I want to see six England tries and a perfect scrum!

ENGLAND will win today, that much is obvious. Italy have lost 20 Six Nations matches in a row, which should not sit comfortably with those who run the tournament.

The most difficult games to prepare for are the ones you know you will win and Eddie Jones and his players need to get something tangible out of the game.

England need to set targets — and ideally make them public. I would want today’s newspaper back pages telling everyone what I’m expecting. My players, the Italy team, media and fans would all know what England want to achieve.

Call it arrogant if you like but you have to create pressure where there is none. Without it, you can get burned.

Being brutally honest, man for man no Italian would come close to making this England team. Two years ago Italy embarrassed England when they out-thought them with their ‘no-ruck’ ruse, though.

There were images of confused players in white shirts at Twickenham and the England captain asking about the laws.

It was a farce and created something out of nothing for Italy in a game they couldn’t win. They are still laughing about that now and, make no mistake, Eddie does not forget these sorts of things — nor would I.

Reading his quotes this week, you can see it still rankles, so today is pay-back time for Eddie and England.

It is difficult to get motivated for Italy at home as the result is in no doubt, so with that in mind, here is what I want from England to help move on from Cardiff.

RACK UP SIX TRIES

AS AN absolute minimum I want England to score six tries today. Just saying that would wind up Conor O’Shea and the Italians, which is exactly what I would want to be doing.

I would not worry too much about how England attack or defend — just can they make these figures?

They have to play quickly and if they do they should be able to put Italy away. England’s attack faltered alarmingly in Cardiff — in the second half, where they scored just three points, I would give their offence a mark of one out of 10 — so it is time to get back on track.

If I were coach I would go big on this and tell my team: ‘Can anyone in this room really tell me they don’t believe we can score three in both halves?’

And I would have said something similar to the press. That would produce headlines telling the Twickenham crowd to expect six tries — and my players would not be surprised to read those headlines as we would have been talking about it all week.

WIN EVERY ENGLAND SCRUM

ENGLAND must win every scrum on their put-in. And on Italy’s ball, England should aim to disrupt 25 per cent. Attack their scrums and make yours perfect. Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler are fiery types at prop, so will be up for the challenge, Jamie George is a strong hooker and George Kruis and Joe Launchbury are experienced operators in the second row.

If England want to be the best in the world, they must have the best scrum. Aim for perfection.

DOMINATE THE LINEOUT

LINEOuTS are more difficult to nail consistently, so I will be less demanding here. Winning 85 per cent of our throws and disrupting 25 per cent of theirs is more than achievable.

Kruis will run this and, with Launchbury, Brad Shields and Tom Curry working together, England should rule the skies without any problems.

Can England get their basics right? They know they have a better scrum and lineout than Italy, so expect to dominate.

PLAY WITH PACE

SLOW rugby is dull and stops you scoring. England must play at a blistering pace to blow Italy away.

No hanging around at lineouts debating the calls. At scrums, I want quick, clean and efficient ball with no mistakes.

Ball in, gone, away and we play — that is the message.

Quick teams are devastating in international sport and brilliant to watch. Pace, pace, pace is the order of the day.

England will not score six tries because of naming a big midfield because Italy will tackle Ben Te’o and Manu Tuilagi. This is not schoolboy stuff. They have to be a lot more creative and quick of thought and deed in midfield.

It is why I would have played Henry Slade. Eddie has gone with the big boys but they will only find joy if they play fast.

If I was playing against this England midfield I would not be concerned by their physicality but would be worried that they could embarrass me with their speed. Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Tindall, Will Greenwood and Jason Robinson had no problem with bigger guys.

We used to target players such as Jonah Lomu. Of course he was the most devastating runner in the game but if you could turn him and isolate him, there were opportunities.

If I were Italy I would attack what England think is their strength today — the power players.

But for England, the target must be six tries, 100 per cent scrums, 85 per cent lineouts.