England’s Six Nations campaign hit an all-time low as Italy sealed a famous victory over Steve Borthwick’s side on Saturday.
Following disappointments against Scotland and Ireland, England failed to bounce back as the Azzurri ran out 23-18 winners to leave Borthwick’s men bottom of the Six Nations table.
Daily Mail Sport’s ALEX BYWATER was in Rome to rate the players.
Italy
Lorenzo Pani – 3
Couldn’t collect Ben Spencer’s first kick and dawdled dreadfully when Elliot Daly put boot to ball. Italy badly missed Ange Capuozzo but still won!
Louis Lynagh – 6.5
Former England training squad member wasn’t given a chance to show what he could do until the hour mark when he made a decisive run.
Nacho Brex – 3
Unusually quiet for a player of his quality and replaced early in the second half.
Tommaso Menoncello – 9
Italy’s superstar ran a brilliant line and burned Daly with ease to score. Then did superbly to set-up his team’s winner.
Monty Ioane – 6
Lovely balanced runner when given space and he had his chances but couldn’t stop Tom Roebuck’s try.
Paolo Garbisi – 7
Adventurous first-half cross-kick was nearly very costly but was good from the tee.
Alessandro Garbisi – 6
Shrugged off like a rag doll by Guy Pepper and kicked out on the full but produced good pass for Menoncello’s try before being replaced early.
Danilo Fischetti – 6.5
He and the Italian scrum have been on fire, but they conceded a free-kick early on and didn’t have it all their own way.
Giacomo Nicotera – 5
Justly yellow carded for playing the ball off his feet at a ruck and wasn’t part of a dominant Italian scrum as he has been recently.
Simone Ferrari – 6.5
Enjoyable scrum battle with Genge but he couldn’t get the joy out of the Englishman he’s had from others.
Niccolo Cannone – 8
Strong day at the office in the tight exchanges as his team finally ended England hoodoo.
Andrea Zambonin – 7
Shown plenty for Exeter this season and caused a nuisance for England up front. He’s excellent in the air and that’s where large parts of the game are now played.
Michele Lamaro (capt) – 7.5
Day to remember for him as he led Italy to a first ever win over England.
Manuel Zuliani – 7
More than a match for the English back-row in gritty game.
Lorenzo Cannone – 6.5
Got to Fin Smith on one occasion and effected a charged down. No real barnstorming carries but still too good for England.
Replacements
Federico Ruzza 6.5 (for Zambonin 50), Leonardo Marin 8 (for Brex 51), Muhamed Hasa 7 (for Ferrari 51), Alessandro Fusco 6.5 (for A Garbisi 51), Mirco Spagnolo 6 (for Fischetti 58) (for Spagnolo 80), Tommaso di Bartolomeo 6 (for Nicotera 63), Riccardo Favretto 5 (for Zuliani 74), Tommaso Allan 5 (for Pani 74).
England
Elliot Daly – 3
Menoncello went past him to score like he wasn’t there and couldn’t impact the game.
Tom Roebuck – 5
Fine run preceded his try, though he owed the score to the creativity of Fin Smith. Chased kicks hard as ever.
Tommy Freeman – 5
At last given some space to roam when playing at centre but there still wasn’t enough of it. Deserved try.
Seb Atkinson – 5
First Six Nations appearance. One pass straight into touch but carried well enough.
Cadan Murley – 5
Surprise starter but two good high-ball reclaims and did well defensively when chasing back late on. Nothing in attack.
Fin Smith – 5
He was charged down once and also spilled possession. Showed awareness of space to kick to Roebuck but couldn’t take his team home.
Ben Spencer – 5
Not the running threat of the injured Alex Mitchell. His kicking was pinpoint but there was too much of it.
Ellis Genge – 4.5
Big head bandage and bloodied shirt showed spoils of war. Dropped ball when going for the line. Replaced by Bevan Rodd.
Jamie George – 5
Shrugged off two knocks to carry on. Scrum was good on the whole but line-out wasn’t perfect.
Joe Heyes – 6.5
One of England’s real bright points in this Six Nations and had another good day at the scrum.
Maro Itoje (capt) – 3
Like his team, he hasn’t been anywhere near his best in this Championship. Too many cheap penalties and second-half yellow was hugely costly and left his team down to 13. This was an embarrassing defeat.
Alex Coles – 5
Lost line-out possession in Italian 22 but nice pass to Northampton team-mate Freeman for his try.
Guy Pepper – 5
Strong physical presence and can be pleased with doing the ugly stuff well in gritty game.
Sam Underhill – 5
Came in at the 11th hour for Tom Curry who was injured in the warm-up. England’s breakdown work was messy and yellow carded for high shot.
Ben Earl – 5
Led team out on his 50th cap and made 13 first-half carries but milestone game was one to forget.
Replacements
Bevan Rodd 5 (for Genge 58), Jack van Poortvliet 5 (for Spencer 58), Ollie Chessum 5 (for Underhill 68), Trevor Davison 5 (for Heyes 68), Marcus Smith 5 (for Daly 73), Henry Pollock 5 (for Earl 73), Luke Cowan-Dickie 5 (for George 76), Chandler Cunningham-South 5 (for Pepper 76)
Referee
Luc Ramos (France)
Star man
Tommaso Menoncello (Italy)
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