England captain Owen Farrell will start at flyhalf this weekend against Italy as Marcus Smith drops to the bench. 

Much debated, the playmaking axis of Farrell and Smith appears to have been ditched by new England head coach Steve Borthwick following round one’s loss to Scotland at Twickenham. 

Farrell’s shift back to his preferred position see’s Henry Slade return to the outside centre berth alongside Ollie Lawrence who replaces Joe Marchant in the number twelve shirt. 

Having persisted with the Smith-Farrell axis for all of one game, Borthwick looks to have broken away from his predecessor Eddie Jones’s vision of a two-pronged English attack. 

Borthwick has however resisted making wholesale changes to his forward pack for this weekend’s clash with an in-form Italian team who came agonisingly close to upsetting France in round one. 

The only change being the elevation of Jack Willis to the starting line-up in the number seven shirt in place of Ben Curry who drops out of the matchday-23 altogether. 

On the bench, livewire scrumhalf Alex Mitchell replaces veteran Ben Youngs whilst the electric Henry Arundell has returned from injury to pull on the number 23 shirt. 

Speaking at the team announcement, Borthwick said: “We welcome an exciting and in-form Italy team to Twickenham on Sunday. We recognise and respect the very real threat they pose in this Six Nations Championship and we are preparing accordingly.” 

“Notwithstanding the disappointment of last weekend’s Calcutta Cup result, we know that in a very short space of time, positive steps have been taken towards the manner and style in which we want to play our rugby. 

“We are at the start of what is a completely new cycle of England Rugby. The implementation of new systems does take time and the squad is showing themselves to be hungry to deliver the sort of performance that we know they are capable of. 

“From the squad, I have selected a team for Sunday’s fixture that I believe is best placed to meet the specific challenges that Italy will bring. 

“It is a selection of players whose form, individual strengths and combined qualities suit the way we want to play against Italy, in what we anticipate will be another hard-fought and entertaining spectacle.” 

Farrell’s return to the chief playmaking role alongside two centres who are capable of breaking the line should see a more cohesive English attack. 

On the topic of cohesion, England were worryingly out of sorts in defence last week as they conceded a number of soft tries. Most notable among them was Duhan van der Merwe’s much-celebrated try which saw four English would-be tacklers slip off the flying winger. 

Renowned as a defensive guru, assistant coach Sir Kevin Sinfield will be hoping that an extra week with his charges will see a more controlled performance. 

Italian head coach Kieran Crowley has made two changes from the side that opened the tournament in Rome. 

In the backline Edoardo Padovani slots in at right wing whilst in the forwards Saracens’ Marco Riccioni adds his significant bulk to the front row. 

Unfortunately for the Azzurri, star playmaker Paolo Garbisi remains on the injured list and doesn’t make the trip to London. 

Speaking on Friday about his first-choice flyhalf, Crowley said: "He has progressed very well. He has gone back to Montpellier with the hope of playing for them next weekend," Crowley told reporters on Friday. 

"If he plays for them, he will be joining us for the Ireland week and hopefully be available for selection for that game." 

Having made significant progress under the hard-nosed Kiwi coach, Italy will be looking to rewrite history at Twickenham as they go in search of a first-ever victory against England.

"We took a big step forward against France, now we need another one against England," Crowley said as he signalled his side’s intentions. 

One positive piece of news for the Azzurri is the return of powerful backrow Jake Polledri who is set to make his 50^th appearance for Italy from the bench. 

“The most important thing is that they (Riccioni and Polledri) come in and they understand how we want to play. Their roles and working with other players in those roles," said Crowley. 

Key Match-Up 

In what will be a great test for both sides as they look to rebound from their respective opening-round losses. This weekend’s clash will see a number of interesting subplots that could go a long way to deciding the outcome. 

Key among these games within the game will be the head-to-head clash between two of international rugby’s brightest young fullbacks. 

23-year-old Ange Capuozzo is already regarded as Italy’s best backline player in generations whilst 22-year-old Freddie Steward has made the English fullback position his own over the past twelve months. 

In terms of physical make-up and style of play, you couldn’t hope to find two more contrasting styles of fullback. 

Capuozzo is a rather slight figure by modern rugby standards but what he lacks for in size he more than makes up for in skill, balance and poise. 

Currently, on a rampage of scoring outlandish tries including in round one, Capuozzo is living up to his title as World Rugby’s breakthrough player of the year. 

A dazzling playmaker whose ability to operate as both a link player and deadly finisher resembles that of New Zealand’s Damian McKenzie. 

Steward on the other hand is a giant who wouldn’t look out of place in the secondrow. Using his significant height to his advantage, Steward is impeccable under the high ball and possesses exceptional speed which he uses to deadly effect as a strike runner. 

Hitting the line and breaking tackle is what Steward does and playing outside a more effective backline this week could see the Leicester Tigers star add to his two England tries. 

??? "This is an Italian team that we have to pay attention to"

? Defeat for @Federugby but @BrianODriscoll was mightily impressed#GuinnessSixNations | #ITAvFRA pic.twitter.com/9TJwy9NOG3

— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) February 5, 2023

Prediction

Perhaps higher on the Italian renaissance than other Rugby scribes, this writer believes that Italy will give a great account of themselves against an England side in transitions. 

Will it be enough to win? Perhaps not, whilst England have their flaws the disparity in physicality between the two packs should be telling. 

The front-row grunt of Genge, George and Sinckler have yet to replicate the heights of 2019 but remain a formidable unit when given half a chance to get on the front foot. 

Behind them, the duo of Chessum and Itoje have the makings of a world-class secondrow partnership. Itoje for his part was particularly quiet in round one in comparison to his lofty standards. 

A return to form for Itoje combined with a second dynamic showing from Chessum will give England a great platform from which to attack. 

Building a case for an Italian upset is their devil-may-care attitude against an unorganised defence could see them score significantly more points than many expect. 

For this to happen Capuozzo will need to get his hands on the ball whilst Padovani will need to be on his shoulder for any half-breaks. In the centre, there is certainly an opportunity to find space given the England combination is made up of two outside centres that may well drift and open space for the hard-carrying centre duo of Brex and Morisi. 

Whilst stranger things have happened than an ascending Italian side making yet another piece of history. This game may have come just too early in the development of this side. Combining this with an England side whose backs are firmly to the wall, the hosts will emerge victorious by a margin of 15 points. 

Line-Ups

England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Max Malins, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Ollie Chessum, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 7 Jack Willis, 8 Alex Dombrandt 

Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Henry Arundell. 

Italy 15. Ange Capuozzo; 14. Edoardo Padovani, 13. Juan Ignacio Brex, 12. Luca Morisi, 11. Tommaso Menoncello; 10. Tommaso Allan, 9.Stephen Varney; 1. Danilo Fischetti, 2. Giacomo Nicotera, 3. Marco Riccioni; 4. Niccolo Cannone, 5. Federico Ruzza; 6. Sebastian Negri, 7. Michele Lamaro (capt), 8. Lorenzo Cannone 

Replacements  16. Luca Bigi, 17. Federico Zani, 18. Simone Ferrari, 19. Edoardo Iachizzi, 20. Jake Polledri, 21. Manuel Zuliani, 22. Alessandro Fusco, 23. Pierre Bruno.