England Fail To Shine
Saturday, February 7th, 2009 at 19:16pmSix Nations Game 1 – England vs Italy (36-11)
The Six Nations has rolled around again, and every England fan was hoping for an improvement over their lacklustre Autumn performances. When Andy Goode [left] scored a try within 95 seconds of kickoff, we were thinking it might come true. But the euphoria was short lived.
To be honest, most people were more interested in the shocking performance of the hapless Mauro Bergamasco, a Flanker playing Scrum Half. Itatian coach Nick Mallett might have had his hands forced by injury nightmares, but within the first few minutes, it was obvious to everyone that he was far from competant at No. 9.
Another Bergamasco error saw him sucked into a ruck, missing the ball as it popped up for James Haskell to flick a pass towards Harry Ellis [right], who took full advantage and sprinted 20m to cross the line with a slide, evading Italian defenders.
Minutes later the Italian’s day went from bad to nightmare when he botched a pass to Gonzalo Garcia, enabling Andy Goode to gather, kick ahead and the move was finished off by Riki Flutey [left].
That left England going in at the break 22-6 up.
Thankfully, Mallett put us all out of our misery an brought on his 5th choice Scrum Half Giulio Toniolatt for his second cap in the second half. He was certainly an improvement!
There were three more tries in the second period – a second for Man-Of-The-Match Ellis, a consolation try for Miro Bergamasco (at least one brother did something right), and a welcome return to the scoreboard (and team) for Winger Mark Cueto [right].
The final result was a rather flattering 36-11. There will be plenty for Martin Johnson to work on during the coming seven days. I can hardly see the Welsh quaking in their boots for next week’s clash at the Millennium Stadium. But one or two England fans might be.
