Six Nations 2024: Italy 24-27 England – visitors come from behind to win in Rome

England came back with a dominant second half and started their Six Nations campaign with victory in Italy.

Alex Mitchell’s try after the interval overturned a narrow lead, before George Ford’s strike put England back in contention.

The Azzurri threatened to deny the visitors their first win against England, with goals from Alessandro Garbisi and Tommaso Allan for Elliot Daly.

Monti Ioane scored a late equalizer to earn Italy a defeat bonus point in what was their smallest defeat against England.

Meanwhile, the victory for the visiting team ended a run of four consecutive losses in the opening games of the Six Nations.

Jamie George took over as captain and head coach Borthwick also made five England debuts for the first time since 2012, when seven players earned their first caps against Scotland.

Fraser Dingwall and man of the match Ethan Roots impressed from the start, while Finn Smith, Chandler Cunningham-South and Immanuel Fay-Waboso started their Test careers on the bench.

Next Saturday, England host Wales in the second leg at Twickenham, while the Azzurri travel to defending champions Ireland the following afternoon.

Before the ball was even kicked, George hinted that England would be more attacking than previous teams wearing the Red Rose.

It turns out that the prostitute’s words meant something, even if she had no intention of doing so. The visitors poured the ball in from the start, with flanker Roots playing energetically and winger Tommy Freeman cutting sharp lines throughout the afternoon.

However, under the guidance of new specialist coach Felix Jones, the defense was relentless from the first half and showed glimpses of England’s direction.

Mr Jones had coached South Africa’s defense towards back-to-back World Cup wins and was hoping to impose a blitzkrieg strategy on the Azzurri’s attack in England’s new role.

Instead, Italy broke through from the start, with Juan Ignacio Brex breaking through his lines and scrum-half Alessandro Garbisi dotting under the posts.

As England hit back, Freeman stepped back to Freddie Steward’s whipped pass to give Daly a walk-in, only to be undone again shortly afterwards with a deceptively simple wrap-around move in midfield.

Brex was once again key as he received a flat pass and passed it back to Paolo Garbisi at the back, but his fluid movement saw Allan (his country’s all-time leading scorer and try scorer in the Six Nations) under the post. It ended with (became).

However, Borthwick’s team were better in the second half.

Mitchell showed all his ability to wiggle and snipe at will as England quickly responded to their coach’s words after the break. The defense also tightened up and the blitz began to take effect, forcing Italy’s fast-paced backs into a huge jam inside.

This meant the Azzurri didn’t get a second-half goal until after the 80th minute when Ioane ran away with the game already lost, but next week’s rivals Wales will have to play against Jones and his England defenders. However, it is certain that more sustained verification will be required.

More than half of England’s starting team was different from the team that lost to the Springboks in the World Cup semi-finals in October.

With Owen Farrell deciding not to play, his friend and long-time teammate George was elected captain by Borthwick.

To face a team that has lost their last 29 games in Roma due to the international retirements of Courtney Laws, Ben Youngs and Jonny May, injuries to Manu Tuilagi and the non-selection of several overseas players. This meant that a team with a good balance of experience and youth was selected.

New Zealand-born Roots was the standout of the five new players, often scratching the blue wall by pitching loosely, while Freeman starred in his fourth international appearance and was among the first to play. I was trying to come in and show what I could do.

Cunningham-South distinguished himself after coming off the bench, surging to the left in the closing stages, while Fay-Waboso, known for his powerful running, made a superb cover tackle on the right touchline and in the final stages of the game, He received praise from his mates.

England will rely heavily on their youngsters in the coming weeks as the injuries that kept Marcus Smith and Ellis Guenge out for the final stages of the Eternal City inevitably begin to emerge.

But early signs for Borthwick and his staff are promising.

England head coach Steve Borthwick: “I’m happy to start the tournament with a win. I think we can grow as a team through this tournament.”

“When you start looking now, there is almost a contrast there, because we are playing against an Italian team dominated by players from Treviso and they play together every week.

“And there are five debutants in the England squad so we knew it was going to be a challenge and it was.

“There is a lot of work to do, but I am glad that we have overcome this challenge.”

Michele Ramaro, captain of the Italian national team: “It’s always difficult not to win when it’s that close. We played well in the first half.

“We need to be 100 per cent better in some areas of our game because obviously it’s very difficult when you have to defend that much and you have to put pressure on during the game.

“Overall, it was the 20 minutes of the second half where we struggled to get out of our own half.

“We need to think about next week’s game against Ireland. It’s not good enough to be honest. We need to push and we need to build on this performance.”