England vs Italy
Six Nations 2019
Venue: Twickenham
Kick-off: 4:45pm GMT, Saturday, March 9
Having seen their Grand Slam hopes vanquished by a crushing 21-13 defeat to Wales, England must put any lingering disappointment to one side as they prepare to welcome Six Nations whipping boys Italy to Twickenham in round four.
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 - a torrid run that stretches back to 2015.
Team news and line-ups
Jones has made five changes to the side bested by Wales, with Ben Te'o and 21-year-old Joe Cokanasiga replacing Henry Slade and the injured Jack Nowell (shoulder) in a formidable and giant backline.
Manu Tuilagi will shift to outside centre as Te'o takes the No12 shirt.
Ellis Genge gets the nod over Ben Moon at loose-head prop and Brad Shields makes his first Six Nations start in place of Mark Wilson at blindside flanker.
George Kruis and Joe Launchbury partner together in the second row with Courtney Lawes (calf) sidelined for the remainder of the competition and Maro Itoje suffering another knee injury scare in training.
Dan Cole and Nathan Hughes both come onto the bench.
Chris Ashton remains in the treatment room with a calf problem, while Mako Vunipola (ankle) and Dylan Hartley (knee) are out for the duration.
Chris Robshaw and Jonathan Joseph briefly returned to the fold before being released back to their clubs earlier this week along with Harry Williams and Alec Hepburn.
England XV: Daly; Cokanasiga, Tuilagi, Te'o, May; Farrell (c), Youngs; Genge, George, Sinckler; Launchbury, Kruis; Shields, Curry, Vunipola
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Moon, Cole, Hughes, Wilson, Robson, Ford, Slade
Italy welcome back experienced captain Sergio Parisse in one of three alterations made to the XV who lost to Ireland.
Sebastian Negri also returns to the back row following illness as Maxime Mbanda and Jimmy Tuivaiti drop out.
Lucas Bigi replaces Leonardo Ghiraldini at hooker and Gloucester's Jake Polledri is named as a replacement after an ankle injury.
Italy XV: Hayward; Padovani, Campagnaro, Morisi, Esposito; Allan, Tebaldi; Lovotti, Bigi, Ferrari; Ruzza, Budd; Negri, Steyn, Parisse (c)
Replacements: Ghiraldini, Traore, Pasquali, Sisi, Polledri, Palazzani, McKinley, Castello
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: 1/80
- Draw: 80/1
- Italy to win: 35/1
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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