earl, Jack Willis, Dan Robson, Max Malins.

Italy: Jacopo Trulla, Luca Sperandio, Juan Ignacio Brex, Carlo Canna, Montanna Ioane, Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Michele Lamaro, Johan Meyer, Sebastian Negri, David Sisi, Marco Lazzaroni, Marco Riccioni, Luca Bigi (captain), Andrea Lovotti. Reserves: Gianmarco Lucchesi, Danilo Fischetti, Giosuè Zilocchi, Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza, Guglielmo Palazzani, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.

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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

By STEVE DOUGLAS 12 February 2021, 12:00AM
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