Freakishly, the try that mattered fell to Charlie Hodgson
(right). Again. From a charged-down kick. Again. A week previously
at Murrayfield, the fly-half got hands to a clearance from the
Scotland No 10, Dan Parks, and won a very short race to the
touchdown. Yesterday, with England nine points adrift, he homed in
on Andrea Masi as the full-back shaped up to boot turnover ball
from his 22 and claimed another five-pointer after running a few
metres further. Owen Farrell's beautifully-struck conversion from
the left brought the visitors to within two.
For the remaining half-hour or so, England knew where their
destination lay. It was not a comfortable trip: the Azzurri, not
least their astonishing captain, Sergio Parisse, continued to ask
difficult questions. But Farrell, bloodied and bandaged for much of
the match, hit the spot with penalties on 54 and 65 minutes to
build on Hodgson's try and for all their huffing and puffing, the
Italians were unable to find a way back – not least because the
back-rower Ben Morgan and the scrum-half Lee Dickson made
significant impacts off the bench.
Just as at Murrayfield, this profoundly inexperienced England
outfit started at a good tempo. The most striking contribution came
from the Northampton No 8 Phil Dowson, clearly motivated by the
chatter earlier in the week of a possible demotion. It was Dowson's
fumble in Edinburgh that had forced his colleagues into a long
spell on the barricades but here he was ultra-reliable under the
high ball and dependable in contact. He might even have scored a
try early in the second quarter after following up David Strettle's
kick and maximising Farrell's excellent tackle on Tommaso Benvenuti
by grounding the loose ball, but the French referee, Jérôme Garces,
had blown for an England penalty.
If England felt short-changed, Farrell made them feel better by
nail-ing a three-pointer from 40-plus metres. When the 20-year-old
Saracens centre banged over a second from the same distance, after
Garces took exception to the Italy front row at a set-piece,
England were six points to the good and licking their lips. That
second penalty was awarded against Lorenzo Cittadini, on the field
as a replacement for Martin Castrogiovanni, whose departure with a
rib problem stripped an acre of ground from under the feet of the
Italian pack.
Yet the Azzurri were never off the pace, with Parisse aided by
Alessandro Zanni and Robert Barbieri. Parisse is something: far and
away the finest No 8 in the world on his day. His performance was
not faultless – more than once, passes out of contact went astray –
but when a player is doing pretty much everything, something is
bound to go wrong somewhere.
As the contest moved towards its mid-point, Parisse and his men
began to establish control that was made tangible in the minutes
before the break. First, the wing Giovanbattista Venditti scored a
try in the right corner after a toe-poked kick from the impressive
Benvenuti had pinballed off Ben Foden and Ben Youngs, neither of
whom covered themselves in glory in attempting to snuff out the
peril. Then, from the restart, Foden attempted to find Hodgson with
a pass out of a tackle by Zanni and found Benvenuti instead. The
centre's one-handed gathering of the ball was precise, as was his
angled run to the line from the best part of 50 metres.
England were suddenly contemplating a first defeat by these
opponents but their resilience was striking, even if their cause
was helped by Italian errors on and off the field. Quite why
Jacques Brunel, the Azzurri coach, withdrew the slippery scrum-half
Edoardo Gori as early as he did will long remain a mystery, as will
Parisse's decision to sanction a late shot at the sticks from
Tobias Botes, who patentlywas not up to the task from long range –
or even from medium range.
A kick to the corner and a line-out drive might have won the
game for the Italian, but the captain chose differently. Will
England lose a moment's sleep over such misjudgements? The question
answers itself.
Italy A Masi; G Venditti (both Aironi), T
Benvenuti (Treviso), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), L McLean; K
Burton, E Gori (all Treviso); A Lo Cicero (Racing Métro), L
Ghiraldini (Treviso), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), Q Geldenhuys, M
Bortolami (both Aironi), A Zanni (Treviso), S Parisse (Stade
Français, capt), R Barbieri (Treviso). Replacements L Cittadini (Treviso) for
Castrogiovanni, 33; F Semenzato (Treviso) for Gori, 57; A Pavanello
(Treviso) for Geldenhuys, 57; T D'Apice (Aironi) for Ghiraldini,
58; L Morisi (Crociati) for Canale, 63; M Bergamasco (Stade
Français) for Barbieri, 75.
England B Foden (Northampton); D Strettle, B
Barritt, O Farrell (all Saracens), C Ashton (Northampton); C
Hodgson (Saracens), B Youngs (Leicester); A Corbisiero (London
Irish), D Hartley (Northampton), D Cole (Leicester), M Botha
(Saracens), T Palmer (Stade Français), T Croft (Leicester), P
Dowson (Northampton), C Robshaw (Harlequins, capt). Replacements L Dickson (Northampton) for Youngs,
50; B Morgan (Scarlets) for Dowson, 50; G Parling (Leicester) for
Palmer, 58; R Webber (Wasps) for Hartley, 74; M Stevens (Saracens)
for Cole, 74; J Turner-Hall (Harlequins) for Hodgson, 77.
Referee J Garces (France).
Italy
Tries: Venditti, Benvenuti
Con: Burton
Pen: Burton
England
Try: Hodgson
Con: Farrell
Pens: Farrell 4
Attendance 60,000.
Rome wasn't built in a day: Six key areas for
England
Commitment
Team spirit being a splendid thing, the buckets of it sloshing
around this England team are wholly welcome to see. The relentless
example is set by Chris Robshaw, the new captain who has done
precisely what everyone except him – he's a suitably self-effacing
chap, straight out of a Henty novel, just playing up for the School
– said he would do: set a sterling, striving, straining,
non-stopping example.
Creativity
The flipside is that all that perspiration is all very well but
scoring against Wales, next, will demand something more than a
refusal to stop working your collective nuts off. Yesterday there
was the odd flash in the backs, as opposed to the full-blown
fireworks of North, Roberts, Davies and co. Needs work.
Substitutions
Stuart Lancaster sent on Lee Dickson and Ben Morgan for half an
hour and they helped turn things around in what seemed – in a game,
or "struggle", that passed a tad slowly – like an instant. In some
ways this is a mere extension of the commitment thing, in that the
subs (Geoff Parling most obviously) simply worked every bit as hard
as the starters. But Lancaster played his cards dead right.
Conditions
England played the weather pretty well, settling to a muddy,
slushy, snowy scrap and eking out four penalties and 12 points in
so doing. Rugby being a game for all conditions, with tactics to be
adapted as necessary, this was worth a pat on the back. None of
them were wearing gloves, either, although the thermal undervest
remains a blight on the game. If you're cold, get involved.
Discipline
Very good again, apart from an odd little spasm of penalties
after half-time which helped Italy out to 15-6. Notably, very few
of the penalties England did give away were at the breakdown. Watch
the forwards on the replay – Lancaster, or maybe Graham Rowntree,
has got them springing back from the tackled man, hands aloft in
(relatively) cherubic innocence. Seems to work.
Set pieces
Alex Corbisiero had his spine twisted into a double helix at the
first scrum, but after that he gave mighty Martin Castrogiovanni
nothing at all. On the other side, Dan Cole – a spade-chinned Tudor
tough up against Andrea Lo Cicero's mustachioed Barone – made
profitable advances. The line-out wobbled a bit again, but the
scrum was excellent. Another merit for Mr Rowntree.
Martin Pengelly
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