England will send out an unchanged team to confront Italy at London’s Twickenham Stadium in rugby’s Six Nations championship on Saturday and try to further dismantle their stereotype of a grinding-it-forward team by playing with adventurous swagger.
England manager Martin Johnson named just one alteration to the matchday 22 from last weekend’s dramatic encounter in Cardiff, where England beat Wales — Leeds flanker Hendre Fourie reclaims a place among the replacements at the expense of Joe Worsley.
Worsley made a strong defensive impact as a second-half replacement against Wales, but he has returned to Wasps to gain some valuable match practice ahead of a break in the championship next weekend.
While England have spent the last few days emphasizing the negative elements of their Cardiff victory, there is a guarded sense of satisfaction at producing a rare away win at the start of their Six Nations campaign.
With England having their next three matches at home, beginning with perpetual underdogs Italy and culminating with a crunch game against defending champions France at the end of the month, the bookmakers have shortened England’s odds of winning their first Six Nations championship since 2003 to make them 5/4 favorites.
France, despite victory over Scotland last week, are 7/4 to retain the Six Nations title. Ireland, the narrowest of winners against Italy last week and this weekend’s opponents for France, can be backed at 5/1.
England’s flying winger Chris Ashton, after scoring two tries – rugby’s equivalent of a touchdown – is now 15/8 favorite to be the tournament’s top try scorer. With Italy next up, Ashton’s odds will only shorten by Sunday morning.
Toby Flood, at fly half, is the key man for England’s more expansive, free-scoring approach.
Flood has shown increasing authority as the team’s conductor, to prove beyond any lingering doubt that he is not just borrowing the No. 10 shirt from Jonny Wilkinson. Since he was recalled for the 2010 championship finale in Paris, Flood has had a major hand in liberating England’s wide-running game.
He has relished the opportunity to show that while the national team remain true to their age-old values, they are no longer content to be viewed around the world as a bruising, route-one side with a big pack, a goal-kicking fly-half and not much else.
“I like the stereotype, I’ve got no problem with that,” he said. “If I get to kick to the corner then we drive over from 10 yards and I’ve done nothing, that’s perfect!” Flood said this week. “I understand that the stereotype is there. That has been the history of English rugby and we want to adhere to that. We showed in Wales that when the game got tight, we had the ability to play that way.
“But it is nice to be able to really play and chuck the ball around a bit, because we have the ball-players who can do that. We are encouraging everyone to play and that is a good thing. It is nice to change the stereotype but it will take a long time to do it.”
While Italy came within a couple of minutes of landing the mega-shock 6/1 victory over the Irish last weekend in Rome, and are perfectly capable of stifling England for long periods in London, the ultimate result is expected to be an England win. That’s why Flood and his team mates are 1/33 to win this one.
The game could end up being closer, in points scoring at least, that many English pundits hope, since Italy have the big forward game that could spoil the Twickenham party. But the bookmakers still make Italy 32/1 outsiders for this game.
France are 8/11 favorites to win their clash with Ireland (14/9) in Dublin on Sunday. The cracks were showing in the Irish team in Rome last week, and only a last-minute penalty kick from Ronan O’Gara saved their blushes. Les Bleus will surely exploit any weaknesses in the Ireland team.
This weekend’s close encounter will be Wales’ visit to Edinburgh to play Scotland.
The Scots took such heart from managing to three times cross the try line in Stade de France last week that they have given Andy Robinson, their English coach, a new five-year contract, through to the 2015 World Cup.
Wales must win this match or see an unwanted sequence of nine defeats established.
To that end, James Hook, who started at full back against England, is moved back to his preferred position of fly half in place of Stephen Jones, while Lee Byrne is recalled at No. 15.
Neither the Scots nor the Welsh are particularly strong up front at present, though. With Scotland offered at 4/6 to win this game, Wales’s 8/5 looks far more backable.
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