England have dismantled a disappointing Italy to give the Steve Borthwick era lift off as they powered to a 31-14 victory in the Six Nations at Twickenham.
Jack Willis was at the heart of a comprehensive bonus-point win on Sunday, scoring the opening try and leading the defensive effort, two years after suffering career-threatening knee damage in the same fixture.
On that day, his cries of pain rang out at an empty Twickenham after he was the victim of a ‘crocodile roll’ by Sebastian Negri.
Yet that memory was swept away as he led the resistance against the Azzurri in his first start since an injury that forced him out for a year.
When the Toulouse flanker was replaced by Ben Earl in the 53rd minute, he had made 20 tackles, eight more than his closest challenger Kyle Sinckler.
Ollie Chessum, Jamie George and Henry Arundell crossed, in addition to a penalty try, to give Borthwick his first triumph since replacing Australian Eddie Jones in December.
England’s Ollie Lawrence. (Photo by Bob Bradford – CameraSport via Getty Images)
His reign had started with defeat to Scotland but Borthwick’s midfield surgery produced a better functioning unit with centres Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade both influential, although Owen Farrell failed to stamp his authority at No.10 as Marcus Smith watched on from the bench.
Smith eventually came on but it was for Slade with Farrell, his head bandaged to protect a wound sustained against Scotland, moving to inside centre.
Some of the victory’s gloss was rubbed away by Italy being allowed back into the game in the final quarter, but a simple finish for replacement Arundell with 10 minutes to go quelled the uprising.
There was little evidence of the Azzurri’s recent resurgence in a one-sided clash and from an early stage England looked destined to preserve a flawless record against their rivals that now reads 30 wins.
Willis struck the first blow, barrelling over to finish a perfectly-executed line-out maul.
Farrell’s conversion opened up a 7-0 lead and having seen their line-out maul disintegrate, Italy were unable to make any headway during a lengthy spell in possession.
No.8 Lorenzo Cannone was sent to the sin-bin as Italy came under heavy pressure and they cracked again when waves of forward carries ended with Ellis Genge sending Chessum over.
The third try arrived quickly with another line-out drive finishing when George touched down.
Italy started the second half with far greater purpose and they soon went over through prop Marco Riccioni but they were troubled by the hosts’ line-out once again, conceding a penalty try and seeing Simone Ferrari sent to the sin-bin.
Replacement Alessandro Fusco rounded off a lively spell from Italy by jinking over and suddenly they were making inroads by daring to attack from all sections of the pitch.
But England responded with rising star Arundell racing over after fellow replacement Alex Mitchell had created the space with a sharp run, removing any tension.
Warren Gatland has called on beleaguered Wales to show their mettle as they bid to snap out of the rut which has seen them crash to heavy defeats in their opening two Six Nations matches.
The returning head coach admitted his team appear to be short of confidence after they followed up their 34-10 loss at home to Ireland with a 35-7 blitzing away to Scotland on Saturday.
Gatland conceded Wales face a test of character over the next fortnight as they attempt to spark an upturn in their next match against England in Cardiff.
“Possibly,” he said, when asked if confidence was an issue. “We talk about winning becoming a habit but so does losing as well. It is just about getting through that.
“You need to keep creating chances and believing you can finish them. You need to be vocal, you need to be communicating from the outside in, and we were probably a little quiet on a few occasions.
“And that’s probably down to a little bit of a lack of confidence.
“We’re in a bit of a hole at the moment, and it is about how we fight our way out of that with the development of some of the younger players in the squad and giving them opportunities.
“It is about being tight as a group, but also being honest and critical of the things we know we can fix. We’ve just got to do it pretty quickly.
“We need to get back on the horse and be pretty tough on ourselves as we prepare for the next game.”
Poor discipline and a lack of ruthlessness in attack were among Gatland’s main gripes after Wales suffered their biggest-ever defeat against Scotland.
He is confident he will be able to iron out the main problems in time for the World Cup in the autumn but admits the bigger test is getting things sorted for the remainder of the Six Nations.
“I think the time together in terms of preparation for the World Cup will take care of a lot of that stuff but the more urgent issue is fixing things at the moment that are being costly for us,” he said.
Saturday’s match was only the second time Gatland – who previously coached Wales between 2007 and 2019 – has lost to Scotland in 14 matches.
“It is probably the strongest Scotland side I have seen in terms of strength in depth for a long time,” he said.
“They have good balance at the moment and they are playing with that self-belief.”
France may have built their success in the 2022 Six Nations by abandoning possession and counter-punching their opponents – but their change in strategy this year has yet to pay off as their 32-19 defeat to Ireland showed.
Les Bleus were more playful than last year, when they achieved a grand slam, especially in their own half, only for Ireland to choke them and make the most of every little mistake Fabien Galthie’s side made in Saturday’s Dublin clash.
France’s decision to try and enjoy more possession came after referees made it more difficult to snatch the ball from the rucks, and while they were disciplined, being penalised only seven times, the defending champions were bettered in every department by the world No.1 team.
“We played too much in our own half before the break,” said Galthie after France’s 14-match winning streak ended.
“We should have played higher. Maybe Damian Penaud’s (first-half) try made us think we would score several times by attacking from our own half.”
Galthie also rued some missed chances.
“It’s another reason for our defeat. Our strong moments were not converted into points, those that we missed at the end of the game,” he explained.
“We were in the contest until the 71st minute and if we had scored in our moments of domination it would have been different,” added Galthie, who admitted that the best team had won in Dublin.
Galthie also did not dwell on a possible TMO error after James Lowe’s try was awarded although some video footage showed the Irish winger’s left foot had probably touched the grass outside the touchline before he grounded the ball. “It is what it is, let’s be fair,” he said.
France are third before they next host Scotland, who like Ireland have won their first two games against England and Wales.
They have two weeks to recover, which will be much needed, especially for Antoine Dupont.
“He needs some care, he was exhausted. He got a knock on his stomach and needs to recuperate,” said Galthie.
However, Les Bleus were not too worried.
“We don’t like this feeling but it does not shake the confidence we’ve built over the past two years,” said flyhalf Romain Ntamack after a high-octane match.
“They could have played like this for two days,” he added with a smile.
“There is no regret, we gave everything.”
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