Rome scoreline flatters the visitors
England recorded their first away win for two years in the shape of a 31-16 victory over Italy at Stadio Flaminio in Rome on Saturday -- but their heroic hosts gave the RWC-holders a major scare.
England's three previous Six Nations trips to Rome had seen them average 51 points a time, but Italy are made of sterner stuff these days and they briefly enjoyed a 9-7 advantage through two drop-goals and a penalty from fly-half Ramiro Pez.
The scoreline tells a far more flattering story than the witnesses. England struggled to the win -- they were behind with 28 minutes remaining -- and only won by virtue of those old chestnuts, fitness and power.
Italy managed something nobody considered they might do: they improved on last week's performance. They will have to be careful, soon we will be expecting them to play like this.
The blue-shirted defenders -- led by a fabulous performance from Sergio Parisse -- swarmed all over the English runners and never gave them the vaguest bubble of breathing space. The scrum -- some 6 kg per man lighter, held up all game, and the statistic that stands out the most for the Italian pack is the number of times England tried to catch-and-drive a try, and the number of times they succeeded: 9 attempts, 0 successes. Outside the forwards they had done their homework as well -- Tom Voyce was marshalled by three tacklers every single time he had the ball.
When they had the ball, they moved it gamely left and right with a belief that no Azzurri Six Nations team has ever shown before. The forwards were happy to charge forward to make the hard yards and create the space.
It wasn't just enthusiastic bluster either. Ramiro Pez was found wanting in defence by Charlie Hodgson late in the game, but his control and decision-making with the ball was spot on for just as much time as Hodgson's was. The centres crashed well into their opponents, and the supporting forwards made it near-impossible for England to disrupt the ball.
Less streetwise teams than England would have conceded more tries, but Italy still lack a game-breaker out wide.
England? They were clinical, composed, and painful at times. By the hour mark they had finally run down their counterparts, and then a three-quarter movement yielded a sumptuous try. Yet even for the final minutes they refused to spread the ball any further than the centres or the forward runners coming off Hodgson's shoulder.
You can argue that it was in respect of the danger Italy posed, but England had already boh sliced their opposition open and worn them down. Hodgson eventually started running on his own, such was his frustration.
It is not as if the close runner tactic was mightily effective, and a team more seasoned than the Italians would have negated it for the full eighty minutes. England will need something more imaginative to beat Scotland in a fortnight's time.
The close runners -- Grewcock, Borthwick, and Moody were the chosen trio -- were the feature of the opening twenty minutes, with England enjoying most of the possession. Italy tackled out every opportunity England could create, and should have taken the lead with a penalty after ten minutes, but Pez hit the upright.
Italy could also have taken the lead shortly before, when a fine set of passes through the three-quarters sent Ludovico Nitoglia on his way to the line. Nitoglia backed himself -- a reasonable decision -- but he needed to make the ball available and ofload when he was tackled. He did not, and Ongaro was left to flap his arms in frustration.
Between 15 and 25 minutes, England enjoyed near-total dominance. They had a sequence of three penalties close to the Italian line, and with the scrum not making yards, opted to catch and maul every time. Italy's forwards dug their studs into the turf and held off drives for fully five minutes in a magnificent display of defence, and eventually forced England into conceding a penalty themselves, after England's final drive had been ruled held up in-goal by the video referee.
Finally, England broke through though, with Tindall crashing through the 10/12 gap for the opening score after 27 minutes. Hodgson converted.
Where Italy may concede they made a tactical error was in the choice not to contest England's defensive line-outs. Pez, Canale, and Cristian Stoica all placed raking kicks down into England's 22, but the English were allowed to clear virtually unopposed.
Eventually Pez slotted a penalty after 33 minutes, and the percentage kicks paid off even more when a tapped penalty in England's half took Pez to within range, and he dropped a goal two minutes before the break.
The cheers that greeted that were nothing to the cheers that broke out as Italy took the lead two minutes into the second half. A dreadful mistake by Danny Grewcock at the kick-off gave Italy an attacking scrum, the ball was moved wide twice, crashed up the middle once, and Pez dropped another goal to make it 9-7. At that moment more than any though, the lack of a line-breaker in Italy's attack was glaring. They really should have been thinking of a try.
England then rumbled into another spell of forward crashing by the Italian line, but still the blue wall held firm, and all Andy Robinson's men could show for ten minutes of pressure was another Hodgson penalty.
Matt Dawson came onto the pitch after 55 minutes, and his first touch was a scoring pass. Joe Worsley led a charge into Italy's 22, Dawson found Hodgson on the short side, and Hodgson scored under the posts with a searing break. His conversion made it 17-9.
Then the England bench entered the fray, and took control against the tiring Azzuri. Stoica was left isolated from a deep Hodgson clearance and conceded a penalty which Hodgson smacked against the upright. From the drop out, Hodgson again found Pez exposed on his outside and broke superbly, but there was no supporter and the move broke down.
With 13 minutes remaining, England scored a fabulous try, which begged to be encored against the cramping Italians. Tindall found Cohen on his inside, the Northampton winger stormed through the line and timed his pass to Mark Cueto perfectly. Hodgson's conversion was spot on, making it 24-9.
Still England crashed dully, and still the Italians were happy to stand their ground and soak up the pressure -- in the second half alone they made three times as many tackles as the English. Had England moved the ball, they could have given the scoreline a cruel look, but there was simply nothing offered. Italy waited and tackled and waited, and then seized on their chance.
Canale finally broke away, paused for his support brilliantly, Mirco Bergamasco came on a tight angle and broke the two tackles for the try that was the most just of rewards.
16-24 would have been a fair scoreline, but Italy paid for adventure in the final play of the game when James Simpson-Daniel picked up a dropped ball to coast home unopposed. Hodgson made it 31-16 with the final kick of the game.
Man of the match: For England, Charlie Hodgson stood out for his adventure, and Joe Worsley and both locks were superb driving forward. For Italy, Ramiro Pez delivered a mature performance and the props stood up admirably against their illustrious counterparts, but for an all-round powerful, driving, tackling, and courageous performance Sergio Parisse gets our vote for man of the match.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Mirco Bergamasco
Con: Pez
Pen: Pez
Drops: Pez 2
For England:
Tries: Hodgson, Tindall, Simpson-Daniel, Cueto
Con: Hodgson 4
Pen: Hodgson
The teams:
Italy: 15 Cristian Stoica, 14 Pablo Canavosio, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Ludovico Nitoglia, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami (c), 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Antonio Festuccia, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Carlo Del Fava, 20 Silvio Orlando, 21 Simon Picone, 22 Rima Wakarua.
England: 15 Tom Voyce, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Martin Corry (c), 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Danny Grewcock, 4 Steve Borthwick, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Andy Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Julian White, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Lawrence Dallaglio, 20 Matt Dawson, 21 Andy Goode, 22 James Simpsn-Daniel.
Referee: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Donal Courtney (Ireland), Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
No comments:
Post a Comment