Six Nations
Cueto: Hard work pays off for improving England in Rome
Mark Cueto
February 14, 2016
© Dan Mullan - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images

ROME -- In the end, England cruised to a 31-point victory over Italy in Rome, and I think that's pretty much the final outcome I expected.

Eddie Jones said during the week that he wanted the boys to come out and put them to the sword and -- in the end -- that's what they did. It just took some hard work to get there.

It was a classic 23-man performance, where the starting XV ground the Italians down for 50, 60 minutes, and the bench came on and got to play some rugby and look good. That's not to take anything away from the bench; all of them came on and did a good job. Jack Clifford carried well, Jamie George impressed, Maro Itoje -- on his international debut -- was a nuisance, Danny Care looked really lively.

Credit to Eddie as well -- it's easy in a tight game to resist making changes, but he emptied the bench around the 50-minute mark. It's good to see him have courage in his conviction, and the bench got to reap what the starters had sown.

In terms of the starting side, Jonathan Joseph obviously stood out thanks to his hat trick, and his performance mirrored that of the whole England team, really. He made a few errors in the first half and tried to force things a bit, then he settled in the second half and he took his tries really well. It's a big result for him, George Ford and Anthony Watson in particular given their club's predicament: Bath have been struggling for form, so there are question marks over their places for club and country. That result will have given them a bit of confidence back.

I also thought James Haskell had another good game. It was an attritional first half, and he put in some huge hits and made some big carries.

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I don't really think England will be too worried about their errors in the first half. They just tried to force the game too early, and tried to score tries before the hard graft had been done. Italy were always going to fall off near the end, so England needed to be more patient, but it all came together in the end.

England conceded nine penalties before the break, which is too many, and their lineout was poor. I genuinely think that comes down to them being too eager to score early, though. Against Scotland, it was a hard-fought game and the lineout held its nerve. It was around the 92 per cent mark in terms of ball won on own throw at Murrayfield, so a dip in Rome is nothing too worrying.

To not concede any tries will have pleased Jones and his coaching staff. Italy hustled and defended and spoiled really well, in the first half especially, which contributed to England's errors, but they also looked dangerous at times, and there was a period near the end where they nearly scored what would have been a mere consolation -- they hammered England's line but they still didn't cross, which will really please Paul Gustard, the defence coach.

All in all, I consider that a successful day's work. That all 23 players are putting their hands up for a starting berth is exactly what you want as a coach. Now England have two weeks to rest, recover and get some things tweaked on the training field ahead of the Ireland game, at Twickenham on February 27. The Irish are walking wounded right now, and are there for the taking.

Get the basics right, and England could have enough to make it three wins from three in this season's championship. Then the attention starts turning to winning the whole thing, if not -- dare I even mention it -- the Grand Slam. I don't want to say it ... but I have.

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