England vs Italy
Six Nations 2019
Venue: Twickenham
Kick-off: 4:45pm GMT, Saturday, March 9
Having seen their latest Grand Slam dream go up in smoke with a hugely disappointing 21-13 defeat to Wales, England have a fortnight to lick their wounds before welcoming perennial Six Nations whipping boys Italy to Twickenham.
Eddie Jones's side led 10-3 at half-time of a brutal contest in Cardiff thanks to Tom Curry's try, but were guilty of indiscipline and a lack of tactical flexibility after the break as efforts from Cory Hill and Josh Adams and a virtuoso Dan Biggar cameo saw the hosts seal a record 12th successive Test win.
While both the Slam and the Triple Crown are no longer on offer, England will know that the championship itself is not yet out of reach and they will hope to take care of business by securing a third bonus-point victory of the campaign against Italy.
After defeats to Scotland and Wales, Conor O'Shea's Azzurri gave Ireland a real scare at the Stadio Olimpico last time out and were ahead at the interval after impressive scores from Edoardo Padovani and Luca Morisi.
However, the second-half script was sadly all too predictable and they failed to score another point en route to a 20th successive Six Nations loss.
Team news and line-ups
England will be without Courtney Lawes and Dylan Hartley for the remainder of the competition as their injury list begins to mount.
Second-row Lawes - himself a replacement for Maro Itoje - limped off with a calf strain against Wales and is expected to remain sidelined for at least four weeks, while co-captain Hartley recently underwent a knee procedure. He has not played at all since December.
Jones said he might have to give Itoje 'the hurry-up' in his return from knee ligament damage after that injury to Lawes, while Chris Ashton should be fit after calf trouble.
However, loose-head prop Mako Vunipola (ankle) is another player to have been lost for the tournament.
England XV: TBC
Replacements: TBC
Italy XV: TBC
Replacements: TBC
Score prediction: England 42-10 Italy
Italy have given spirited home performances in the last two rounds, yet will surely find the going extremely tough indeed away to an England team that will be eager to atone for that defeat in Cardiff and stay in contention for the title by hunting another bonus point.
The Azzurri's last visit to Twickenham in 2017 saw them deploy some bizarre ruck tactics that involved not committing anyone to the breakdown after a tackle and thereby rendering offside rules irrelevant.
Betting tips via Betfair | UK users only | Subject to change
Match odds
- England to win: 1/100
- Draw: 100/1
- Italy to win: 60/1
Click here to find the latest match odds and place a bet.
TV channel and live stream, and online coverage
ITV and the BBC are sharing broadcasting rights for the Six Nations for the third successive year, with ITV hosting England vs Italy on their main free-to-air channel and via their online ITV Hub.
You can also follow all the action with Standard Sport's LIVE blog.
Head to Head record and history (h2h)
These two teams have met on 24 previous occasions, with England winning every single time.
While there have been some close contests over the years, the Red Rose have scored a combined 221 points against Italy in five matches since 2014.
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