Italian job gives hope to Lancaster
ITALY (15) vs ENGLAND (19)
ENGLAND interim head coach Stuart Lancaster hopes his team’s 100 per cent start to their Six Nations defence will persuade the Rugby Football Union to make his appointment permanent.
A resolute second-half display capped by Charlie Hodgson’s second try in as many Tests and the flawless kicking of Owen Farrell saw England come from behind to win in snowy Rome on Saturday.
It continued a steady if unspectacular start to Lancaster’s regime, following an attritional triumph over Scotland, which the erstwhile Saxons coach hopes will be allowed to continue beyond the championship.
“I’ve always worked on the mindset that if you work hard enough and long enough then you get your rewards,” said the 42-year-old.
“All I can do is focus on doing the job to the best of my ability and trying to get a new England team working hard for each other and the country behind them so they can feel proud of the team. We’ve come some way to achieving that with two wins.”
Lancaster was indebted to fly-half Hodgson, a rare older head in a youthful and inexperienced backs division, for another charge-down try that avoided what would have been a historic defeat. The Saracens No10’s effort also left Ben Foden relieved, after the full-back’s pair of handling errors gifted late first-half tries to Giovanbattista Venditti and Tomasso Benvenuti and allowed Italy a 12-6 lead at the interval.
“If we had lost I would have blamed myself completely,” said Foden. “I was annoyed with myself. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to right the wrongs.”
Lancaster welcomes back three senior stars in Manu Tuilagi, Courtney Lawes and Toby Flood ahead of the visit of Wales in a fortnight’s time. Centre Tuilagi and lock Lawes both made successful injury comebacks for their clubs at the weekend, while fly-half Flood underlined his recovery.