ITALY V ENGLAND: 6 Nations

14.02.2015

Venue: Twickenham

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)

Preview
England are bustling with confidence after their win against Wales last weekend. Coach Lancaster has named an unchanged starting fifteen with some very good players left out. This is the depth of English rugby at present.

Italy on the other hand have lost experienced flanker Zanni and mid-fielder Michele Campagnaro. Without these two Italy is considerably weaker and although the replacements are good players the lack of depth and the problems behind their pack will place Italy on the back foot from the kickoff.

Last Five Encounters
15.03.2014 England 52-11 in Rome (6 Nations)
10.03.2013England 18-11 at Twickenham (6 Nations)
11.02.2012 England 19-15 in Rome (6 Nations)
12.02.2011 England 59-13 at Twickenham (6 Nations)
14.02.2010 England 17-12 in Rome (6 Nations)

Italy has never defeated England in a rugby test match.

Italy Last Five P 5, W 1, L 4
07.02.2015 v Ireland L 3-26 in Rome (6 Nations)
22.11.2014 v South Africa L 6-22 in Padova
14.11.2014 v Argentina L 18-20 in Genoa
08.11.2014 v Samoa W 24-13 in Ascoli Piceno
21.06.2014 v Japan L 23-26 in Tokyo

England Last Five P 5, W 2, L 3
06.02.2015 v Wales W 21-16 in Cardiff (6 Nations)
22.11.2014 v Samoa W 28-9 at Twickenham
15.11.2014 v South Africa L 28-31 at Twickenham
08.11.2014 v New Zealand L 21-24 at Twickenham
21.06.2014 v New Zealand L 13-36 at Hamilton

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table- England 2nd, Italy 8th
Europe Table- England 1st, Italy 5th

IRB Ranking Points
England 85.83, Italy 71.19

Prediction: England by 28 points

Teams

Italy
15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Andrea Masi,
11 Giovambattista Venditti, 10 Kelly Haimona, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (Capt.), 7 Francesco Minto, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 George Fabio Biagi, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Alberto De Marchi.
Replacements
16 Andrea Manici, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Joshua Furno,
20 Samuela Vunisa, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Giulio Bisegni.

England
15 Michael Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jonathon May, 10 George Ford, 9 Benjamin Youngs, 8 William Vunipola,
7 Christopher Robshaw, (Capt.) 6 James Haskell, 5 George Kruis, 4 David Attwood, 3 Danial Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joseph Marler.
Replacements
16 Thomas Youngs, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Nicholas Easter, 20 Thomas Croft, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Daniel Cipriani,
23 William Twelvetrees.