Nowell strikes twice for England

By Mark Stevens
26/2/17

Exeter Chiefs star Jack Nowell came off the bench to score two tries as England stretched their winning run to 17 matches with a 36-15 victory over Italy in the RBS Six Nations.

The Cornishman’d double was part of five tries Eddie Jones’ side scored in the second half after they had trailed 10-5 at the break to the Azzurri.

In an encounter which will not live long in the memory bank for the majority of those packed into Twickenham, the Italians caught England by surprise by adopting some unusual tactics around the breakdown area for much of the contest.

For 40 minutes at least, England struggled to get to grips with the tactics deployed by Conor O’Shea’s visitors. However, the second period they got their act in order and it was then where they started to prosper.

Prop Dan Cole gave England the lead with their opening try, but it was the visitors who hit back strongly to lead at the break through a Venditti try, which was converted by Tomasso Allen, who also landed a sublime drop-goal.

The second half saw England draw level when scrum-half Danny Care sniped over from a quickly-taken penalty and just minutes later winger Elliott Daly followed suit when he latched onto a pass from Worcester’s Ben Te’o to put the hosts back in front.

Italy, though, refused to lie down and they were rewarded with a second try through Exeter Chiefs centre Michele Campagnaro, who powered his way over the whitewash to draw them to within two points of their rivals.

That would be as close as Italy would get to their rivals as England - now boosted by the presence of Nowell of the bench - started to find their straps. The Chiefs winger claimed his 10th international try when he finished off in the right corner from a pass by Jamie George - and he would wrap things up late on when he squirmed through by the posts for his second of the game.

In between, Te’o added a further score for England before he was replaced by Exeter’s Henry Slade, who was making his Six Nations debut having been added to the bench following earlier wins over France and Wales.

Next up for the reigning champions is the visit of Scotland to Twickenham on Saturday, March 11, after which England wrap up their campaign with a testing trip to Dublin to face Ireland a week later.