Guinness Six Nations 2023 Rugby Coverage

Dominant England See Of Plucky Italy In Guinness Six Nations Match-Up

Dominant England See Of Plucky Italy In Guinness Six Nations Match-Up

England defeats Italy 31 - 14 at Twickenham Stadium London in the 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championship to record their first victory under Steve Borthwick

Feb 12, 2023
Dominant England See Of Plucky Italy In Guinness Six Nations Match-Up

England defeated Italy 31 – 14 at Twickenham Stadium to pick their first win in the Steve Borthwick era. 

Physically overpowering their visitors, England led 19 – 0 at halftime on the back of three forward-dominated tries. 

Backrow Jack Willis got things underway as he powered his way over the line on the back of a well-executed English line-out maul. 

Willis returned to the Six Nations stage having missed the past two tournaments as he battled a number of serious injuries. 

England’s second score came via the highly impressive Ollie Chessum who looks to have made the English number four shirt his own following successive dynamic showings to open this season’s Championship. 

For all of their dominance, the English backline looked stagnant throughout the first half. That was of course until a moment of individual brilliance by Max Malins as he completely dummied the Italian defensive line to send Jack van Poortvliet on his way for what looked to be a sublime try. 


Unfortunately for van Poortvliet and England, the try would be called back as centre Ollie Lawrence clearly tripped the key Italian defender who would’ve been in a position to tackle Malins. 

With their backline endeavour yielding no rewards, England went back to what they do best and kicked for the corner to set up yet another line-out just outside the Italian try line. 

Having thrown in beautifully all game, Hooker Jamie George was rewarded with a try just before halftime as the English maul once again proved to be too much for the Azzurri. 

As was evident in the first half, Italy would stand no chance in a confrontational game with this England team who were in desperate need of a win. 

Instead, they would need to get the big physical English forwards moving and spread the ball away from the close quarters. 

Clearly, this was the message from coach Kieran Crowley as the Azzurri took to the pitch for the second half with a far more ambitious game plan. 

Immediately their wide attack yielded results as they struck quickly as prop Marco Riccioni went over for the first Italian points of the evening. Building on some sensational interplay between backs and forwards, the Azzurri appeared to unpick the otherwise resolute defence. 

England would fire back almost immediately as they once again went the direct route with their powerful forward pack. Going for the line-out once again, England turned the screw on the Italians as they forced them into conceding a penalty try. 

In a double blow for the Italian comeback hopes, Simone Ferrari was shown a yellow card for the infringement. 

Despite being a man down and now firmly out of touch on the scoreboard, the Italians showed heart as they scored a beautiful try through Alessandro Fusco. 

With little time left, England would have the last laugh as the electric Henry Arundell reminded the World of what they were missing whilst he was out injured. 

Given the ball with plenty left to do, Arundell went over the Italian defenders to place the ball down in a fashion that once again proved his already world-class finishing ability. 

Speaking post-match, head coach Steve Borthwick made sure to mention the 20-year-old Arundell as he said, “It was a couple of steps forward, but there were some things to work on. I would’ve liked our ruck speed to be quicker, but tactically we did have some strong elements and saw some players off the bench contribute, with Alex (Mitchell) and Henry (Arundell) combining to score. We have to build a squad where people can come in and go out and the core of it is a team that still does well.” 

Backing up his coach's assessment of the performance, England Captain Owen Farrell praised his team but also kept the performance in perspective. 

“It felt a better performance, as it would be a week on in our new journey. There’s loads more to go, but it’s a step in the right direction. We started off making sure we were fighting for it and showing the togetherness.” 

Whilst the English backline was at times quiet in particular in the first half, one player who proved he belongs in the starting line-up was centre Ollie Lawrence who time and again punched holes in the Italian defence. 

Speaking post-match having been awarded the Player Of The Match award, the Bath player said, “Together we did very well today, it was a massive step forward. The progression is getting there, and we feel we’re getting better and better. I try to carry hard and keep my head down, today I tried to relax and do what I’m best at and listened to the boys around me. This was a performance we wanted to make the fans proud of us, we’ll keep working hard.” 


For Borthwick’s team, the win now sends them up nicely for a chance at going back-to-back as they travel to Cardiff to take on a struggling Welsh team. 

Italy on the other hand face the daunting task of welcoming table-topping Ireland to Rome. Having roundly beaten Wales and France in the opening two rounds, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell may well opt to rotate his squad for the clash. Irrespective of who runs out for the men in green, it will be a major test for where Italian Rugby currently sit against the best team in the world.

Written by Philip Bendon