England overplayed at times but they must stick with attacking strategy

Telegraph

09-03-2025

England's best rugby in this good win over Italy was the 15 minutes after half-time. They had shown the right mindset in the first half. Yes, they made some errors, the passing was not totally accurate. But they found the space and learnt their lessons.
Playing quickly and keeping the ball in hand meant they were caught out three or four times by Italy at the breakdown and gave up some turnovers, slowed England down and forced them to give away penalties. But in that period after half-time, they were almost spot on with everything they did; carrying into contact, passing and supporting out of contact. When you have the likes of Ollie Sleightholme and Tommy Freeman getting the ball in those areas, their involvements and their number of passes they received were so different to the Scotland game.
If you do not produce a variety of rugby and ball-carriers, you become easy to read. England were at that point. You knew what they were trying to do. How many times did Alex Mitchell kick against Italy compared to the game against Scotland? They wanted to gain territory and kick early from the set-piece or the first breakdown. If you run into space and then kick, that is a different ball game.
I know they lost against France last year, but I was very impressed with the way they played. I would be very surprised if George Ford does not have an influence in training over what they are doing, because that game in France with him at No 10 was England playing with an extra dimension. The autumn was hit and miss. This is the first time since that French game where they have looked for space and passes and runs. If you get that balance right, it is not about taking kicking out of the game. You just do it in a different way.
No, the passing was not brilliant sometimes, but there was no doubt about the intent. They were not perfect because they have not done it often enough. They will work on that. But should they do it against Wales? Yes. They have to keep Wales guessing; who is carrying the ball? You keep your opponents on the back foot.
I was looking for what their first intention would be, and without doubt it was to get the ball one or two passes away from the set-piece or through the backfield. The players put a lot of effort in to do that. The try after three minutes came off a turnover, Elliot Daly running from the back creating natural width to get across the field to Freeman, coupled with the intent to run and support.
The mindset was completely different to Scotland, when their obvious intent was territory and power, the tight channels. The first try just reflected how different their intent was. You need everyone to buy into it and that was the thing that will please Borthwick most.
I agreed with Ollie Chessum being the player of the match. When you look at his positioning on the touchline, Tom Curry was there as well – for the first time in the Six Nations this year, England actually positioned themselves into the wider channels so they had numbers to play to. Earlier, you could have put the team between the touchline and the first post.
Without doubt, Borthwick has bought into the Northampton approach of looking for space, and it was obvious they were trying to do that. The offload is still the quickest way to exploit that space.
Daly I thought was outstanding and very instrumental in England's change of approach. He is a natural runner, a good kicker, but he was reading the play really well in the outside channels. That pulled Italy right across the field defensively which opened up room for the back-row runners. Tom Willis and Curry were really good at mixing their positioning between being wider or taking a strong carry to keep England on the front foot.
There will not be any complaints about England's kicking game this week because all of them were attacking kicks. They were done as part of phase play, not from set-piece. That is one of the biggest indicators of a total change in approach.
Sleightholme's second try, you had a back-row in Curry and a hooker in Jamie George putting a winger over. That comes from attitude. Have England had that picture before? I would question that.
OFFLOADING HEAVEN 🤤
Some ridiculous handling from England as Ollie Sleightholme scores his second 🌹 #GuinnessM6N | #ENGvITA pic.twitter.com/YYlqTSlcKi
— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) March 9, 2025
The challenge for the players is, to do that is hard work. You need the accuracy and off-the-ball work to ensure you can produce an offload or put yourself on a player's shoulder. The number on your back is irrelevant. If in phase play the ball-carrier needs support, the next player has to be there. You become the most important player on the field because of what you can create.
People will have left Allianz Stadium really pleased. No one will have been talking about England's kicking game. There were kicks, but they were positive, attacking, and sometimes after three of four phases. If they are to do that against better opposition, their execution and support work has to be spot on. I would anticipate that they will want to keep that intent against Wales.