LONDON : England coach Steve Borthwick said he was delighted with how his team showed adaptability and intelligence to overcome a serious-looking early injury to centre Ollie Lawrence in Sunday’s 47-24 Six Nations victory over Italy.
Lawrence, one of England’s best performers through the championship, fell to the turf in distress after eight minutes with what Borthwick described as a “real tough-looking injury” that looks set to end his season and rule him out of contention for a British and Irish Lions squad place.
That meant that Elliot Daly’s run at fullback was short-lived as he moved into midfield that was already a new combination with a rare start for Fraser Dingwall, with Marcus Smith coming off the bench to slot in at 15.
“I was really pleased with the way they adapted to the early disruption with Ollie Lawrence’s injury against a really tricky opponent, who were very streetwise,” Borthwick told reporters. “Fingers crossed the injury’s not quite as severe as we fear it might be.
“The backline was good. They did a lot of good things and we are trying to build a squad. Today was the right time to make some changes.
“So in that context, to do that and to get the result, to get the seven tries was a really great performance by the guys.”
Borthwick was delighted after the team was criticised for their lack of ambition in the stodgy win over Scotland two weeks ago.
“I’ve talked about the team playing fast and being aggressive with the ball and that’s the language I’ve used,” he said.
“Scotland played a very smart game, really tactically suitable, but today was a completely different challenge and I thought the guys dealt with this challenge really well.”
The bonus-point victory means England remain in the hunt to win the title for the first time since 2020 but to have any chance they will almost certainly need to take another five points away to Wales next week then hope France slip up against Scotland in Paris in the final match of the championship.
“Wales v England is a humongous fixture but it’s a challenge we’re very much looking forward to,” said captain Maro Itoje.
His predecessor as captain Jamie George had a memorable 100th cap, setting up a try with a side-step and offload before departing to a huge ovation.
“I really wanted to enjoy the whole week. It’s been really emotional,” he said. “To be able to walk out with my daughter, who turned one last week, was pretty special.
“The reception I got from the fans, I really felt today. I love playing for England and I will remember that for a very long time.”
Luke Cowan-Dickie, who replaced him at hooker on Sunday, said of George: “He is an absolute legend. I played behind him for a long time. He showed his quality today.”
Italy are on four points going into their final game against Ireland, a point ahead of Wales, and captain Michele Lamaro said they will have to find more consistency if they are to avoid another last-place finish.
“When you show good things you have to do it repeatedly and our problem is that we are lacking a bit of that,” he said.
“You just have to be consistent for the whole 80 minutes and that’s the most important thing for us. We showed some pretty good things, especially in attack, but our mistakes put us under pressure.
“We need to work on that and we have been saying it a lot but we need to stay together because we have another massive week.”
