England opened their Six Nations campaign with a seemingly convincing 36-11 win over Italy at Twickenham but they were left with plenty to ponder ahead of their second round clash with champions Wales.
Martin Johnson’s men ran in five tries, with recalled fly-half Andy Goode taking less than two minutes to open their account.
But the sight of England captain Steve Borthwick being driven back several yards when he first tried to drive round the fringes — something Johnson said he’d specifically warned against — would have heartened the grand slam holders.
PHOTO: AFP
The way in which Goode, who missed several goalkicks after his dramatic start, repeatedly punted the ball straight to Italy’s back three, created a sense of foreboding as to what might happen were he to do the same against the likes of Welsh stars Shane Williams and Lee Byrne.
London Irish lock Nick Kennedy led an impressive England lineout display but the scrum, a weakness during November losses to Australia, world champions South Africa and New Zealand, faltered again.
Steffon Armitage, a clubmate of Kennedy’s, made his Test debut alongside brother Delon, the team’s fullback, as they became the first siblings to play in the same England side since Rory and Tony Underwood in 1995.
But the pace and intensity of the game appeared to take the flanker aback and he was replaced by experienced campaigner Joe Worsley.
Overall, there was a sense that England, having established a 22-6 half-time lead, failed to press on to the kind of thumping win the All Blacks or the Springboks would have achieved in similar circumstances.
But during the opening period they were given a huge helping hand by Italy coach Nick Mallett’s decision to play flanker Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half for the first time in a Test following the loss of several regular number nines through injury.
Bergamasco, winning his 70th cap, never looked comfortable in his new role.
He was out of position defensively when Goode scored his try and it was his stray pass that led to New Zealand-born center Riki Flutey’s first try for England.
The 29-year-old was finally replaced at half-time — an admission by Mallett his gamble had failed and that there are still such things as specialist positions.
That Italy looked a far more settled and assured team with Giulio Toniolatti at scrum-half after the break left their fans thinking of what might have been had Bergamasco, whose brother Mirco scored Italy’s only try, started in his familiar back-row position.
■IRELAND V FRANCE
AFP, DUBLIN
Ireland, chasing a first Grand Slam since 1948, enjoyed the perfect start to this year’s Six Nations campaign on Saturday with an impressive 30-21 victory over France.
Tries by Jamie Heaslip, Brian O’Driscoll, his 33rd for his country, and Gordon D’Arcy, on his return to international rugby after a year’s absence, saw the Irish to their first win over France since 2003.
The victory also represented a winning Six Nations debut for Ireland coach Declan Kidney.
The visitors scored two tries through Imanol Harinordoquy and Maxime Medard.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures