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Six Nations

England may not be ready to hit the ground running

Injuries and lack of preparation time set to hamper favourites

Ben Te'o scores England's winning try against France in the 2017 Six Nations
Ben Te'o scores England's winning try against France in the 2017 Six NationsCredit: Shaun Botterill

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Coach Eddie Jones says he wants his England team to be "brutal and absolutely ruthless" against Italy but the key question is whether they are ready to hit the ground running in their Six Nations opener.

Injuries have affected England's build-up as much as they have any other team, but Jones has also been mindful that his charges have not benefited from the same rest period after a busy summer tour as those at Pro14 clubs have.

Some of his Lions contingent were in Premiership action right from week one, and as a result the England staff have tailored their programme accordingly. Jones spoke of spending the first half of the week on conditioning and leaving the ball-in-hand match preparation until Thursday.

That's not a lot of time and it's not just as a team that England look as if they are being rushed into battle. Jones has often spoken of his desire for bigger backs and outside centre Ben Te'o, a supreme athlete, is the man he is looking to. But Te'o has been out for four months with an ankle injury and it is asking a lot for him to take on such a physically demanding role.

It would be no surprise if England stutter in the early exchanges, as they so often did through 2017. They needed tries in the last ten minutes to overcome deficits in their opening two Six Nations matches against France and Wales, scored three tries in the last 11 minutes to overcome Italy 36-15 in their next fixture, and also scored three times in the last ten minutes against Australia to end what had been a tight game at 30-6.

Italy are given a nine-point start on the first-half handicap but a better bet might be that there are no more than 25 points in the first half.

A scrappy start is quite possible from both teams given it's a first fixture of the year with some unfamiliar faces on the pitch, and the pan-European injury crisis has robbed the hosts of three of their most effective backs in Leonardo Sarto, Michele Campagnaro, and Angelo Esposito.

Those absences in the Azzurri backline also increase the pressure on the rest of the team to pick up the slack, and one man who takes more than his share of responsibility is skipper Sergio Parisse.

The powerhouse number eight scored in Italy's opening match against France last year and has 15 international tries to his name, but also has a rather less welcome record looming.

By the end of this tournament Parisse could become the first player to lose 100 Test matches, but his motivation and determination have never been open to question and he will always look to lead from the front.

Recommendations
Under 25.5 first-half points
3pts 10-11 Betfair
S Parisse to score a try
1pt 11-2 general


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Graham WoodsRacing Post Sport

Published on 3 February 2018inSix Nations

Last updated 19:38, 3 February 2018

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