Italy 19-23 England
Sun 10 February, 2008
Stadio Flaminio, Rome

England replaced their World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson as captain with Steve Borthwick, in the wake of some intense critical musings from various sections of the English media for this match, a decision which they hoped would spark some extra passion and flare from their side against an Italian team with nothing to lose.

The tactic seemed to work after 3 minutes, when Sackey scored an easy Try after intercepting the ball, and Wilkinson converted to give the visitors an early lead. But Italy weren’t going to take it lying down, and four minutes later brought it back to 3-7 with a penalty kick from Bortolussi.

Italy played with some early control but England dominated with strong possession, and always looked as though they could hit Italy hard on the break. Italy took another penalty to make it 6-7, but England redressed the score with a flying Try from Toby Flood in the far corner.

Italy tried again to fight back, but were met with strong English defending. Bortolussi went for a drop goal but missed on 19 minutes. England began to push harder into the Italian pack, and forced a penalty off them on 23, but Wilkinson missed, the score staying at 6-14 to England.

Both teams seemed evenly matched for a time, and when Wilkinson kicked a penalty into touch, from the resulting play they earned and scored, a further two penalties, which took the score to 6-20 to England at half time.

With a mountain to climb in the second half, Italy’s team talk at half time must have been an all-or-nothing speech. Four minutes into the new half and they bagged 3 points from a penalty kick by that man Bortolussi again.

England came back at Italy and hit them hard, but it was the Italians who had now found their golden seam of play and were running the game at will, holding onto the ball and playing with speed and urgency. England seemed to be falling ill from the same fate the suffered last week against Wales; second half fatigue.

Italy narrowed the gap further to 12-20 with a penalty after 55 minutes, which England cancelled out four minutes later thanks to a Wilkinson kick. Both teams went on cancelling each other’s play out, and while England had seemed to slow in urgency, Italy were trying hardest but not getting much in the way of results.

In the 76th minute of the game Italy got the break they were looking for, through a Try scored by Simon Picone. He tore through the middle of the England defence and then saw it converted to take it to 19-32, and suddenly Italy were only two penalties or a Try away from a win; England now facing a second half collapse for the second time in seven days.

All the pressure was on England as the seconds ticked away as they feared the worst, and when Italy kicked a penalty to touch to go for broke in their final push, English hearts were in their mouths. Italy pushed on but when England forced them back, the ball went out and the victory, albeit a very edgy one in the end, went to England.

Teams

Italy
Bortolussi, Robertson, Canale, M. Bergamasco, Galon, Masi, Travagli, Lo Cicero, Ghiraldini, Castrogiovanni, Dellape, Del-Fava, Sole, M. Bergamasco, Parisse.

Replacements: Sgarbi for Canale (63), Marcato for Masi (73), Picone for Travagli (56), Perugini for Lo Cicero (52), Festuccia for Ghiraldini (63), Nieto for Castrogiovanni (60), Zanni for Dellape (73).

England
Balshaw, Sackey, Noon, Flood, Vainikolo, Wilkinson, Gomarsall, Payne, Regan, Stevens, Shaw, Borthwick, Haskell, Lipman, Easter.

Replacements: Cipriani for Wilkinson (67), Wigglesworth for Gomarsall (60), Mears for Regan (59), Kay for Shaw (77), Narraway for Easter (65).

Not Used: Hobson, Tait.

Statistics and Info

Italy
Tries: 1
Pens: 4
Cons: 1

England
Tries: 2
Pens: 3
Cons: 2

Man of the Match: Sergio Parisse (ITA)
Referee: Alain Rolland (IRE)