Steve Borthwick made a historic 12 changes to his England team for Saturday’s match against Italy after being left dismayed by an unacceptable drop in standards.
No England head coach has altered his team to this extent during the Six Nations. Borthwick has made nine personnel changes and three positional switches, firing a shot across the bows of those who underperformed in the defeats by Scotland and Ireland.
Not since 2007, between the games against France and Italy when Brian Ashton made eight changes, has an England coach made a similarly drastic overhaul of his side.
Among the forwards, only Ellis Genge, Joe Heyes and the captain, Maro Itoje, remain in their positions from the 42-21 defeat by Ireland. Jamie George replaces Luke Cowan-Dickie at hooker; Alex Coles comes in to the second row for Ollie Chessum, who was fit to start but drops to the bench; Ben Earl moves to No8 to replace Henry Pollock; and Tom Curry switches from blind-side to open-side flanker to accommodate the return of Guy Pepper at No6.
Atkinson will play his first Six Nations game at inside centre
WARREN LITTLE/GETTY IMAGES
As The Times revealed on Monday, the back line has been totally revamped. Tommy Freeman is the only survivor from the defeat by Ireland, moving back to outside centre from the wing. Freeman played centre in the 48-7 win over Wales and the 31-20 defeat by Scotland.
Ben Spencer and Fin Smith are the half-backs, Seb Atkinson makes his Six Nations debut at No12 and the back three comprises wings Cadan Murley, Tom Roebuck and the full back Elliot Daly.
That means the list of those dropped is extensive: Cowan-Dickie, Chessum, Pollock, George Ford, Fraser Dingwall, Henry Arundell and Freddie Steward. Alex Mitchell (hamstring) and Ollie Lawrence (knee) are injured.
By changing his team so much for the trip to Rome, Borthwick has fired a message to his troops.
The England football head coach Thomas Tuchel — pictured with Pollock, left, Furbank, second right, and Dingwall — visited the squad on Tuesday
DAN MULLAN/RFU/THE RFU COLLECTION VIA GETTY IMAGES
“I say to the team that we have certain standards and I am going to hold them to those standards,” he said. “There are certain things that, to me, are unwavering, things that I will not move upon. Unfortunately, in the last two games, on certain things, we’ve not met those standards.
“All of us have been really disappointed with the performances in the last two games. They haven’t been to the required standards that we have set over a long period of time and a lot of Test matches, in a lot of areas.”
While Borthwick is always determined to state that his reviews of matches — whether England have won or lost — are consistent, he was keen to point out that he directly challenged the team privately after the Ireland game.
England team to face ItalyE Daly; T Roebuck, T Freeman, S Atkinson, C Murley; F Smith, B Spencer; E Genge, J George, J Heyes, M Itoje, A Coles, G Pepper, T Curry, B Earl. Replacements L Cowan-Dickie, B Rodd, T Davison, O Chessum, S Underhill, H Pollock, J van Poortvliet, M Smith.
“Clearly, in the last two weeks there are some key aspects of things that weren’t good enough,” Borthwick said. “Those have been addressed. How I address them, that changes. How and when I address them, in what manner I address them, that can vary. Because ultimately we want an improved performance and result this weekend.”
The head coach has told his team that he expects them to up their physical intensity, having been dominated by Scotland and Ireland.
“I don’t think in the last game that the intensity was at the level we needed to be,” he said. “But we’ve drawn a line and look forward to Italy, and that’s what we are doing now. We are looking forward to Italy.”
Daly comes in at full back for his first Six Nations appearance this year
DAVID ROGERS/GETTY IMAGES
Borthwick highlighted Daly’s left-footed kicking prowess and the experience gained from 74 caps as the reason for his promotion to No15 ahead of Marcus Smith and George Furbank. He selected Atkinson — whom he wanted to pick last autumn before the Gloucester player suffered knee and hip injuries— for his ball-carrying power, and his offensive and defensive precision, something England have lacked in their past two matches.
“Seb brings distribution, he brings some punch in the carry and the ground he covers in defence is exceptional. Those are big strengths to his game,” Borthwick said.
Essentially, Borthwick’s back line is the one that has been training against his starting England team over the past month, apart from Freeman. Henry Slade has been the outside centre in the opposing training side, but is not included here.
“It is an exciting team, a team full of a lot of talent,” Borthwick said. “These players have earned their selection.
“Several of them have only had a couple of opportunities so far in this tournament. I tell the players how much I value training, that I want players to bring all their talent and point of difference on to the training field as well as the game at the weekend, and I have been delighted to see the way a lot of the players have trained and I think, rightly, several players have been rewarded for that.”
Italy v England
Guinness Six Nations
Stadio Olimpico
Saturday, 4.40pm
TV ITV