Chiefs quartet help England to victory

By Mark Stevens
13/2/22

England got their Six Nations campaign back on track as they outclassed Italy to claim a 33-0 win in Rome.

Despite losing their opener in Scotland, Eddie Jones' England are now second in the table behind unbeaten France after two rounds.

England - who included the Exeter Chiefs quartet of Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Simmonds in their match-day squad - dominated throughout and led comfortably at the break thanks to Marcus Smith’s early try and two more from Jamie George.

Elliot Daly got the fourth try after the break and Kyle Sinckler added another late on to seal the success.

Nowell and Slade both started for England, but the Cornishman’s day was cut short early in the first half after he failed a head injury assessment.Cowan-Dickie and Simmonds were added after the break by Jones, whose side come up against Wales in their next fixture at Twickenham in two weeks’ time.

“Italy are a tough side,” said Jones. “We got some points early in the game and again in the second half, then they came back a little bit, we got messy and lost cohesion and probably left three tries out there, so you put all that together and it’s a pretty handy result.

“We’ve put ourselves back in a position to win the Six Nations, which is good. It’s such a tight competition, just look at Scotland, they won one by three and lost one by three – and France won by two penalty goals, there is nothing in the competition.

“I thought Marcus and Harry at the start of the game were brilliant,” added Jones. “I thought they combined nicely, I thought Marcus took the ball to the line really well, and Harry added zip.

“Nine and 10 is about being great at the basics, doing the simple things really well over and over again, and being absolute clear communicators on the field. They are making good, steady progress in both areas.”

It is the first time England have held Italy scoreless in the Six Nations, and Jones highlighted defence intensity and work off the ball as a key factor to their success.

“Italy played against New Zealand and France and in the first half had been in the game, and they weren’t in the game today,” he said. “We’re happy with that, we worked hard for that, and now we move onto Wales.”