Kickoff: 3pm
Date Sunday 9th March
Location: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Watch on: BBC ONE
Team News
England
1.Genge 2.George 3.Stuart 4.Itoje(C) 5.Chessum
6.T.Curry 7.Earl 8.Willis 9.Mitchell 10.F.Smith
11.Sleightholme 12.Dingwall 13.Lawrence 14.Freeman 15.Daly
16.Cowan-Dickie 17.Baxter 18.Heyes 19.Hill
20.Cunningham-South 21.B.Curry 22.Van Poortvliet 23.M.Smith
Italy
1.Fischetti 2.Nicotera 3.Riccioni 4.N.Cannone 5.Ruzza
6.Negri 7.Lamaro(C) 8.Vintcent 9.Varney 10.P.Garbisi
11.Gallagher 12.Menoncello 13.Brex 14.Ioane 15.Capuozzo
16.Lucchesi 17.Spagnolo 18.Ferrari 19.Favretto
20.Zuliani 21.L.Cannone 22.Page-Relo 23.Allan
This England team sheet has caused some serious consternation. That uproar has been focused on one position - fullback. Marcus Smith has been dropped to the bench and replaced by Elliot Daly. Daly hasn't started at fullback for England for four years. He is still a quality operator and is a dependable player for Steve Borthwick. However, Borthwick choosing Daly instead of Freddie Steward to replace Marcus Smith is perhaps the most damming sign of all. If Steward had been selected the decison could be put down to a change in tactics. England haven't looked to attack enough to justify playing a fly-half at fullback so a move to a high ball specialist would make sense. Daly, unlike Steward, is a creative player who operates as a second play-maker. This seems to suggest that Borthwick does not believe in Marcus Smith at fullback as a long term project. It is also notable that Fin Smith is still the preferred 10 ahead of Marcus. Everything can change very quickly but Marcus must be wondering exactly how he fits into Borthwick's vision for this team. To be honest, I'm not sure Borthwick knows either.
Elsewhere, Jamie George has moved into the starting spot and swapped places with Luke Cowan-DIckie. Henry Slade is unavailable due to injury so Fraser DIngwall will play at inside centre in a pair with Ollie Lawrence. He is comfortable as an outright 12 and possesses the ability to be the missing attacking piece for England. He now makes up a back line with 5 Northampton Saints. Jack Van Poortvliet has been brought in after his impressive performance for England A against Ireland A. He is a more natural fit for what Wigglesworth is telling his scrum-halves to do in attack. JVP is a good box-kicker compared to Randall so the last 20 minutes of games should now be more comfortable.
Gonzalo Quesada will expect a big reaction to their last game in which they conceded 70 points at home in a performance reminiscent of the Italy of old. In order to do this, two big changes have been made. Tomasso Allan has been dropped to the bench and replaced by Gallagher. This means that Ange Capuozzo shifts to fullback. Paolo Garbisi will have to step up as a kicker in Allan's absence. Garbisi's scrum-half brother, Alessandro, has been dropped from the team entirely and replaced by Vannes scrum-half, steven Varney. English fans will be familiar with him from his time at Gloucester.
Prediction
England 38 vs 26 Italy
Italy will pose a big threat and have the players to put England under serious pressure as they showed last year when they were leading in this match at half time before eventually losing by only 3 points. West London has been a place of Italian nightmares in the past and I think the trend of losses will continue but not in quite as bad of a way.
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