ITALY v ENGLAND 6 Nations International Championship

10.03.2013

Venue: Twickenham

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	PT
ENGLAND	3	3	0	0	73	37	36	6
WALES	4	3	0	1	92	63	29	6
SCOTLAND	4	2	0	2	82	82	0	4
IRELAND	4	1	1	2	55	59	-4	3
ITALY	3	1	0	2	42	78	-36	2
FRANCE	4	0	1	3	50	75	-25	1

Preview
Italy will be relieved that their charismatic leader Sergio Parisse is back to lead the national rugby team. However he alone cannot win a test match.Italy has a much better record playing against England in Rome whereas the Twickenham fixture tends to be something of a blowout.

If England hit their straps and play at their best Italy could be in for a very tough afternoon. Lancaster has made a number of changes from the team that defeated France. In comes a number of bench players whilst Tom Croft, if he comes off the bench, will play his first test rugby match after a long injury.

 Last Five Encounters
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)
07.02.2009 England 36-11 at Twickenham (6 Nations)
10.02.2008 England 23-19 in Rome (6 Nations)

Italy has never won a test match against England.

Italy Last Five P 5, W 1, L 4
23.02.2013 v Wales L 9-26 in Rome (6 Nations)
09.02.2013 v Scotland L 10-34 at Murrayfield (6 Nations)
03.02.2013 v France W 23-18 in Rome (Garibaldi Trophy; 6 Nations)
24.11.2012 v Australia L 19-22 in Florence
17.11.2012 v New Zealand L 10-42 in Rome

England Last Five P 5, W 4, L 1
23.02.2013 v France W 23-13 at Twickenham (6 Nations)
10.02.2013 v Ireland W 12-6 in Dublin (6 Nations)
02.02.2013 v Scotland W 38-18 at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
01.12.2012 v New Zealand W 38-21 at Twickenham
24.11.2012 v South Africa L15-16 at Twickenham

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-England 1st, Italy 5th
Europe Table-England 5th, Italy 6th

IRB Ranking Points
England 85.30, Italy 74.93

Prediction: England by 24 points

TEAMS

England
15 Alexander Goode, 14 Christopher Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Bradley Barritt, 11 Michael Brown, 10 Tobias Flood, 9 Daniel Care, 8 Thomas Wood,
7 Christopher Robshaw (Capt.), 6 James Haskell, 5 Geoffrey Parling,
4 Joseph Launchbury, 3 Daniel Cole, 2 Thomas Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements
16 Dylan Hartley, 17 David Wilson, 18 Joseph Marler, 19 Courtney Lawes,
20 Thomas Croft, 21 Benjamin Youngs, 22 Fred Burns, 23 William Twelvetrees.
Head Coach: Stuart Lancaster

Italy
15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovambattista Venditti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Joshua Furno, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (Capt.) 1 Alberto De Marchi.
Replacements
16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Antonio Pavanello, 20 Francesco Minto, 21 Simone Favaro, 22 Tobias Botes, 23Tommaso Benvenuti.
Head Coach: Jacques Brunel