England have shown the ruthless streak demanded by coach Eddie Jones as they atoned for their shattering collapse against Scotland by outclassing Italy 33-0 at the Stadio Olimpico.
Jones had urged his team to “light up Rome” on Sunday and, in response, they delivered a five-try rout orchestrated by man-of-the-match Marcus Smith to inflict a 34th successive championship defeat on the hapless Azzurri.
England had stormed 21-0 ahead by halftime and Smith was at the heart of many of their best moments, but he truly shone when firing a superb missed pass to provide Elliot Daly with a simple try in the 45th minute.
And unlike at Murrayfield a week earlier, when he was replaced in the 63rd minute to widespread puzzlement, there was no sign of George Ford arriving off the bench until late on and, this time, it was Joe Marchant who made way.
England secure the bonus point ✅ #ITAvENG #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/WWWdI9MKHe
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 13, 2022
Ben Youngs eventually joined him at halfback to equal Jason Leonard’s record as England’s most capped player on 114 appearances, with the round-three visit of Wales to Twickenham the likely setting for him to surpass the milestone.
But, having replaced the impressive Harry Randall, Youngs entered a team that were in the midst of losing their way as Italy discovered renewed purpose to spend long spells camped in opposition territory, albeit with little end product.
An England side showing six changes in personnel following their Calcutta Cup setback struggled to reimpose themselves, taking some gloss off the victory.
It took just nine minutes for England to get off the mark when Max Malins and Smith combined for the flyhalf to score.
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After big carries from Nick Isiekwe and Maro Itoje shoved Italy’s pack backwards, Jamie George was next to burrow over from close range and the first half finished with the hooker using his strength to claim his second try after the damage was done by a piercing run from Freddie Steward.
It began to look ominous for Italy as Smith flashed his classy long pass for Daly to score in the second half.
Italy’s Melbourne-born wing Monty Ioane, the nephew of former Wallaby Digby Ioane, caused havoc in the visiting defence, showing real gas until he was well tackled by Steward who, as the last man, needed to get the hit right.
Ioane’s run launched a period of Azzurri dominance that England just could not shake off and even Smith made a mistake as he knocked on in contact, but a breakaway try from Kyle Sinckler eventually completed the clean-sheet victory.
© AAP
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