England survive scare of Italian shock tactics

ENGLAND 36 ITALY 15

England survived an almighty scare to finish conclusive 36-15 winners at Twickenham as Italy issued a rousing response to scrutiny of their ongoing presence in the RBS 6 Nations.

The Grand Slam champions trailed 10-5 at the end of the worst half of Eddie Jones’ reign, brought about by their inability to adapt to Italy’s refusal to form rucks.

The tactics proved unsettling and a succession of confused senior England players took it in turns to question referee Romain Poite over the ploy, Dylan Hartley making the first inquiry before Owen Farrell, James Haskell and Danny Care also sought answers.

Midway through the first half Haskell produced a comical reply from Poite when asking “how can we get them to form a ruck”, to which the French official replied “I can’t say, I’m a referee, I’m not a coach”.

The discussions with Poite were a constant theme of a first period that ended with Italy wing Giovanbattista Venditti grabbing a penalty attempt that bounced off the left upright and touching down for a try to snatch a lead for the 100-1 underdogs.

Even when England threatened to power clear with tries from Care and Elliot Daly shortly after the interval, Conor O’Shea’s men refused to wave the white flag with Michele Campagnaro crossing to set up a tense final quarter.

But their resistance was eventually broken through touch-downs from Ben Te’o and Jack Nowell in the last 10 minutes, adding an undeserved gloss to England’s 17th successive victory.

Farrell led out the team in recognition of his 50th cap, but it was an uncharacteristically poor afternoon for the world player of the year nominee who completed only four of his six shots at goal.

He was lucky to escape punishment for a late shoulder on Edoardo Gori that ended the scrum-half’s afternoon.

Jones threatened to retire if the tactics – which saw Italian defenders stand in England’s back line as no offside line had been formed – prevailed in future.

“We lost the ruck from the game and when you lose a primary contest from the game it changes the game considerably and it ceases to become rugby.

“If you paid for your ticket, ask for your money back.”

I’m a referee, I’m not a coach.

Angry: Eddie Jones. Picture: Getty.