Italy vs England live: Latest score and updates as Azzurri eye historic win in Six Nations clash – UK Times

Ben Earl leads England out on the occasion of his 50th cap. A proud moment for a player who made his first 14 international outings from the bench, but now feels such a key figure for his side.

Plenty in at the OIimpico, where it is a little cloudy but warm enough. No threat of the rain that poured when Scotland visited in round one.

Scotland may have thrown the championship wide open but these two are out of the title mix. How will that late Tom Curry injury affect England? Sam Underhill is a very useful replacement to have on hand, and joins clubmate Guy Pepper in a well-grooved partnership on the flanks, but Chandler Cunningham-South is a very different sort of replacement on the bench.

It’s a Six Nations debut for France’s Luc Ramos this afternoon as he oversees his first fixture as referee in the competition. He had been due to have the experienced Nic Berry on hand as an assistant, but the Australian has been unable to travel due to the situation in the Middle East – Sam Grove-White has stepped in.

ARs: Pierre Brousset (Fra) & Sam Grove-White (Sco)

FPRO: Ben Whitehouse (Wal)

England have been dealt a major late injury blow ahead of their Six Nations clash against Italy after Tom Curry was helped off during the warm-up.

Two medics had to guide the flanker down the tunnel after he appeared to suffer a leg issue while preparing to start on the openside in Rome.

Sam Underhill has been promoted off the bench into the starting XV as a like-for-like replacement, with Chandler Cunningham-South joining the replacements with Steve Borthwick keeping six forwards on the bench.

Steve Borthwick sought to spotlight Manuel Zuliani earlier in the week, with the Italian openside one of the very best over the ball in the competition. England haven’t got their ruck detail right at all in either defence or attack in the last two weeks – keeping Zuliani and the other jackal threats in the Italian side at bay will be key to addressing the turnover issues that plagued them against Ireland.

There are reports from Rome that Tom Curry may have suffered an injury in the warm-up – we’ll let you know if/when a change becomes official.

This is a meeting of the two best scrums in the competition. England are winning 28.6 per cent of scrums on opposition ball and 100 per cent on their own, with Italy’s equivalent numbers 19.1 per cent and 94.4 per cent. Something has to give, you’d think – we’ve seen a few tightheads get at Danilo Fischetti in Europe this year, with Bordeaux Begles’ Carlu Sadie giving him a tough time in the Champions Cup, but he’s been excellent so far in this Six Nations. His tussle with Joe Heyes on that side of the scrum could be very fun.

There’s a new man at No 12 for England today, with Seb Atkinson looking to pick up where he left off in Argentina on the summer tour last year. I went to meet him at Twickenham last Sunday:

Steve Borthwick rips up his England selection in a heavily-changed 23 as he seeks a response to England’s poor performance against Ireland. Fin Smith is installed at No 10 in a totally changed backline, with Tommy Freeman moved back into midfield alongside Seb Atkinson, who makes his first Six Nations appearance.

Up front, Jamie George replaces Luke Cowan-Dickie at hooker and Alex Coles is preferred to Ollie Chessum in the second row. The return of Guy Pepper to the blindside sees Tom Curry and Ben Earl slide to the openside and No 8 respectively.

England XV: 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George, 3 Joe Heyes; 4 Maro Itoje (capt.), 5 Alex Coles; 6 Guy Pepper, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Ben Earl; 9 Ben Spencer, 10 Fin Smith; 11 Cadan Murley, 12 Seb Atkinson, 13 Tommy Freeman, 14 Tom Roebuck; 15 Elliot Daly.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Henry Pollock; 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 Marcus Smith.

Italy welcome back Juan Ignacio Brex to re-form his potent centre partnership with human battering ram Tommaso Menoncello after Brex missed the previous two matches due to personal reasons.

Alessandro Garbisi joins brother Paolo in a half-back partnership, Lorenzo Pani steps in for the injured Ange Capuozzo at full back and the pack is unchanged from the starting eight that faced France a fortnight ago. Fly half/full-back Tommaso Allan is fit again and is one of three backs named on the bench.

Italy XV: 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Simone Ferrari; 4 Niccolo Cannone, 5 Andrea Zambonin; 6 Michele Lamaro (capt.), 7 Manuel Zuliani, 8 Lorenzo Cannone; 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 10 Paolo Garbisi; 11 Monty Ioane, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 14 Louis Lynagh; 15 Lorenzo Pani.

Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Riccardo Favretto; 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Leonardo Marin, 23 Tommaso Allan.

Michele Lamaro views the Six Nations clash with England at the Stadio Olimpico as the stage for Italy to prove they have become a force in the game.

Scotland were dispatched in Rome in round one and Ireland just escaped with a victory when the Azzurri visited Dublin a week later.

Only a 33-8 defeat by grand slam-chasing France a fortnight ago has marred an otherwise promising Championship.

Italy have never beaten England in 32 previous meetings but Lamaro insists that must be the goal to validate the strides made.

“If you want to get to the point where you believe you can be competitive against the best teams in the world, you have to start winning against those teams at some point,” the Azzurri captain said.

“I’m thinking of Argentina, for example – their improvement in the last couple of years was seen in the away game against the All Blacks when they won for the first time.

“England is the closest challenge we’ve got because we play them next, so I think it’s a first step. If you want to be in the top five you have to be able to win these games.

“But it’s not because it’s England, it’s because if you want to really compare yourself to the bigger teams you have to start beating them.

“We’ve come to the point where we want to be very competitive in the whole tournament. We know we have the confidence to say that if we play our best game we can put England under pressure, and sometimes we can score tries from that.

“But at the same time we know we have to be at 100 per cent in most areas of the game because these teams are pretty ruthless.”