England run rampant against Italy to take control of group

England produced some champagne rugby in their 43-5 victory over Italy. With a number of outstanding individual performances, Marcus Smith orchestrated a masterful performance at fly-half, scoring two tries himself, as well as setting up countless opportunities. The performance puts England within a point of sealing a place in the semi-finals in two weeks.

                England opened the scoring within 10 minutes as Tom Willis gave an excellent offload in a tackle to find Smith for the first of his tries of the day. England continued to put pressure on Italy and yet again, further impressive handling from Willis, created another opportunity. With the England backline linking up, it eventually fell into the hands of Tom Parton to get England’s second try.

                 England were back on the scoresheet shortly afterwards. Marcus Smith showed his quality as his quick feet put himself through the Italian defence. An inch perfect pass from the fly-half found Butler out on the wing, before sending winger Ben Loader over for a try.

                As England continued to attack from deep, Italy found themselves on the scoreboard as a handling error proved costly. However, England sealed the bonus point immediately afterwards with Ben Curry winning the ball back from the kick-off. After being spread wide, Ben Loader got his second try of the day.

Despite a slower, more disjointed start to the second half Smith, once again, created the spark England needed. His footwork put himself through a gap in the Italian line and, after spreading the ball wide, Ibitoye got his first try of the tournament.

                With Italy still unable to really threaten it handed Smith his second try. A misplaced pass was gladly scooped up by the fly-half who darted away to score. England’s defensive work continued to fire on all cylinders, keeping Italy pinned back. This time impressive scrum half Rory Brand got himself a try. With a dominant England scrum, Brand wheeled off to the left and dives over in the corner.

                The performance from England was only marred slightly by a late red card for Sam Lewis, as he caught an Italian player with an elbow to the head while defending. As the game broke up further towards the end of the game, England saw out a 43-5 victory.

                As well as Marcus Smith’s commanding performance, Willis & Curry demonstrated the quality England have in the backrow. Willis offered excellent ball handling skills, creating two tries himself. Curry continued his form from the Argentina game, as he led well and continued to cause problems at the breakdown.

                Despite a much improved set-piece against a ferocious Italian pack, it was the English backline which lit up the game. Brand & Smith proved an excellent combination to provide quick ball, with Loader finishing his opportunities well.

                England will be delighted with such an empathic victory as they take control of the group. While they are likely to face far stiffer competition in this tournament, they showed how dangerous they can be with ball in hand. They may need to show a more disciplined approach in the future, as the early stages of the second half could have given Italy a way back into the game. They will now face Scotland next week as they seek to put right the loss in this year’s Six Nations which cost them the title.