Preview: Italy v England
Preview, stats and facts ahead of England's clash with Italy on Sunday.
England travel to Rome knowing they must win in order to keep their Guinness Six Nations title hopes alive.
| Date | Sunday 13 February |
| Venue | Stadio Olimpico, Rome |
| Coverage | ITV & BBC Radio 5 Live |
| Kick off | 3pm GMT |
The form guide favours them; England have won all 22 of their Six Nations matches against Italy, and remain the only side in the competition the Azzurri haven’t beaten.
Eddie Jones has made six starting line up changes to the side that lost to Scotland last weekend, and wants England to light up Rome.
"This is a very young team but a very good team," said Jones. "It’s a great opportunity for some players to start the game instead of finish the game and we’re looking forward to this combination lighting up Rome.
"We want to see Alex Dombrandt play a game that we think will really suit him, against Italy it tends to be a more open unstructured game.
"We want to get a bit more running out of Maro in terms of his attack and this is a great opportunity for him."
Teams
England
1. Ellis Genge (VC), 2. Jamie George, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Charlie Ewels, 5. Nick Isiekwe, 6. Maro Itoje, 7. Tom Curry (C), 8. Alex Dombrandt, 9. Harry Randall, 10. Marcus Smith, 11. Jack Nowell, 12. Henry Slade (VC), 13. Joe Marchant, 14. Max Malins, 15. Freddie Steward.
Finishers
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (VC), 17. Joe Marler, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Ollie Chessum, 20. Sam Simmonds, 21. Ben Youngs, 22. George Ford, 23. Elliot Daly.
Italy
And here's how the hosts look...
Stats & Facts
England’s 80-23 victory over Italy in the 2001 edition of the Guinness Six Nations remains the most points scored and biggest winning margin in any fixture in the championship’s history.
Italy have lost their last 20 home games in the Guinness Six Nations, their last such victory coming at the Stadio Olimpico in 2013 against Ireland (22-15).
England have scored 37 tries in their six Guinness Six Nations matches against Italy under Eddie Jones, with 65% of those tries being scored in the second half (24) and 21 different players crossing the whitewash in that period, Anthony Watson the top scorer in this time (4).
England and Italy each made seven dominant tackles in their opening game of this year’s Six Nations, no side made more (Ireland also 7); England’s tally accounted for 7% of their total successful tackles in Round 1, the highest ratio of any nation.
England recorded an average of 4.2 metres over the gain line per carry against Scotland in the opening weekend of this year’s Guinness Six Nations, the best rate of any team.
Views from camp
Harry Randall: "I want to play with tempo, and hopefully can do that at the weekend, it’s nice to be linking up with Alex Dombrandt and Marcus Smith, we’ll do what we can, and do our best for the team."
Max Malins:
Charlie Ewels: "They (Italy) play differently now and with a style that can win Test matches. The way they defend, they have a solid set piece, and good kicking game. Three things that make any team hard to break down. We absolutely understand that."
Eddie Jones on Ollie Chessum, who could make his debut form the bench:
England will play their first home match of the championship against Wales on 26 February, followed by Ireland on 12 March. Their final game is in Paris against France on Saturday 19 March.
