England v Italy - Squads and Match Thread

[yappysnap]

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ENGLAND v ITALY
14 February 2015
KO: 14:30
Twickenham Stadium

Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)
AR1: Pascal Gauzere (FFR)
AR2: Mike Fraser (NZR)
TMO: George Ayoub (ARU)

*****
So England have confirmed an unchanged squad after Parling is still ruled out injured.

ENGLAND's 23

Starting XV: Mike Brown (Harlequins), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints), Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby). George Ford (Bath Rugby), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby), George Kruis (Saracens), James Haskell (Wasps), Chris Robshaw (captain, Harlequins), Billy Vunipola (Saracens).

Replacements: Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons), Nick Easter (Harlequins), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens), Danny Cipriani (Sale Sharks), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby).

ITALY
Luke McLean; Leonardo Sarto, Luca Morisi, Andrea Masi, Giovanbattista Venditti; Kelly Haimona, Edoardo Gori; Alberto DeMarchi, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Martin Castrogiovanni; George Biagi, Marco Bortolami; Francesco Minto, Mauro Bergamasco, Sergio Parisse.
Replacements: Andrea Manici, Matias Aguero, Dario Chistolini, Joshua Furno, Samuela Vunisa, Guglielmo Palazzani, Tommaso Allan, Giulio Bisegni

[nathan]

Betting on Cips coming on scoring/creating a load of points and then getting the meedja all excited?

This excited?

[lostinwales]

Probably

I think cips might be the kind of guy that with the right protection and things working well that could do a lot of damage in a game like this, but it would be crucial to understand that that doesn't make him better or more important than Ford

[sirtidychris]

That man has the largest mouth i've ever seen !!!!!

[bluestonevedder]

Betting on Cips coming on scoring/creating a load of points and then getting the meedja all excited?

This excited?

I don't think anyone in the world has ever been that excited, nor will be ever again. He's set the bar at, quite frankly, a totally unachievable level.

[gregortree]

Betting on Cips coming on scoring/creating a load of points and then getting the meedja all excited?

This excited?

I don't think anyone in the world has ever been that excited, nor will be ever again. He's set the bar at, quite frankly, a totally unachievable level.

he could field a Garryowen with that north & south

[nathan]

i just feel sorry for whomevers dad that is. I presume thats his wife to the left that looks embarrassed.

[SecretFly]

i just feel sorry for whomevers dad that is. I presume thats his wife to the left that looks embarrassed.

She's okay with it so far. She has the handbag with the brick in it if he really begins to embarrass her.

[Notch]

That man is clearly having some kind of fit or stroke.

[lostinwales]

i just feel sorry for whomevers dad that is. I presume thats his wife to the left that looks embarrassed.

She's okay with it so far.  She has the handbag with the brick in it if he really begins to embarrass her.

I dont know if a brick is going to be big enough

[bluestonevedder]

i just feel sorry for whomevers dad that is. I presume thats his wife to the left that looks embarrassed.

She's okay with it so far.  She has the handbag with the brick in it if he really begins to embarrass her.

I dont know if a brick is going to be big enough

He'll eat it. And the handbag. Shortly followed by the wife. 

Like a blackhole.

[SecretFly]

...

...but on a more serious note. To think we all worried about North!

There's a man that needs to probably be advised not to attend too many Internationals as he really does look a heart-attack waiting to happen.

[lostinwales]

Says a great deal for what we are expecting of tomorrow that the biggest thing we can get excited about is a picture of a guy with a big mouth.

[nathan]

Italy to run it up the middle all game then

[nathan]

We best score a try so I can get my gif out...

[nathan]

Good ol inverdale hype!

[nathan]

Actually worried that the rain is coming down. We'll probably try to much running rugby and make loads of handling errors.

[malky1963]

Good ol inverdale hype!

Indeed - I assumed that the other 3 games had been played mid week behind closed doors and this is the Grand Slam stroll.

[Breadvan]

Laura looking lovely as per...

[nathan]

Laura looking lovely as per...

They never seem to show he body now, just her head lol

[nathan]

Hopefully that shoves a rocket up their arses

[Steve_rugby]

Well done Italy.

[Breadvan]

There's yer wake up call....

[quinsforever]

great start italy. bit against the run of play, but england look like they need something to fire them up bit!

[nathan]

Don't think this ref will give us anything

[FecklessRogue]

If anything Nathan Italy have always been hard done by by refs. Because they're seen as inferior they never get the benefit of the doubt.

[FecklessRogue]

Would love an upset, but England didn't panic, stayed disciplined and didn't chase it last week, against a much better team.

[nathan]

That's not good

[The Saint]

Don't think this ref will give us anything

Is he meant to?

[nathan]

If anything Nathan Italy have always been hard done by by refs. Because they're seen as inferior they never get the benefit of the doubt.

True, but sometimes the refs go the other way. Usually the last 20 where they start to get tired.

Looks nasty for brown.

[quinsforever]

brown isnt coming back on after that.

watson to fb, but who to the wing? cips?

[nathan]

Don't think this ref will give us anything

Is he meant to?

What a surprise, an England thread and the Saint is straight here.

[quinsforever]

yeah, cips to 15 i reckon

[nathan]

Watson at 15, 36 in to centre?

[nathan]

Means our centre combination will take a hit

[The Saint]

Don't think this ref will give us anything

Is he meant to?

What a surprise, an England thread and the Saint is straight here.

I comment on many match threads. I'm home from the gym and relaxing in front of the tv whilst giving my one-eyed punditry on here. You didn't answer my question btw.

[quinsforever]

Watson at 15, 36 in to centre?

looks like it. makes sense, i suppose, but i really wanted joseph to stay at 13 as hes playing so well there. at wing, i worry about his defensive positioning.

[nathan]

Don't think this ref will give us anything

Is he meant to?

What a surprise, an England thread and the Saint is straight here.

I comment on many match threads. I'm home from the gym and relaxing in front of the tv whilst giving my one-eyed punditry on here. You didn't answer my question btw.

If Italy transgress, yes he should.

[Guest]

Nasty bang to the head on Brown there.

Italy have started brightly, and have wasted 2 try's. I'm sure England will start turning the screw soon though.

[quinsforever]

nice scrum. england need to stick it up their jumper, win set piece, play for territory and build up the points that way.

[quinsforever]

fatastically clean game so far. great recycling both teams. no slowing down. great to see

[Hood83]

Why are our backs so f-ing deep. This is what you seem to get from Catt, it kills forward momentum when we make inroads with the pack only to shift it 15 metres back immediately.

[nathan]

fatastically clean game so far. great recycling both teams. no slowing down. great to see

It is, other than the last one.

[IanBru]

God I hate John Lacey. He's just awful.

[quinsforever]

take the points

[quinsforever]

when teams get tired and out of position i would expect a lot more slowing down obviously.

2nd half theres going to be a bit more i expect.

[nathan]

Lovely kick there

[Geordie]

Was Ghiraldini in at the side there...im not so sure...thought he was fine.

[nathan]

Not sure what's going on with line outs in this game so far, both teams have been crap

[Hood83]

Care is a better and smarter 9 than Youngs, even last week I thought Youngs was overrated.

[nathan]

Haskell needed to be pushing in field there

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