English Power Too Much For Italians In First Half Of Six Nations Clash
English Power Too Much For Italians In First Half Of Six Nations Clash
England lead Italy 19 - 0 in their 2023 Guinness Six Nations match-up at Twickenham Stadium in London. Jack Willis opens the try scoring for England.
England is on course for a first win under new head coach Steve Borthwick as they lead Italy 19 – 0 at half-time at Twickenham.
? All the key stats and data from England v Italy in the #GuinnessSixNations. ?
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 12, 2023
Insights provided by @Sageuk #SageInsights https://t.co/mHxJmokuUm
Clearly overpowered by their hosts, Italy has yet to fire a shot in the contest despite having a significant share of the possession.
England on the other hand has looked mightily impressive in the forward exchanges as they have dominated at both scrum time and in the maul.
Clearly, the best player on the pitch in the first half, back row Jack Willis opened the try scoring with a powerful drive off the back of a well-executed English maul.
Just reward for @jackswillis7: he's overcome two years of adversity in his career to score on his @EnglandRugby return! #ENGvITA | #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/v4lodE2EGO
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 12, 2023
Next up was secondrow Ollie Chessum who has brought his impressive form from round one with him in today’s clash. Receiving a brilliant ball from Ellis Genge, Chessum used all of his height to dive over the Italian defence for England’s second score.
Having shown very little in terms of backline attacking prowess, winger Max Malins showed his incredible skills in pulling off a world-class dummy before setting Jack van Poortvliet for what looked to be a sublime try.
Upon review, the try was overturned as centre Ollie Lawrence blatantly tripped the key Italian defender to open the gap for Malins.
This tops our 'Best Disallowed Tries of 2023' list.
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 12, 2023
All hail @max_malins7 ?#ENGvITA | #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/7pHBEicXdQ
Despite the overturned try, England struck almost immediately. This time it was Hooker Jamie George who went over from yet another powerful rolling maul.
Down a man due to repeated infringements on their own line, Italy simply hasn’t had any answers for the English power game.
Additionally, the English kicking game has kept the Azzurri pinned back with their back three continually having to cover kicks in behind.
In a worrying forty minutes of action for Kieran Crowley’s side, it would appear that the Azzurri have been exposed as a side incapable of handling the close-quarter exchanges.
To have any chance of a fightback, Italy will need to get the ball away from the rucks and out wide to danger man Ange Capuozzo.
For this to happen they will need to speed up their ruck play as the English backrow and in particular, Willis has had a field day thus far in terms of both turnovers and slowing the Italian attack down.
The second half is just about to get underway, stay tuned for the full match report at the conclusion of the fixture.
Written by Philip Bendon