Italy 15-46 England No need for innovation as England outgun their hosts Forget your foxes and your outside-of-the-boxers: England just had better beasts than Italy in their first Six Nations bout. When it came to the scrum, the English were better. When it came to finding that extra yard of pace, England had Anthony Watson and Sam Simmonds, who both nabbed a brace of tries. When it came to bullying your way to an opportunity, England had the George Ford-Owen Farrell axis and a big ol’ dollop of Ben Te’o. In short: their good ones were better than Italy’s good ones, and even if they weren’t at the start of a match-up, they had enough burly mates backing them up to ensure they were by the end. Italy had their moments, of course. However, Eddie Jones was left comparing his No 8, Simmonds, to the man who has been terrorising the Top 14 for two seasons, Victor Vito. After racking up 23 tackles, missing none in the process, the Exeter Chief showed a sparkling set of heels to score two rapid tries, his second one lobbing more points on the score sheet to make things look very comfortable. On the other side of the happy camper chart, Italy head coach Conor O’Shea was left considering the possibility of being without the great Sergio Parisse next week, away to Ireland. There was a period in the second half, when Mattia Bellini dotted down and the score was dragged up to 15-27 (Tommaso Allan missed the conversion) that Italian hope was audible. However, England are nothing if not blessed with resources. In the first half, their first-choice nine, Ben Youngs went off with a nasty-looking left knee injury, and the fizzing Danny Care came on. So when Italy were on the hustle in the second half, Jones simply nodded to the bench and had George Kruis, Jonathan Joseph and Jack Nowell injected into proceedings. There were seven tries from England, a new-ish looking midfield that performed well and a No 8 who is more “good feet for a big man” than Billy Vunipola’s “he’s just rocked that player like a southbound train.” Next week they face the cavalier, Scarlets-riddled, happy Welsh at Twickenham. The Six Nations is box office when these ties come up. It all began so positively when Watson cantered in off the slick hands from the back-line, that axis of  Ford and Farrell supplying the Bath speedster. He got in unchallenged that time, but three minutes later he was arching around Tommaso Boni, using a hand-off to push himself further ahead, ghost past another and bump in to score in the exact same corner for his second score. Just before the second try, England were cursing their luck with scrum-half  Youngs stretchered off, head in his hands and a sense of dread. Already this Six Nations, nines going down with knee complaints is a talking points. Care, his replacement, also knows what it is like to go off early … Continue reading Italy 15-46 England No need for innovation as England outgun the hosts