So should the Italians have just caved in, Matthew?

ITALY had been held up to such public ridicule before Twickenham last Sunday that not one of their detractors considered it remotely possible that they might just have something up their sleeve.

England would dispense the most severe ridicule by bouncing them from pillar to post.

Those of us who take no pleasure from seeing one team humiliating another witnessed something which restored our faith in the underdog’s capacity for outwitting a vastly superior opponent.

Their perfectly legitimate plan worked like a dream – no ruck for Italy equalled no roll for England.

Never can one Test team have been so bamboozled. Conor O’Shea and his coaches deserve to be congratulated for devising a strategy which worked to such stunning effect that they led 10-5 at half-time.

“Hopefully,” O’Shea said. “We have earned a bit of respect.”

They didn’t get any from a Mr Matthew Dawson, perhaps not surprisingly given that he’s never been one of life’s more sensitive souls. “Couldn’t be further from respect, I’m afraid,” he tweeted.

Mr Dawson had made his views clear straight after the whistle: “Well done on ruining this international.”

Did he really expect Italy to start as they finished the previous match against Ireland and risk conceding 80 points, maybe more?

Italy were playing to justify their membership of the Six, to show they could come up with something to make life difficult for the best team in Europe.

Every perplexed look on every England player’s face told them they had succeeded.